Convince Me

[Teresa]

Patrick ask me to put this up for him ..........

[pepelect]

Thank you queen of all is electronic and it is nice to see you use your wizardly(is that sexist?) skills to a good use now and again.



ok come on admit it you were going to be against this   and thought the video started out to be very boring ........then the banjo started to play .................your foot started tapping.......................and I knew you would come around.    

[Tobina+1]

I posted questions at the beginning of this thread and have 'dogged' nobody Tobina. I am still waiting for answers to most of those questions BTW.

SDM; I sincerely apologize.  I didn't think my statement through before posting.  Like I said before, it's good to get your questions out there!  What I meant to say is that the "vote yes" group is not the only place you can get your answers.  They are just the public voice promoting the vote.  The decision-making group is still the school board members.  I just wanted to make sure that everyone feels like they can actually go to that board to find out why this project has been formed the way it has, and not have to take the words of the "vote yes" group as final. 

[pepelect]

What?       You mean there are others out there?   I can get more banjo's and we rented a jug just for the next meet'n.  We would like to have a harmonica and a fiddle. 

[Diane Amberg]

You rented a jug? A full jug to get things off right and when its empty you can play it!  That should get some happy people voting.

[pepelect]

I saw this little chicken and from that conversation I have come the the realization that.........Ok, we are all going to die.  The new proposed building will kill not both towns but it will only be a matter of time before the overbuilt school will also bankrupt the entire county and we will have to rename the county Piper Jaffery the owner of the bonds because of an insider trading deal.  Ok I get it........


What is plan b.

What is the your plan for the district to remain viable and keep both existing grade schools open?

I have yet to hear one positive comment about how to keep the current facilities viable.  I have heard all the negatives about the one campus bond every day for the last year.  I know how much funding has already been cut from the budget from the state this year .  I know there is going to be another cut later this year. 

What high dollar programs are the unnecessary programs you want cut first. How do you repair the existing buildings without raising taxes.


I would like someone to tell me what will keep our three campus school great , not just getting by year to year , for the next generation.

Convience ME!

[Tobina+1]

I learned a few interesting things last night at a meeting where the Supt spoke.

1)  This is not just a "pie in the sky" project... if the bond passes, estimated move-in date to the new building = DECEMBER 2010!  That means it's not just something that we'll be paying for a long time and not really see anything new.

2)  The largest classes in the schools this year... Pre-K and Kindergarten classes.  To me, that means YOUNG growth in the community and a future of larger class sizes.  (There's a quite a few of us out here trying our best to keep that growth going, too!    )

3)  The school board members are committed to reducing taxes as quickly as possible.  They would like to get the building paid off in 10 years instead of 15, but they are also going to work on giving tax-payers a break on taxes quickly, too.  So, that means that the money saved in keeping up old facilities will go towards both paying off the building, as well as decreasing taxes.  Also, as I understand it, the bond issue is for the full amount of building costs and does not figure in any FEMA or State-Aid money, so the figures you see on taxes are actually calculated on the HIGH side, and will likely be lower, especially in Years 2 & 3. 
*Side note... as I was thinking, there is a high number of school board members that are rural landowners... and maybe even own more than one house on that property (as well as other businesses).  So the people making the decisions on this project are likely to pay as much taxes, or more, than a lot of us.

Lastly, the school board will be meeting Monday night to discuss "Plan B"... what is the next step if the bond doesn't pass.  I would encourage people to attend and get their ideas out there.  There WILL be a Plan B... "status-quo" is no longer an option.

[Diane Amberg]

Nice report Tobina.

[flo]

okay, I think you have convinced me.  I have really been studying all the yea's and nay's here.  Yes, I'm concerned about having to dig deeper in the pockets (I'm scraping the seam at the bottom now) to come up with the funds to pay higher taxes but on the other hand are we just going to be throwing money to the wind if we keep trying to "fix" the older buildings?  Taxes are going to have to raise  to come up with the money to build a new central school OR to keep repairing and upgrading the existing buildings.  Why not pay the taxes to have a school that will last a few years, hopefully, and get the bond paid off early. Am I thinking straight?  rationally?  Yes, I'm concerned about Moline and Severy without their schools but sooner or later . . . . . . .

[redcliffsw]

Your concerns are good reason not to be convinced.
You still have time to make a new decision on the matter.