[Vision2020] Why I'm going to vote Yes on the Levy

Bev Bafus bevbafus at verizon.net
Fri Nov 9 23:52:26 PST 2007 

Thanks for your reasoned questions, Matt.

I'm not an expert on school financing, but I do know a bit.

In your math, the first thing you are forgetting is that Ms. Donicht said
"salaries and BENEFITS".

Taking your formula where you came up with $40,000 as the median salary -
Using your math, this would be the median expense per staff member.  Usually
35% of that would be benefits, leaving the actual salary far lower.  Many of
these benefits are required by law, as they are with most businesses.

The second item I noticed is the comparison, yet again, of Moscow with
Pullman.  Until the State of Washington and the State of Idaho fund their
schools with the same formula, you cannot compare these two towns.

Just my thoughts...

Bev
  -----Original Message-----
  From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of Matt Decker
  Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 11:26 PM
  To: keely emerinemix; Paul Rumelhart; Vision2020
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Why I'm going to vote Yes on the Levy


  Keely/all,

  First and foremost thanks for your drive and determination towards our
children's education. You've taken many steps to insure success. I have to
admit though, that I am unsure about giving my vote to the levy. Let me
explain. I have many questions and have heard from both sides on this topic.
So please let me give my thoughts, but also give me hope that our schools
will spend the money wisely.

  Candis Donicht wrote an opinion piece tonight in which she states that MSD
has a budget of $20,360,923. She also mentions that 81% of that goes to
"salaries and benefits". She further states that, "175 teachers" are
employed by MSD. Now bare with me, since I am a MSD graduate. Twenty mil
divided by 175=$114,285. We all know that can't be true. So I will assume
that this budget includes cooks, assistants,  lawn care, etc. Let's again
assume that 500 people are employed by the MSD, under this percentage.
Twenty mil divided by 500=$40,000. A great median wage. Now we are going to
increase this rate by 1.9 mil. A increase of 10.33%. Seems pretty high to
me. Where is this money going?

  Now I know I may not have all the numbers correct, but I also doubt that
they are too far off. To me Candice stating that 81% of the money goes to
pay scares me. Why should raising the rate of teachers pay three times more
then that of inflation, raise our level of education? Money does not =
education.

  Furthermore, Dale( I will be labeled as a kirker for mentioning his name)
Courtney brought up a valid point in his opinion piece. He mentioned that
the state tax has been raised by 1%, all of which is for schools. Hopefully
meaning that more is coming this way. Why not wait another year?

  I also can't get over the fact that our neighboring cities pay less, but
have higher test scores. Pullman has less teachers, but yet again beat us in
most accounts. Again money does not = education

  Also cant understand how Moscow has lost student numbers, but yet we
insist on smaller numbers. Why? When I was there we had 25-30 students per
class(1984-95). Now we want smaller? Hey I'm all for it, but only if the GPA
rises. Which, I am unsure of.

  I have no problem giving my vote to this levy, but I need question like
these answered. Please give me hope.

  Thanks for your time
  Matt



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: kjajmix1 at msn.com
    To: godshatter at yahoo.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
    Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 21:30:17 -0800
    Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Why I'm going to vote Yes on the Levy

    Thank you, Paul!

    keely




    > Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 20:59:25 -0800
    > From: godshatter at yahoo.com
    > To: vision2020 at moscow.com
    > Subject: [Vision2020] Why I'm going to vote Yes on the Levy
    >
    > Just a few reasons:
    >
    > I can't underestimate the value of education in our community. Forget
    > evolution vs. intelligent design, think basic math skills, a sense of
    > history, simple reading skills, a knowledge of the language we speak,
    > and a basic understanding of science. Where would we be today if we
    > didn't value education? Do you like that computer you're reading this
    > with? Are you happy to know that the hospital is just down the street
    > if you have some kind of medical problem? Would you rather drive to
the
    > ocean, or walk? The more data we have to live life, the better it will
    > become. The more we all know, the better off we all are. This
    > prosperity results in real-world economic development. This makes us
    > richer as a community. Our poorest people are richer than much of the
    > rest of the world.
    >
    > So, education is important. But why not educate everyone individually?
    > Why centralize it?
    >
    > Well, first you have economies of scale. There is more to learning
than
    > just sitting around the teacher on the floor in a semi-circle,
listening
    > to him or her reading you stories. You need books and supplies. You
    > need places to work, and you need prepared lessons. Centralizing all
    > this makes sense. Why expect every family to buy a microscope? Or a
    > bunsen burner? Or a wall map of the US? Why dump a substantial amount
    > of money individually when we can spend less by centralizing it?
    >
    > You also have the benefits of specialization. We teach our teachers
    > about one particular subject until they become experts on it. Why ask
    > everyone to learn everything about all subjects? We also teach our
    > teachers how to teach. It's not simple, and just faking your way
    > through it is not recommended. Why expect all of us to learn this?
    > Granted, it's probably very useful, but we have a limited amount of
time
    > and a limited number of neurons. Learning all this takes time, and the
    > ones who have learned it the best cost money. Yet we need them
desperately.
    >
    > Public education is the great equalizer. People who can't afford to
    > teach their children, whether it's because of finances or time
    > commitments or lack of knowledge in some areas, will still be able to
    > give them an education. Every child, no matter their background, has
    > the opportunity to excel in their learning. Who will become the next
    > great physicist, or mathematician, or musician? It's also a great
    > springboard. Who will be in the right place with the right set of
facts
    > and the knowledge to make use of them and do the next great thing?
    > That's why I want to live forever. So I can see what people keep
coming
    > up with as the world progresses.
    >
    > Another reason for centralization is the changing nature of the world
we
    > live in. All of us spend much of our lifetime unlearning things we
    > learned as children. Some of it was simply our misunderstandings as we
    > developed and are simply later correcting. Other facts, though, have
    > simply been shown to be wrong. Look how much physics has changed in
the
    > last 50 years. Subjects like history change as we realize more about
    > our past. Geography changes as world events progress. Even with
    > relatively slowly changing fields, such as mathematics, new ways of
    > imparting knowledge to others in these areas are found. Teaching
    > incorrect knowledge is probably worse than not teaching that knowledge
    > at all. This corrected knowledge needs to be assimilated, and it's
    > inefficient to have to teach every homemaker just to have them teach
    > their kids the next day. It's more efficient to have those specialists
    > I mentioned previously get updated on their subjects. It's faster,
    > because they are subject experts, and there are fewer of them to
teach.
    > It's also easier to require that they get updated on their subjects.
    >
    > So why support this levy, specifically? Because, in my humblest of
    > opinions, every penny we can afford to throw at it we will see back
    > again a hundred-fold in the future as a community. I'm sure there's a
    > line out there past which any increases will not help. I think we are
    > so far away from the breakpoint that it's silly to talk about it.
Also,
    > the appropriateness of this levy has been put into question. Show our
    > community that we know how important education is by voting Yes on
this.
    >
    > Paul
    >
    > =======================================================
    > List services made available by First Step Internet,
    > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
    > http://www.fsr.net
    > mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
    > =======================================================


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