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<DIV>Kerry,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There have been many attempts to solve these two problems, many have been
unsuccessful or only marginally successful.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In some school districts there are strenuous and successful efforts to
involve parents with student's homework and other educational activities.
These efforts cost money, hence taxes. Other public agencies also try to
encourage familial relationships where child-parent educational activities
flourish.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Taxes, of course are only a part of a solution to this problem, which is
actually quite complex -- dysfunctional families, anti-educational families,
poverty, television time, parental indifference, competition for
children's/parent's attention, etc; these impact children's education and
the time and willingness parents are willing to spend on educational time with
their children. Well engineered/designed programs from
public agencies costing money, hence taxes, have also had some, but obvious
not nearly enough, success in dealing with the problems at issue.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If spending tax dollars can improve the public educational situation
with respect to these issues, and thus improve the overall quality of public
education, and that education's impact on our society, then I am willing to
spend tax dollars financing that effort. That does not mean I support
every single thing in the public education system, or believe that it cannot be
greatly improved, or that it doesn't suffer from a sometimes arrogant,
narrow-minded resistance to change.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I come from an era and place where many parents valued and participated in
their children's education. 60% of those in my high school class when on
for further education; almost all of those became self-sufficient and
productive not only because of the quality of the education we received but
because of the work ethic and focus that education helped to build.
That public high school was in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I wish there were simple, no cost/low cost solutions to the problems we
agree upon exist. If there are, they have certainly eluded most of
America, though not several other industrialized nations, particularly in
northern Europe.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<BR><A
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</A><BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=kerrybecker6924@hotmail.com
href="mailto:kerrybecker6924@hotmail.com">kerry becker</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=deco@moscow.com
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, January 24, 2007 5:01 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] MSD is at it again!</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>I highly agree with these statements, however, why
should it be a tax issue? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>3. <FONT color=#ff0000>More and more
parents are unwilling to take the time to participate</FONT> with helping their
children with their education thus slowing the rate of education and
causing expense for remedial actions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>4. <FONT color=#ff0000>Public schools
have more and more non-educational problems to deal with</FONT>, many of them
wrought by inadequate/irresponsible parenting.</FONT></DIV>
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From: <I>"Art Deco" <deco@moscow.com></I><BR>To: <I>"Vision 2020"
<vision2020@moscow.com></I><BR>Subject: <I>Re: [Vision2020] MSD is at it
again!</I><BR>Date: <I>Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:10:47 -0800</I><BR><BR>
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<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>The vapid Lemon-O cites:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff>"I’ve asked this rhetorical question
before: why, when the number of students are increasing, do the school
districts say they need more money; and, when the number of students are
decreasing, they say they need more money?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>1. <FONT
color=#ff0000>Inflation</FONT>, which is greater for some things than others
and most likely impacts schools more than many other activities.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>2. <FONT color=#ff0000>Requirements
from the</FONT> <FONT color=#ff0000>unfunded/underfunded</FONT> "No Child Left
Behind," a Bush program which places additional burdens on local school
districts, but either does not fund these burdens or funds them
inadequately.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>3. <FONT color=#ff0000>More and more
parents are unwilling to take the time to participate</FONT> with helping
their children with their education thus slowing the rate of
education and causing expense for remedial actions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>4. <FONT color=#ff0000>Public
schools have more and more non-educational problems to deal with</FONT>, many
of them wrought by inadequate/irresponsible parenting.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>5. Etc.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>Also Lemon-O, it is nice of you to pass on these
nuggets of illogical rhetoric from chicken-shit Courtney's web-blot as he
covers in fear of being found out by those he thinks he is preventing from
accessing his pathetic efforts to be almost as vapid, and certainly at least
as dishonest and hypocritical as you are.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana><BR>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<BR><A
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</A><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>----- Original Message ----- </FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>From: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:heirdoug@netscape.net"><FONT
face=Verdana>heirdoug@netscape.net</FONT></A><FONT
face=Verdana>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>To: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT
face=Verdana>vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><FONT
face=Verdana>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 3:47 PM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>Subject: [Vision2020] MSD is at it
again!</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Verdana>> My latest
installment for those under the ban!<BR>> <BR>> Wednesday, January 24,
2007 2:13 PM Right-Mind<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> MSD to send out newsletter
to residents regarding levy increase<BR>> I’ll post a copy of this as
soon as I get it.<BR>> <BR>> I’ve asked this rhetorical question
before: why, when the number of <BR>> students are increasing, do the
school districts say they need more <BR>> money; and, when the number of
students are decreasing, they say they <BR>> need more money?<BR>>
<BR>> Here’s what one local blogger had to say about this:<BR>>
<BR>> But in this case, and in this election, I think all these standard
<BR>> issues are really beside the point. The real point in this election
is <BR>> one of simple affordability. The major industry in town (the
University <BR>> of Idaho) is in serious decline. Our Moscow civic
leadership has been <BR>> busy chasing new prospective businesses out of
town. Within the next <BR>> year, a good portion of the tax base is going
to move just across the <BR>> state line, and the businesses in the new
mall there will no doubt set <BR>> up some blinking lights to summon Moscow
shoppers over. Ross Perot's <BR>> famous phrase about the giant sucking
sound comes to mind.<BR>> <BR>> Another illustration that comes to mind
is the one about champagne <BR>> tastes and a beer budget. And you can't
chase all the champagne vendors <BR>> out of town, and then complain about
the beer. As a simple matter of <BR>> economics, tax support for the MSD
requires a thriving tax base. When <BR>> you cut the latter, you cut the
former. Some might want to complain, if <BR>> this levy goes down, that it
was the nefarious work of home schoolers, <BR>> Christian conservatives, or
what not. But this one appears to me to <BR>> have been done already,
without any opponents of "government schools" <BR>> lifting a
finger.<BR>> <BR>> No, this was done by the liberals running the Moscow
show. You can't <BR>> take a chain saw to the orchard, and wonder
resentfully the following <BR>> autumn about the apple shortage.<BR>>
<BR>> As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily
News.<BR>> <BR>> The Moscow School District is moving forward with plans
for its $1.97 <BR>> million supplemental levy increase, which will go
before voters March <BR>> 27.<BR>> <BR>> Superintendent Candis
Donicht worked with the district’s school board <BR>> members during
their Tuesday meeting to develop a draft of an <BR>> informational
newsletter that will hit mailboxes in the coming weeks.<BR>> <BR>> The
newsletter will give a brief explanation of the indefinite <BR>>
supplemental levy. It also will explain how the levy increase works, <BR>>
what it will cost taxpayers, and what it pays for within the district.
<BR>> The newsletter also will answer other basic questions.<BR>>
<BR>> Board members discussed changing the time the polls would be open for
<BR>> the election. Board clerk Annette Erickson reported to the board the
<BR>> effects of a 7:30 a.m. opening of the polls that had been suggested
at <BR>> their December meeting by board member Margaret Dibble. The board
<BR>> decided to maintain its current plan to have the election from 8 a.m.
<BR>> to 8 p.m. at the Exhibit Building of the Latah County
Fairgrounds.<BR>> <BR>> Board members also discussed how to support and
offer their assistance <BR>> to groups of parents who want to support the
levy.<BR>> <BR>> In other news, Donicht reported on the district’s
first participation <BR>> in the city of Moscow’s 18-month long-range
planning process. Three <BR>> district administrators and two board members
participated in a <BR>> facilitator training session about 10 days ago. If
selected by the <BR>> city, they will go into sections of the community to
help gather input <BR>> from residents on issues such as neighborhoods and
growth.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
________________________________________________________________________<BR>>
Check Out the new free AIM(R) Mail -- 2 GB of storage and <BR>>
industry-leading spam and email virus protection.<BR>> <BR>>
=======================================================<BR>> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<BR>>
</FONT><A href="http://www.fsr.net/"><FONT
face=Verdana>http://www.fsr.net</FONT></A><FONT
face=Verdana>
<BR>> </FONT><A
href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT
face=Verdana>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><BR><FONT
face=Verdana>>
=======================================================<BR>></FONT> <BR>
<P>>=======================================================<BR>> List
services made available by First Step Internet,<BR>> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.<BR>> http://www.fsr.net<BR>>
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>>=======================================================<BR>
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