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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think you are off the mark, Donovan.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>First of all, any parent of school-aged children
can tell you a "free education" is anything but, there are fees for
everything.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think some costs can be reduced by making the
education system less top-heavy and bureaucratic.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Part of the problem, especially in rural areas, is
the fact there are fewer families in which to "spread the pain" of
property taxes. Farms have become bigger, but the costs have soared, as
well and margins are dependent on the market. Adding a huge increase in property
taxes could put an even higher strain on many farms. I really don't know what
the solution would be there, although a regional high school makes some sense
for Latah County.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Santa Cruz County, Arizona at one time had
just three high schools, one public in Nogales, one private, all-girls
school in Nogales and one public in Patagonia. There is one more now, in
Rio Rico. The county is about 150 square miles larger than Latah County.
The populations are similar, as well, with Santa Cruz County having an estimated
42,845 residents to Latah County's estimated 36,299.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com
href="mailto:donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com">Donovan Arnold</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> ; <A
title=kmmos1@verizon.net href="mailto:kmmos1@verizon.net">Kenneth Marcy</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 20, 2009 4:12
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] school
funding</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>I think parents should take on a higher cost of their children's
education. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There was a time when everyone had lots of children, so it made
sense that every gave so much to education. But now not everyone has so
many children, or any children at all. The cost of education is huge,
especially with parents demanding everything little service for their
children from pampers to college degree. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I think parents in the top 25% income bracket should have to pay
100% of the costs of their children. I think parents in the middle 50%
bracket should have to pay 50% of the cost on the first two
children they have. The bottom 25% should have to pay 25% of cost
of their first two children. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This would make parents responsible in both the academic
wellbeing of their children, but also share in the costs of how
the government spends its limited resources. They want a new
program, they want a new bus, they want a gym? OK, but match the
taxpayer in their commitment to your child's education. If no ones is on
the line for the cost of a school bus or new jungle gym bars, the costs
go from a $70,000 for a good used soild bus, to one that $185,000 brand
new with every single feature to take kids just two miles a day.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I also think the funding should be collected and spent on a
statewide basis, not on a county by county basis which has huge
disparities in income and quality of life standards, as well as the
number of children. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best Regards,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Donovan</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR>--- On <B>Fri, 3/20/09, Kenneth Marcy
<I><kmmos1@verizon.net></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid"><BR>From:
Kenneth Marcy <kmmos1@verizon.net><BR>Subject: Re: [Vision2020]
school funding<BR>To: vision2020@moscow.com<BR>Date: Friday, March 20,
2009, 3:38 PM<BR><BR><BR>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<BR><BR>
<DIV class=plainMail>On Friday 20 March 2009 14:06:38 JLBrown
wrote:<BR>> On a different note: do folks think it is time to
re-visit how we fund our<BR>> public schools? Below is Marty
Trillhaase's column from a couple of days<BR>> ago.<BR><BR>Yes.
Better economic activities make local goods available in exchange for
<BR>non-local dollars brought to a locality. Rescinding tax-favored
property <BR>status for out-of-state owners would bring dollars into
the state to lessen <BR>the amount of internal funds
necessary.<BR><BR>Encourage those college-educated taxpayers with
student loans outstanding to <BR>stay in Idaho to work by granting an
Idaho income tax deduction for some <BR>percentage of the interest
paid on student loan repayment during the tax <BR>year. I have not
done calculations to determine the overall net revenue <BR>effect, but
I suspect that such a benefit would encourage enough students to
<BR>stay in Idaho who would otherwise move elsewhere that the net
Idaho revenue <BR>would be positive.<BR><BR>Another problem related to
Idaho school funding is that some towns, often <BR>smaller ones, have
populations whose ages skew toward older, fixed-income <BR>adults.
Such folks may feel less inclined to support local schools than
<BR>younger residents with school-aged children, with the result that
local <BR>maintenance and operations levies are more difficult to
pass. A possible way <BR>to offset this problem would be to create a
senior resident education <BR>equalization that would adjust the
state-to-local transfers to school <BR>districts so as to offset
inter-district funding differences based on higher <BR>percentage
older local populations.<BR><BR>More generally, we should recognize
that those who earn higher business <BR>incomes are benefiting from
the availability of better-educated Idahoans, and <BR>those higher
business incomes should be asked to contribute to the continuing
<BR>supply of better educated Idahoans. Economic progress is better
facilitated <BR>with progressive tax structures and rates.
Regressively foisting the larger <BR>portion of education funding onto
the backs of less prosperous Idahoans is <BR>not only less equitable,
it is economically inefficient in supplying the <BR>workers businesses
need and the jobs families want to provide for
themselves.<BR><BR><BR>Ken<BR><BR>=======================================================<BR>List
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ymailto="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>=======================================================<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
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