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Le Mars, Iowa ~ Monday, October 13, 2008
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Le Mars Community School District Donations
Posted Saturday, April 5, 2008, at 9:08 AM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
T&I supporters are collecting funds to help the district with its potential future operating costs. They are directing the funds to the Le Mars Community School District Foundation earmarked for the T&I program. I think it would be a good idea for everyone with an interest in the future to do the same. Write a check to the Le Mars Community School District Foundation, and mark clearly what program you want your donation to support. In other words, if you want to support the ".5 Music" position put it on the check. I can't emphasize enough how important it is you do this as soon as possible as the Board of Education meets Monday night to discuss, and possibly decide on, these items after input from the public. I had a PayPal button here but feel the 3.5% charge they take is out of line. I also encourage those who just want to support the district donate to the general fund as if the new tax had passed.
Le Mars Community School District 921 3rd Ave SW Le Mars, Ia., 51031 Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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Donations are all well and good for extracurricular programs but now instead of administration accountability the community is asked to make donations. Did the administration assume the "new tax" was a shoe in and budget accordingly? Or did they make additions to the budget that we, the community, are now paying for? Don't get me wrong, I think we need all of the things that were cut, but we need to hold LCS administration accountable for its decisions not bail them out.
Up until the first round of cuts the estimated budget was pretty much the same as last year. Gary tries to project future income and expenses so we have something to work from. We held off on the second round of cuts until after the vote because we "hoped" the outcome of the vote would be "yes". The "no" outcome caused the cuts. We knew a "no" would cause cuts before the election. We hadn't seen a final list or decided what was going to be cut until after the vote though. Everything cut was in the budget estimate from the beginning. Nothing was added to be cut fodder. The budget for next year has to be approved Monday the 14th. The donation movement started at the T&I meeting last Friday. I just wanted to let others know what T&I started so they knew it was possible to do the same.
To kent82grad - did you read the restrictions of the John Deere Foundation?? You'll notice they do not fund "tax supported entities - such as schools, etc".
Who are we bailing out?, not the board, they have done a great job of keeping our school's infrastructure top notch, we have a great education staff, and have had the luxury of being able to offer classes and extra curriculars that are not mandated by the state. But with a shortfall of students, now it is the boards problem, I don't agree with that.
If this was a household issue you would be cutting cell phones, cable tv, internet service, visits to your local non smoking restaurant, gas for your childs car, etc.. These are luxuries not necessities.
You can't have it both ways, if you don't like the board's decisions vote them out, but all that has happend is that 1700 voted 500k of luxuries out of the budget. Now it is the board's job to deal with the shortfall.
Thanks Mr. Smith for all your support on saving t and i program
First of all, it is our privilege to vote and we are all entitled to vote how we choose. NO ONE should be pointing fingers or blaming ANYONE ELSE for the way they chose to vote. Since when is it a crime to have a difference of OPINION?
I wonder how many people did their research on this before telling others their vote is wrong! I did a bit of research and here is what I found:
One commerical property I used as an example has had the property taxes increased more than 30% in five years while the assessed value has remained the same. WHY? Because funds are mismanaged and when they are depleted, they'll just tax us again. That's the all-purpose solution to every financial problem!
Property taxes are not figured for just residential property but also commerical and agricultural. So while everyone that voted yes was considering their small increase in taxes on one house, what about people that would have been looking at several hundreds or thousands of dollars?
How about this to consider...why are we only looking at property owners to help fund the schools? Why shouldn't ALL residents have to help. There are plenty of renters in this town that have children that attend our schools. Shouldn't they have to contribute? Just food for thought.
Why are we so for our local government raising our taxes when if Washington does it WE ALL AGREE it is WRONG! Government, whether federal, state or city has to do their job and manage a budget. The answer when money has run out is not to ask the people for more.
I have children in the LCS disctrict and recieved letters from the schools urging me to vote yes. I was quite offended by the letter because it failed to communicate the facts honestly. While the school can afford to buy buildings with appropriated funds, ALL of the overhead costs to maintain that building come out of the general funds which the school has run out of? It is reprehensible, in my opinion, to give the people half of the truth and attempt to sway them. Get rid of the politics and get real!
For all of the people that voted yes and want to be angry with those that voted no, why don't you get angry with the 60% of our community that didn't even bother to vote! For all of the people that want to see our school receive extra funds that they wouldn't even need if they'd stop careless spending and adhere to a budget, write them a check. Give them your money. Who's stopping you?
One last thing, some people really need to open their eyes to the games being played here. Recall the last time we did this...the school CHOSE to cut some of the most important and valuable programs PURPOSEFULLY to guilt those of us that voted no, to stir up those that voted yes. Here we are again. The "no's" have it. It's a blame game people. It's politics, politics, politics!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!