I will add it to my calls today. But, I am going to say this for the record. Sometimes we just have to let them do the damage. Not because I want it to, but because if the damage isn't bad enough, people will let the $1 billion to private schools slide. And then next cycle, they add another billion.
I will add it to my calls today. But, I am going to say this for the record. Sometimes we just have to let them do the damage. Not because I want it to, but because if the damage isn't bad enough, people will let the $1 billion to private schools slide. And then next cycle, they add another billion.
But if they don't pass HB2, districts will have to make tough choices. And maybe it's time they hit the public where they will actually notice it.
In 1991 I was in high school in southeast Oregon. We had a large number of Californian's come to live there because they "didn't like" paying all of those high taxes. (familiar) I lived in a very rural district. I was 35 miles from my high school. The district needed to raise taxes in order to continue funding bussing. It was voted down. So, they cut bussing. Not athletics itself, but if kids were going to participate parents would have to take them to games on their own. We even ended up with students riding horses to school again.
The tax proposal went back on the ballot that fall. It passed. Bussing was back in the spring.
It hurts kids. There is more to this story, including how my parents found a way to get kids to school. But the lesson here, is that the public doesn't notice a special education teacher cut. But they'll notice when they have to drive 2 1/2 hours to take their kid to a baseball game. Or when there isn't one because no one could get there.
When we take things for granted, sometimes we need to be reminded of what we have to lose.
I will add it to my calls today. But, I am going to say this for the record. Sometimes we just have to let them do the damage. Not because I want it to, but because if the damage isn't bad enough, people will let the $1 billion to private schools slide. And then next cycle, they add another billion.
But if they don't pass HB2, districts will have to make tough choices. And maybe it's time they hit the public where they will actually notice it.
In 1991 I was in high school in southeast Oregon. We had a large number of Californian's come to live there because they "didn't like" paying all of those high taxes. (familiar) I lived in a very rural district. I was 35 miles from my high school. The district needed to raise taxes in order to continue funding bussing. It was voted down. So, they cut bussing. Not athletics itself, but if kids were going to participate parents would have to take them to games on their own. We even ended up with students riding horses to school again.
The tax proposal went back on the ballot that fall. It passed. Bussing was back in the spring.
It hurts kids. There is more to this story, including how my parents found a way to get kids to school. But the lesson here, is that the public doesn't notice a special education teacher cut. But they'll notice when they have to drive 2 1/2 hours to take their kid to a baseball game. Or when there isn't one because no one could get there.
When we take things for granted, sometimes we need to be reminded of what we have to lose.