lanichol
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2004
- Messages
- 1,545
- Location
- NW, KS
- Aircraft
- 1st RAF 2000 AAI Sparrowhawk, RAF 2000 stab/drop keel/horiz
Just spent 4 hrs in a BOE meeting tonight. The Stimulus program takes hold in schools!
-We were given notice that the streets in front of the school will be milled and repaved. Why? Because the county applied for some stimulus money for "safe route to school" project. Waste of dollars.
-Notice that there were stimulus dollar to modify the school buses for “federal emission reductions”. I am not sure what can be done to diesel buses to reduce emissions.
-Now for the budget. Kansas has a balanced budget. Thus most counties have raised their property taxes and the state has cut the budgets to schools.
The stimulus program- “federal stabilization fund” makes up some of these dollars, but we must provide a list of teachers that would have been cut had we not had the federal dollars. Of course cutting teachers is the last resort and most schools would have not made such cuts. So now the school BOEs are forced to make up BS just like the authors of the Stimulus Bill. This is so the Obama administration can say they saved XX number of jobs. Had the stimulus not been available, then the state school budget cuts would not been so deep.
Now the problem with this is our LOB (local option budget – dollars from local taxes) is a fixed percent of the state budget dollars. Thus we are getting additional cuts since the state dollars are less.
We spent the night discussing cuts and voted to cut a few programs; “cross country, dance, and golf”. And we accepted some early retirements which will not be filled.
The state budget is not final. They believe state taxes will be another 400 million short which means more school cuts. Our area manufactures trailers & farm equipment - sales are at an all time low. One plant is at 2 days a week and another 30 hrs/wk per employee.
We are a small 1A school that is one of 6 schools in the state that received the governor’s ward 3 years in a row. We are one of the top 1000 schools in the US for the second year US News and World Report. Also we are the top 8 man football team in the nation with a state championship, and a state championship in basketball. Not bad for a school district with 350 kids.
My opinion, the House and Senate are spending dollars like drunken sailors (xxxx correction) Congressman. There is a major shrinkage in those extra dollars people have to spend. People and Small Business are preparing for new taxes and employments cuts. The dollars blown foolishly on the stimulus programs cannot compare to the damage the stimulus has cause to the economy. Nor can the stimulus jobs come close to replacing the real jobs lost.
Keynesian economics is foolish, the private sector if far more efficient than government.
-We were given notice that the streets in front of the school will be milled and repaved. Why? Because the county applied for some stimulus money for "safe route to school" project. Waste of dollars.
-Notice that there were stimulus dollar to modify the school buses for “federal emission reductions”. I am not sure what can be done to diesel buses to reduce emissions.
-Now for the budget. Kansas has a balanced budget. Thus most counties have raised their property taxes and the state has cut the budgets to schools.
The stimulus program- “federal stabilization fund” makes up some of these dollars, but we must provide a list of teachers that would have been cut had we not had the federal dollars. Of course cutting teachers is the last resort and most schools would have not made such cuts. So now the school BOEs are forced to make up BS just like the authors of the Stimulus Bill. This is so the Obama administration can say they saved XX number of jobs. Had the stimulus not been available, then the state school budget cuts would not been so deep.
Now the problem with this is our LOB (local option budget – dollars from local taxes) is a fixed percent of the state budget dollars. Thus we are getting additional cuts since the state dollars are less.
We spent the night discussing cuts and voted to cut a few programs; “cross country, dance, and golf”. And we accepted some early retirements which will not be filled.
The state budget is not final. They believe state taxes will be another 400 million short which means more school cuts. Our area manufactures trailers & farm equipment - sales are at an all time low. One plant is at 2 days a week and another 30 hrs/wk per employee.
We are a small 1A school that is one of 6 schools in the state that received the governor’s ward 3 years in a row. We are one of the top 1000 schools in the US for the second year US News and World Report. Also we are the top 8 man football team in the nation with a state championship, and a state championship in basketball. Not bad for a school district with 350 kids.
My opinion, the House and Senate are spending dollars like drunken sailors (xxxx correction) Congressman. There is a major shrinkage in those extra dollars people have to spend. People and Small Business are preparing for new taxes and employments cuts. The dollars blown foolishly on the stimulus programs cannot compare to the damage the stimulus has cause to the economy. Nor can the stimulus jobs come close to replacing the real jobs lost.
Keynesian economics is foolish, the private sector if far more efficient than government.
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