The reason we need "extra money" for schools is because the regular funding is being used unwisely. We always seem to think that throwing more money in the pot and stirring it up with the already educational stone soup will make it more digestible. We need to realize there is no "extra money" (and in reality there never was, at least not in my bank account) and try instead to get a recipe for success that is edible.
Way back before our time (well mine anyway) in the proverbial little schoolhouse (usually the town church), folks used what they had and made do. Necessity was, and still is, the mother of invention. Since folks came up with the tax system, it has been used as the godsend for everything. People don't even think anymore, they just pass legislation and pass the buck. Well, I believe on Tuesday, November 5, 2002, they buck stopped Here. And There. And Everywhere. Start ransacking your couches people, and gather as much loose change as you can find. You are going to need it. No need to worry about the war on Iraq or terrorism. The War on Poverty, on ALL fronts, has begun. Pamela Taylor (Tampa) -michael libby (cleveland neighborhood, north Mpls) Your wish is our command. This is why in the last few years the Minneapolis taxpayers voted in not one, but two, property tax increases: one for a library and one for the schools. These were over and above our regularly scheduled corporate welfare program, which is why I voted against them... but apparently Minneapolis schools being so poor is working-- the citizens don't seem to get it. The only reason we need "extra" funding for schools and libraries is that all the "regular" money is being given to developers of inane projects like Block E or being used to pay off debts. 10% of our tax money is currently used for "debt service"-- I assume that's primarily interest payments on bonds (issued for stuff like turning Block E into a mini-Maul-of-America), but I'd happily be corrected on that. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
