Tim Bonham writes, "If so, you better be prepared for a massive increase in the school taxes that you 'breeders' pay, since now more than half the money comes from taxpayers without any children in schools."
Tim, the term "Breeder" is very derogatory. It is not very different from the ones that were once used on gay people. Some people are flaming heterosexual and darn proud of it, but "breeder" is about as insulting a word as I can think of.
Thanks Jim. I would agree with you on this. Also, that term is intentionally meant to be an offensive term - or at least when I've seen it used.
Tim's point remains - though it goes beyond gay people. There are many taxpayers in Minneapolis who do not have children in schools and pay taxes to support the schools. In addition, many of these same taxpayers pay federal and state taxes at the higher singer taxpayer rate - and don't get the per child tax credit. I do believe the schools are a public investment - and that good public schools make a stronger city. I also think it's important to find out the reason people opt out of Minneapolis Public Schools. It is just nonsensical that a family in the Longfellow neighborhood has to bus their kids to a northside school, when they have a neighborhood school 3 blocks away. Now I thought with the neighborhood schools - initially pushed by Sharon Sayles Belton, this wasn't happening any more. Perhaps someone else on the list who currently has kids in the schools can comment.
The issue that bothers me the most is the 50% graduation rate. When a good friend of mine's kids were in the public schools, the youngest, who had an attendance problem anyway, would be sent home by Roosevelt high when she didn't have her school ID with her. This was even when school staff recognized her. This is a nonsensical policy - and is a policy that hurts the school's dropout rate. I asked Carol Johnson about this at one of Gary Schiff's breakfast - and she said this should not be happening any more. I'm curious to hear from other parents with senior high kids about whether it's happening with their kids.As for paying for education, many of us who pay for the education system (and do not have children in it) are also very, very, very dissatisfied with what our dollars buy. We pay a huge amount of dollars for a substandard product. Some of us would not mind if it was a quality product was provided, even if "our" personal children do not benefit from it. However, we deeply resent paying for bad education policies and poor attempts at social engineering by over educated amateurs.
Eva Young Near North Minneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog is up: http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
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