In other School Board News; The election fiasco
l3wis Three of us also spoke at the meeting tonight about the fiasco the school board election was. It’s during public input right at the beginning.
June 2017
Should we be ramping up privately funding SF Public Schools?
I will admit, I am kind of on the fence on this one. I think if people want to donate to public schools, who am I to say NO, but it also leaves open the door to entitlement and segregation. Something that already exists with open enrollment.
Newly elected Sioux Falls School Board member Cynthia Mickelson suggested changing the way the Education Foundation is set up so that individuals can give specific donations to specific programs for specific schools and classes (Inside KELOLAND, FF: 5:20).
While this could be very beneficial to SOME schools, not sure how this helps with the lower income schools. I just don’t see parents donating to the Whittier art program while they are applying for free or reduced lunches. Like I said, all for the donations, but those donations should be spread EQUALLY to all the schools.
UPDATE: Sioux Falls School Board’s Property Tax increase sneaky move
UPDATE:Â President Tholke asked for a two week deferral of the opt out and the motion failed. So they all voted for the OPT-OUT anyway.
UPDATE II: While watching the School Board meeting, and they are arguing about being transparent about the OPT-OUT discussion, in fact so transparent guess when they posted the OPT-OUT discussion video from April 10, 2017? April 11? April 12? Nope, they posted it TODAY! That’s transparency folks!
UPDATE III: A group is planning to circulate a referendum on the opt-out that passed tonight.
Only one week after a completely dismal school board election turnout, where they bragged about saving $16,000, and now they want to rob you out of $5 million.
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING TONIGHT AT 5:30 PM, IPC
They couldn’t wait until the new board member got sworn in, they had to slip it in now.
Sioux Falls homeowners could miss out on state property tax relief as school board members look to pad the district’s dwindling reserve funds.
Board members will vote Monday night on a recommendation to opt out of local property tax limits. The move would bring an extra $5 million into school coffers over the next 10 years.
And technically your taxes won’t INCREASE, they just basically wiped away the tax relief you WOULD have gotten from the state legislature;
Homeowners wouldn’t see taxes go up in 2018, but they would miss out on state property tax relief, a direct result of the new education funding formula passed last year.
The worst part about this besides their very sneaky method* of putting this on the agenda (surprised anyone from the media even caught it) is this isn’t even for a capital project, it is for a savings account because gosh darn it, they just can’t trust Trump or Pierre. Tax increases to pad savings accounts are NOT the way to go. I have often said government should spend what it has and keep an even keel. That is why I have often supported tapping into the education investment fund dividends and interest to actually FUND education instead of these constant tax increases.
*NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG
As for the sneaky way they put this on the agenda. I had to read it three times before catching the clever language, Item #10 under Reports of the Superintendent, A. Finance Action Network Opt-Out Recommendation. Doesn’t sound like a property tax increase unless you read the attached documents.
And look at the esteemed members that want to increase your taxes;
The Finance Action Network (FAN) met on Thursday, May 25th. The meeting started at 11:30am. Those in attendance were:
-Sara Andrews (Beck & Hofer)
-Jason Ball (SF Area Chamber)
-Keith Severson (Eide Bailly)
-Bob Thimjon (Ramkota Companies)
-Becky Wittrock (Geo Tek)
-Doug Morrison (Citibank/SF School Board)
-Todd Vik (Sioux Falls School District)
-Brian Maher (Sioux Falls School District)
Once again, the Chamber looking out for the little guy . . . NOT!
And what is the irony in all this? The final statement on the report;
The additional $5 million Opt Out is recommended for 10 years. The district would only access the portion of increase as needed.
In other words if it is approved IT will be accessed, make no mistake.
The PGA tour stop in Sioux Falls, won’t affect 99.9% of us
Before you start calling me a Negative Nancy, I will first say as a Positive Pete, that I think it is a good thing the old guy PGA tour is coming to Sioux Falls, and it certainly WON’T have a negative affect on our economy. In fact, it will draw publicity to the city for sporting events, and I am sure some deals will be cut between our mucky-muck. I get it.
But all this fanfare like this is the greatest thing since sliced bread is laughable.
I could go on and on about our crime rate increases, our lack of affordable housing, good jobs and a slowing economy and sales tax revenue. The PGA tour doesn’t fix any of these problems, and that is kind of my point.
We often like to sit around and try to act like a sporting event coming to town is some kind of game changer. As I said to someone, “Looks like a bunch of old rich Sioux Falls people watching a bunch of old rich golfers play golf.”
So Denny opened his wallet. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. But will it have an effect on the 99.9% of hardworking Sioux Falls residents? Probably not. But I sure like Arnold Palmers.
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