Our local newspaper, the Greeley Tribune, has gone all in on the mill levy override.  3A MLO, is a massive property tax increase for property owners in Greeley Evans District 6.  

Last Tuesday, September 22, the newspaper published an opinion editorial from Randy Bangert, editor.  Bangert wrote that the Tribune is so invested in this tax increase that it will publish one editorial each day Tuesday through Saturday until October 17.  That’s 20 editorials in addition to the plethora of news column inches and slew of opinion editorials already dedicated to the pro-property tax side.

I don’t have time to respond to each editorial in a blog post, but I will respond to some.  I will respond to the others on my show.  For my full opinion on 3A MLO, please refer to my previous post and opinion editorial explaining that the real problem with District 6 is not how much but how it spends.

The following editorial appeared on Thursday, September 24.

Reason to Vote for 3A: Overcrowded Classrooms

Kay Hanson has 40 students for her Northridge High School weight class, and a safe number is 28, she said.

The room was actually relatively sparse Tuesday. A dozen students were absent. And it was the first hour of the day, so things were manageable.

“In the first hour, they’re not quite awake yet,” Hanson said.

“Burning Down The House” by the Talking Heads tried to perk up the students. Hanson gets to pick the music, and that usually means music that came out before the students were born.

Hanson also considers herself a little lucky.

“I’m probably one of the least crowded in the district,” she said. “I know of many other classes at other schools who have 50 kids or more in them.”

Officials in Greeley-Evans District 6 hope to reduce class sizes with the money that would come from the mill levy override. It’s another reason why you should vote for it.

First of all, 3A does not specifically mention class size in the ballot language, but it also doesn’t exclude it either.  Thus proving that the money can be used for whatever the district and school board want. 

Second, Northridge is hardly overcrowded.  According to the school’s most recent School Accountability Report, Northridge has a student/teacher ratio just under 20 to 1, which is a little higher than District 6 overall.  (The actual ratio is a bit tough because student enrollment numbers have been reported as low at 17,500 and as high at 18,500) The point being that Northridge certainly is not overcrowded.  If this one class is crowded maybe it is because it is popular with students and should be offered more often.

While taxpayers have to decide whether or not to approve a massive property tax increase, 3A MLO,  for District 6, the school board and teachers’ union are locked in a battle over the teachers’ master contract agreement. (I’ve actually read the entire document.)  The teachers’ union originally asked for a 10.25% total compensation increase.  According to a recent District press release the school board is offering:

• Fully pay the increased cost of teachers’ contribution to their retirement (PERA).
• Fully pay the increased cost of teachers’ health, dental and vision insurance.
• Continue to pay teachers for advancing their own education.
• Increase per-hour pay for non-contract work to $25 per hour from the current $18.

The teachers union will make a decision to accept or reject by October 6. 

How much do teachers make right now for their 184 day contract?  Roger Fiedler, Communications Director, provided me with the following information in an email:

There are 1,285 teachers in District 6. Of these teachers, 926 receive a total compensation package of at least $40,000. The only teachers whose total compensation package is less than $40,000 are part-time teachers or partial-year teachers (those who will work less than a full contract year because they were hired after the start of school).

• Number of teachers whose total compensation package (salary and benefits) is $40,000–$60,000 per year: 421
• Number of teachers whose total compensation package (salary and benefits) is $60,000–$75,000 per year: 229
• Number of teachers whose total compensation package (salary and benefits) is $75,000–$90,000 per year: 170
• Number of teachers whose total compensation package (salary and benefits) is more than $90,000 per year: 106

To put these figures into context, the median household income in Greeley is $39,438 according to the census.  When the Greeley Education Association embraces performance-based pay, I’ll support pay raises.  Right now, we endure below average graduation rates, below average standardize test scores and above average teacher salaries. 

I’m still waiting for specifics on pay for District 6 administrators.

3A is a massive 16 mils property tax increase for Greeley Evans District 6.  District voters will be asked to decide the tax increase with an all mail-in election.   Ballot will be mailed the week of October 12.  Ballot must be returned no later than 7 pm on November 3, to the Weld County Clerk and Recorders office.

 Below, readers will find some facts about the District and the tax increase. Following is the full text of 3A.

• Greeley Evans District 6 funding per pupil:  $9049 for 2007-2008 according to the Colorado Department of Education.
• Total funding from all sources — local, state and federal: $158.8 million according to CDE.
• District says it spends 87 percent of its budget on personnel costs.  According to MLO supporters the District cannot reduce personnel funding.
• District graduation rate for 2008: 65.75%  State: 73.9%
• District composite ACT: 18.2  State: 19.6
• Additional tax per $100,000 of residential property:  $127.36
• Additional tax per $100,000 of commercial property: $464.64
• Accountability: District says it will create a citizen’s advisory board to “monitor and report” how the additional tax dollars are spent.  This board has no authority.   School Board member Bob Stack testified at the state capitol against transparency.

3A full text courtesy of the District Web site.

BALLOT ISSUE NO. 3A:
SHALL WELD COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 6 TAXES BE INCREASED $16,000,000 ANNUALLY, BEGINNING IN TAX COLLECTION YEAR 2010, AND THEREAFTER BY WHATEVER AMOUNTS AS MAY BE COLLECTED ANNUALLY IN EACH FISCAL YEAR FROM A MILL LEVY INCREASE OF NOT TO EXCEED 16 MILLS, TO BE DEPOSITED IN THE GENERAL FUND OF THE DISTRICT AND EXPENDED FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, INCLUDING:
• PURCHASE TEXTBOOKS, COMPUTERS AND OTHER INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES REQUIRED BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FOR HIGHLY EFFECTIVE, HIGH-QUALITY ACADEMIC INSTRUCTION;

• SUPPORT COLLEGE, ACADEMIC, CAREER AND VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS TO PREPARE STUDENTS IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY FOR THE FUTURE;

• ENHANCE THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF STUDENTS, STAFF AND SCHOOL PROPERTY;

• ACQUIRE, OPERATE AND MAINTAIN BUSES TO IMPROVE STUDENT TRANSPORTATION;

AND SHALL SUCH TAX INCREASE BE AN ADDITIONAL PROPERTY TAX MILL LEVY IN EXCESS OF THE LEVY AUTHORIZED FOR THE DISTRICT’S GENERAL FUND, PURSUANT TO AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 22-54-108, C.R.S.; AND SHALL THE DISTRICT BE AUTHORIZED TO COLLECT, RETAIN, AND SPEND ALL REVENUES FROM SUCH TAXES AND THE EARNINGS FROM THE INVESTMENT OF SUCH REVENUES AS A VOTER APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE AND AN EXCEPTION TO THE LIMITS THAT WOULD OTHERWISE APPLY UNDER ARTICLE X, SECTION 20 OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION?

I’m MAD — a member of Mothers Against Debt.  I guess that I am more than a member; I’m the founder.  I launched the new group on Saturday during my speech at the 912 rally in Denver.  After reading a WSJ article by John Fund titled “The Deficits Are Coming,” I felt compelled to act to protect my three children.

Fund reports that former head of the General Accounting Office David Walker serves as a modern day Paul Revere.  Walker warns:

Our off balance sheet obligations associated with Social Security and Medicare put us in a $56 trillion financial hole—and that’s before the recession was officially declared last year. America now owes more than Americans are worth—and the gap is growing.

Walker puts the gargantuan number into perspective. 

Our $56 trillion in unfunded obligations amount to $483,000 per household. That’s 10 times the median household income—so it’s as if everyone had a second or third mortgage on a house equal to 10 times their income but no house they can lay claim to.

As for this year’s $1.8 trillion deficit, Walker says, ”a deficit that large is $3.4 million a minute, $200 million an hour, $5 billion a day.”

That’s the inspiration for MAD.   Our mission is to hold accountable any elected official who increases our children’s public debt.  The fiscal enslavement of our children really is taxation without representation. 

No dues.  No meetings.  Just a pledge to hold politicians of all parties accountable and to work against those who spend our tax dollars recklessly.   Hell hath no fury like a Mother scorned.

Check out MAD — Mothers Against Debt– on Facebook.

University Schools, a K-12 charter school in Greeley, will not be participating in Obama’s indoctrination of school children.  

University is part of Greeley Evans District 6.  The district isn’t saying no.  It’s leaving the decision up to individual teachers.  The administration’s official statement on Obama’s really bad idea is below:

Principals:

Over the last day or two, we’ve had a few parents and community members call schools and the district office asking if we were planning a mass broadcast of a presidential message to students in all District 6 classrooms on Tuesday, September 8.

While there will be an Internet webcast of a presidential message on education on September 8 at 10 a.m., we have not been mandated as a district to broadcast this into all schools and have all student participate, and we have no plans to do so.

 

Schools will have a regular day on Tuesday, following their regular schedules and curriculum. Individual teachers may, at their discretion, choose to show the webcast in their classrooms if it is appropriate for the curriculum of the class (for example, a high school class studying U.S. government and current events). The message being webcast, as we understand it, is to urge students to work hard, set education goals, and take responsibility for their learning. If you care to learn more about the president’s upcoming webcast, please see the U.S. Department of Education’s website, www.ed.gov

 

For those classrooms that do choose to watch the webcast, students (or their parents) who do not wish to participate should be allowed to opt out; students who opt out should be given an alternative learning activity during the webcast.

So the district isn’t mandating but if teachers believe watching Obama’s ”creepy” speech is appropriate then teachers an their students may do so.   Call your child’s teachers and find out his or her intention. 

For the record, I’m not completely opposed to the speech.  I would let my kids watch Obama…if I could lead the discussion about Obama’s narcassism and the cult of personality immediately afterwards.  Actually that could be fun.