January 9, 2012 in City

Districts will ask voters to help support hundreds of jobs

Jody Lawrence-Turner The Spokesman-Review

Tags:2012 Electioneducationlevyschool districtsschool leviesschoolsSpokane Public Schools

File photos photo

Extracurricular position: Lewis and Clark girls basketball coach Jim Redmon instructs his team at the 2008 State 4A tournament.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

School levies are often associated with K-12 programs, such as sports, art and music.

But the community-supported portion of a school district’s budget – a local tax – also helps pay for hundreds of jobs within a school district, including teachers, coaches, bus drivers, secretaries and janitors.

Three-year levies in 13 of Spokane County’s school districts will expire at the end of 2012, and voters will be asked to continue the taxes – plus tack on a few more cents to compensate for state budget cuts.

Ballots will be mailed on Jan. 27 for the Feb. 14 vote.

School officials hope the recent uptick in the economy means the levies have a good chance of passing. The tax makes up about 20 to 25 percent of each district’s budget. With slight variations, each school district divides its levy dollars similarly.

Below is a breakdown of jobs supported by the levy in Spokane Public Schools, the region’s largest district. Spokane Public Schools receives about $73 million in levy funds.

How many jobs does the levy support?

The local tax supplement pays for nearly 3,000 positions, including teachers, coaches, extracurricular advisers, special education teachers and support staff. The remainder of the district’s compensation costs are covered by state and federal money.

Certified positions

Teachers, counselors and librarians fall under this category. The amount of levy money used to support certified staff is enough to pay for 509 full-time certified employees, a majority of whom are teachers.

There are 1,909 certified staff in Spokane Public Schools’ total budget. A levy failure would mean eliminating about a quarter of them.

Classified positions

This group includes secretaries, custodians, technical support staff, maintenance, human resource specialists, payroll employees and school resource officers.

The levy pays for 269 classified positions. Total classified positions districtwide: 1,007.

Extracurricular

The levy fully funds coaches and advisers for extracurricular activities. Many people in these positions are also teachers and other district employees, so they receive a stipend on top of their regular pay. But without the levy, district officials say, there would be no money for any extra duties.

The local tax pays for 530 coaches and 1,601 advisers for clubs, programs and activities.

Administration

The superintendent, assistant superintendents, directors, managers, principals, vice principals and classified supervisors fall under this heading.

The levy pays for 37 of these positions. Total administrators: 141.

Other positions

This category includes contracted services, such as bus drivers, special education teachers and instructional assistants.

The levy funds about 10 percent of the total special education budget. This equates to about 47 positions.

Source: Spokane Public Schools

Expenditure	Cost	Pct. of levy
Certified salaries, positions	$34,586,924	47.19
Classified salaries, positions	$21,272,077	29.02
Materials, supplies, purchased services	$10,444,732	14.25
Administrative salaries, positions	$6,988,725	9.54
Total expenditures	$73.3 million	100

59 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

Dazzeetrader11 on January 09 at 1:02 a.m.
70% for salaries. Someone isn’t paying attention. No new taxes. None when the schools are already paid for. I don’t know who dreams this up? Somebody who simply doesn’t pay attention to the economics of Spokane.
Stuckarts group and others….I do wonder how much this one vote costs Spokane’s taxpayers. A little abuse of the vote…
“Save the children”!!!! when the kids are fine….and there’s no outcomes measured. Even if outcomes could be measured, what would they be? This just the unions hiding behind children…for money.
NO on this.
meadman on January 09 at 3:50 a.m.
Dazee you have no idea what you are talking about….just the same old tired crap you are pushing.
oneanddone on January 09 at 5:06 a.m.
That’s because people like Dazee are, very simply, selfish to the bitter core. They’re all for services to improve THEIR lives but would rather others pay the freight. Like that schlep in Idaho, Hart. They’re all part of the same hand-holding community.
DHF on January 09 at 5:15 a.m.
Dazee If you add up the salaries, positions it is 85.75%. My question would be. Where is the shared sacrifice. Where is the support for the private sector. I would like to know where this uptick in the economy is at. I have friends who are businessman and women who have not felt it.Do the Administrators, Teachers and Classified deserve special consideration when a lot of people are in the same boat, Struggling to keep there head above water.
Notapatriot on January 09 at 5:39 a.m.
…and don’t forget to factor in the 35% drop out rate these fine administrators muster under their watch. “it’s for the kids” indeed. Squeeze them until they wake up and clean house.
WillyPeter on January 09 at 6:20 a.m.
District 81 doesn’t deserve more of our $$$. Spokane’s HS graduates need remedial academic help before our colleges will accept them. We all know about a third of those HS students never graduate. Still……our corrupt District, in cahoots with their enabling union, and the Spokesman Review, ignore our present economy and now again come begging for more dollars for pet projects and incredible six-figure salaries.
but, but, but…..”It’s for the children” has got to be in the running for whooper of the year….as usual.
SpokaneLiberal on January 09 at 6:36 a.m.
Most of this is not new taxes, most of it is just continuing existing taxes. Can you imagine 1 out of every four teachers having to be fired? Even if you are selfish you are presented with two options, Option one, vote for the levy, 87.5% of which is salary support to keep the schools open and running. Option 2, vote against the levy and take 1/4 of the teachers out of schools.
Obviously, to me, option 2 is so bad, that it doesn’t matter what the minor issues are in option 1 it is the only choice.
dataxman on January 09 at 6:47 a.m.
SpokaneLiberal - and that is the way they love to set it up. Pay us all we ask or ‘X’ will happen. No middle ground
Why not cut teachers salaries? Salaries were raised as the cost of living went up (mainly housing) over the last decade. Now the cost of living has come down - as have private sector salaries. Why should the teachers be immune from this economic reality?
lewis8457 on January 09 at 7:06 a.m.
no more tax increase, if you want to see what they did with last levy money drive by shadle and look at the empty baseball and football fields they made. instead of teachers or books we now have some fancy sports areas.
DickAdams on January 09 at 7:07 a.m.
I couldn`t help but notice the number of administrators, 141. Do the “vote yes for the kids” need 141?
valleyman on January 09 at 7:09 a.m.
@dataxman: I wish I could agree with you, but I simply don’t. Where is your data to back up the claim that the cost of living has come down? You are correct that the cost of homes has come down, but we’re all still paying mortgages on what they USED to be worth. Oil is more expensive and thus, we pay more for gas which has driven up the cost of just about everything including food, and most durable items. Cars are more expensive; education is more expensive (college); services are more expensive; and medical care is more expensive.
We shouldn’t be cutting anyone’s salary. We should be finding ways to make our economy more productive to raise our GDP which will in turn raise our revenues to the government without ANY NEW TAXES. In fact, most economic models show that if business taxes and the individual income tax were lowered, revenue would actually increase.
I think we all agree we pay administrators way too much money. We don’t need 3/4 of administrative positions we now often pay 6 figures for a piece. Why can’t we go back to the school model we had the first half of the 1900s where principals ran the show and we produced students who could read, write, and solve math equations. These students went to the moon, created industry, made world-changing discoveries, and won two world wars. What do our schools produce today?
ericdx on January 09 at 7:19 a.m.
You know, most of you people complaining about theacher salaries and pay are the problem, because you are the parents who do not get involved in school. You did not like school, and now you treat school like free daycare, so that you dont have to deal with your spawn. I work with High school aged kids, and most of the ones I deal with that are struggling or drop out say the same thing, “my parents don’t care.” It does not matter what a teacher does, if the parents and students don’t take some responsibility in the education process, then students are going to fail.
I am not going to say that there are not teachers out there that do need to go, because there are some who are senior enough that all they are doing is marking time to retirement, but the large portion teach because they want to help kids, and have one hand tied behind their back because of parent who don’t care, and don’t support the educatinoal process. i know when i grew up, my parents were interested in my education, and any failings in that education were due to my lack of effort, and lack of maturity, but most of the parents I deal with are more upset when school is closed, because then they have to deal with their kids.
Get off the high horse, and start being parents who make education a priority, instead of a free babysitting service.
And frankly, teachers salaries, according tot eh state salary guide, HAVE dropped the last couple of years, even though it takes, on average 5 years of college to become a teacher, and about $35,000 to $40,000 in student loans, and you want to cut their salary more? Keep that up, and you will not get new teachers, and old teachers are retiring, and then there will be NO teahcers to babysit your kids, and you will have to actually be parents. Perish the thought.
TheRain on January 09 at 7:44 a.m.
“if you want to see what they did with last levy money drive by shadle and look at the empty baseball and football fields they made.”
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
In similar news, you only use your bed for 6 or 7 hours a day, so having one in the house is clearly wasteful.
Coffee on January 09 at 8:31 a.m.
Simple question, why should my standard of living go down so someone else can go up or stay the same?
cdspokesreader on January 09 at 8:48 a.m.
I would be totally supportive of supporting the school district if the money actually went to the kids and paid for some of their activities. I have a problem with the high administrative salaries and some of the extra money going out to the administrative offices downtown. As a parent over the last 10 years, I saw an increase in what I had to pay for school supplies. I kept waiting for them to ask me to supply toilet paper because it seemed like I supplied everything else. Now that my kids are in high school, I do appreciate the support staff at the high schools and the teachers, but instead of school supplies I pay for extracurricular activities. With what the booster club and the parents pay, I don’t see a lot of money from the district going to pay for these activities unless it’s for major sports.
I think if the levy fails, the school district should come back with some administrative cuts, have the levy direct the money directly to needed programs and classrooms and see if that helps their cause.
Albert on January 09 at 8:49 a.m.
I’m broke! and will vote NO. NO MORE TAXES and/or LEVIES!
woamike on January 09 at 8:55 a.m.
Coffee,
Here’s your answer: to the libs and “do-gooders”, your money and your property “really” don’t belong to you, especially if they consider you “wealthy”. You don’t deserve to keep the stuff you worked hard to get. If you have more than someone else, it’s not “fair”. If they have a “better” use for YOUR stuff, they think they have claim to it. In the end, they really don’t believe in private property, at least the private property you worked for.
Of course, they’ll never admit to this line of thinking. Yet, this is the end result of their policies. With respect to property taxes and levies, it does not bother them in the least that some pay virtually nothing and others pay a ton for the same, exact services. It also doesn’t seem to bother them that our tax dollars are wasted. As long as it’s “for the kids” or “public safety”, IT DOESN’T MATTER.
If you don’t agree with them, they’ll call you everything name in the book. Just watch. . .
DickAdams on January 09 at 8:55 a.m.
Drive by Ferris too. Millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars spent for sports in the last several years, and currently another sports project under way, costing, multi, multi, multi million dollars of more expansion funneling the loot for even more expansion re, sports. VOTE YES FOR THE KIDS. To heck with the intent and purpose of our public school academics, lets spend more for coaches (give them another raise in pay).
With the Spokane district 81 board member attorney Roco Treppiedi, who obviously supported funneling more money into the current sports expansions, the taxpayers don`t stand a chance. Seems to me that the district 81 reckless spending hasn`t slowed down a bit. BTW, I wonder if the taxpayers are still picking up the tab for taxi service transporting some children who live in an area where the school buses don`t want to stop and pick up the kids?
mikeln on January 09 at 9:02 a.m.
The way of the new corporate government, villify everything and anything to the point where the stupid population will slit thier own throats and smile while doing it. Enjoy the slide to the bottom, you deserve it.
misjustice on January 09 at 9:05 a.m.
“I think if the levy fails, the school district should come back with some administrative cuts, have the levy direct the money directly to needed programs and classrooms and see if that helps their cause.”
A good idea.
An even better idea, IMO, would be for the district to enact cuts at the administrative level NOW; and then ask taxpayers to pass the levy.
I almost always vote “yes” on school bonds/levies; this time, I’m leaning towards “no”.
de3 on January 09 at 9:05 a.m.
I support schools - a lot. But this is not a news story. This “news story” reads like a paid political advertisement or at least a copy from their press release.
ForCryingOutLoud on January 09 at 9:07 a.m.
The purpose of a levy is to fund extras above basic education. This proposal is an abuse of the levy and should be voted down.
dataxman on January 09 at 9:14 a.m.
Coffee - well said. My house is worth much less (but still have to make payments based on the purchase price 6 years ago) and my pay has been cut 10%, premiums for insurance have increased 300% and my annual deductible has gone up 50% and my co-pay 200%. Yet I am supposed to cut more so teachers can be unscathed from the current economic mess?
D Statler on January 09 at 9:25 a.m.
First: I would like to mention that BONDS are for building. LEVIES are for learning. If you don’t like those big sports complexes.Don’t vote yes on the building bonds next time.
Second: If you don’t like the administrative pay (which not too many of us do) Please go to your monthly school board meetings and tell them. Don’t punish your kids for the six figures. That is like shooting yourselves in the foot.
Third: I would mention that district 81 has beautiful new schools. Voting no on the levies will take away the money needed to maintain and keep your beautiful schools in shape for the next 50 years. Protect your investments people :^)
Last and finally: I want to thank all the voters of West Valley for supporting us and continuing to support us. Our schools are and continue to be the thread that holds our community together. My kids are grown and it is still my responsibility to help my neighbors that helped me when my kids were in school. ThankYou and I urge you to stop in and see what we are doing with your tax dollars.
DickAdams on January 09 at 10:41 a.m.
The district didn`t wait long to ask the taxpayers for more money so early in the year. Heck, I just hung up my 2012 calendar last week. The current budget asking for more money this early is there usual modus operandi. When they don`t get their way if the voters reject the ballot its so early in the year for a ballot it gives the board et al, if it fails, lots of time to ignore what the voters say by voting NO. The administrators and the district board have plenty of time to issue the same ballot issue again (and again if it fails) before the December 31, 2012 deadline. Apparently they don`t give a darn what the voters have to say by rejecting it. These people drafting ballots don`t know the meaning of NO!!
Middleman on January 09 at 10:43 a.m.
Dazzee….wow are you kidding me? Please understand that everything on that list is gone if the levy doesn’t pass in these districts. If the levy doesn’t pass, are you seriously considering eliminating in these school districts: Certified positions,
Teachers, counselors, librarians, secretaries, custodians, technical support staff, maintenance, human resource specialists, payroll employees, school resource officers, ALL extracurricular activities, coaches, club advisers and many administration.
Are you starting to be educated on just what the State of Washington does provide? Its everything NOT mentioned above. That’s why the State of Washington was taken to court by the citizens of this state because it did not adequately support the financial needs of the public schools which, according to our state constitution, is it’s PARAMOUNT DUTY!!!
The passage of levies (not bonds) is absolutely neccesary for our schools to properly support its children.
Middleman on January 09 at 10:51 a.m.
dataxman….did you write your drivel on a bender? Teachers have not gotten raises in the past decade. There was a STATE mandated and VOTER approved raise several years ago and that was taken away. There have been at least 3 COLA’s (Cost of Living Increases) promised by the state that were taken off the table in the past decade. This year, ALL teachers received a 2% paycut across the state (DID YOU???). Health insurance has obviously raised, yet the dollars given to them to help defray some of it has dried up. All teachers have been hurt by this economy just as we all have. Grow up and post something intellegent please.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 09 at 10:59 a.m.
Some of these comments are just sad. Amazing what people will do to make sure our country stays as stupid as possible. We are racing to the bottom of education because tea bagging idiots refuse to pay for education……not because of a few bad teachers and unions like the tea baggers have been brainwashed to believe by Fox News (which has been proven to lie endlessly on this issue).
Look around the world at the countries that are growing the fastest, have the best economies and smartest children……its because they are INCREASING education funding, whereas in America we are cutting it, and look what is happening, we are racing to the bottom. Yes, do a little research you lazy tea bagging idiots and see that this is TRUE, with the internet all these amazing resources we have around its very easy to get this information.
Wow, people, just amazingly stupid and selfish comments on here.
Really getting tired of this attitude from the right…….”I made the money, its mine, mine, mine and nobody can take it from me. Forget all the things in this country that allowed me to get rich from the roads to the airports to move my goods to the schools and universities that educated my workers to get me rich. But, now that I am rich, SCREW YOU ALL, why should my hard earned money go back to improve these same roads and rails that allowed me to move my goods all over the country? Why should I give money back to the education system that educated me and all my workers allowing me to produce my product? Nope, I got mine by taking advantage of the system and everything given to me by this country, but now that I am rich, screw the rest of you.”
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 09 at 11:01 a.m.
Also, the people who say teachers make to much money……SERIOUSLY? Do they make so much money just because you were to dumb to follow what they were telling you in school and now you work at McDonald’s and make minimum wage and are bitter towards teachers for your stupidity?
dataxman on January 09 at 11:06 a.m.
Middleman - were you hitting the sauce when you read my post? Little early isn’t it? I stated I have a 10% pay cut.
As for teachers getting raises - when COLA’s were eliminated - were step/certification increases eliminated as well?
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 09 at 11:12 a.m.
dataxman, so just because you got a pay cut everyone should? Yeah, thats mature.
dataxman on January 09 at 11:15 a.m.
lib - The US spends more per capita on education than any other country (except Switzerland). No correlation has ever been found between dollars spent and results - in fact, just the opposite.
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20378
Scottcycle on January 09 at 11:42 a.m.
Its a shame we can’t have an intelligent discussion here about a public finance issue, without some people engaging in nothing but vicious personal attacks on those who have a differing opinion.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 09 at 11:43 a.m.
dataxman, I never said how much we are spending, I said we are CUTTING our education funding while other countries are INCREASING theirs. I never said we spend the most, however, we SHOULD be spending the most on education because we are America and we should want our children to be the best the world.
So yeah, we have been dropping like a rock since the republicans have taken an attitude that education is evil and shouldn’t be funded like we always have been funding it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/us-falls-in-world-education-rankings_n_793185.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading
dataxman on January 09 at 11:52 a.m.
lib - I fail to see your logic. If we are spending more than any other country - yet the end product is failing by every metric applied - maybe money isn’t the problem.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 09 at 11:56 a.m.
dataxman, if you fail to see the logic then thats not my fault. Its not rocket science what I am saying.
dataxman on January 09 at 11:58 a.m.
lib - truer words have never been written…
The_Seer on January 09 at 12:09 p.m.
First of all, I’m posting this during lunch.
As a public educator I can’t remember when I’ve had more contempt for the morons who make up our tax base. No wonder your children are ignorant as well.
Teachers have been “giving back” even before the recession. We agreed to higher co-pays and deductibles, larger class sizes without contacted pay increases, a pay cut of almost 2%, no stipends for out-of-pocket classroom expenses, etc.
No more. No more. No more.
I think teachers should just all go out on strike for a month or so and let you figure out what to do with your little brats everday. I’m figuring sometime short of six weeks you’ll be begging us to come back to work. With a raise.
How come Canada isn’t having any of these problems with budgets and deficits? Why are they able to fully fund education? Anyone? Could it have something to do with their cost of health care compared to the U.S.?
Health care inflation is driving all these budget woes. We had a chance to fix that by implementing single payer health care but they same simpletons on here complaining about school spending were the same ones whining about death panels.
Until the U.S. raises their average I.Q. by about thirty points expect your slide into the third world to continue unabated.
dataxman on January 09 at 12:18 p.m.
Seer - Canada doesn’t have the budget problems we do because they actually use their natural resources to produce products to sell to the rest of the world - where we want ours to remain pristine and untouched so we can have pretty views.
As for the rest of your rant… well, I hope you really don’t wonder why the public has so little respect for your profession?
Coffee on January 09 at 12:31 p.m.
The_Seer on January 09 at 12:09 p.m.
Didn’t Obama care pass, and Obama sign it?
The_Seer on January 09 at 12:36 p.m.
datataxman: Your lack of respect should be for what you see in the mirror, not people who dedicate their professional lives helping your brats become literate. Canada doesn’t have the problems the U.S. does because they don’t spend double what they have to on health care. Canada is the second largest nation on earth with less than half of the U.S. population. They are able to exploit their natural resources because they don’t have a voracious and overpopulated country expending those natural resources so they are able to export them. In addtion, only 4% of Canadians work in natural resource extraction industries and they account for only 6% of annual GDP so such a small percentage cannot be the driving factor you claim.
It’s health care, stupid!
johnclarke on January 09 at 12:41 p.m.
The_Seer on January 09 at 12:09 p.m.
First of all, I’m posting this during lunch.
Heh,
Seer, part of “the issue” is these levys have been ok fine in the salad days, but what about when everyone is hurting? The system used this funding in the past to expand head count, and now look. From my perspective it’s one thing if we are talking just teachers, but we are not.
dataxman on January 09 at 12:47 p.m.
seer - your lack of respect for your pupils - and your utter contempt for the taxpayers that pay your salary - shows the problems with teachers today. You feel you are entitled to as much money as you want - since you are educating our children. If you weren’t doing such a p-poor job of it (as evident by drop-out rates, test scores, etc) maybe you could demand more. As it is, you are like Ford trying to force a Pinto on the populace at Ferrari prices - and telling the populace that all the problems with the car are the fault of those paying for it - not those that actually built it.
As for health care costs - having relatives in Canada and lived in England, there are good and bad with each system. Unless the US is willing to go to a single payer system with forced purchase of premiums - and be willing to allow those who still refuse - or in this country illegally - to go without, we will continue to spend more and more and receive less and less.
valleyman on January 09 at 12:57 p.m.
@the_seer: I think we ought to have a little freedom of information act request to see which school you work at and from what computer your IP address is coming from so we can ask you be fired for calling our children “brats” and taxpayers (who pay your salary) whom you liken to “morons,” while posting from a school district resource WE PAID FOR!
You are as disrespectful as you are wrong about history.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 09 at 1:19 p.m.
Dataxman, why are you continuing to blame teachers for dropout rates? That seems more to do with parenting that teachers. I don’t think you will have to many people arguing with you, including myself and probably even Seer, that there are bad teachers that probably shouldn’t still be working…….HOWEVER, they bigger issue we have facing our kids and the large dropout rates are because of parenting. I don’t think a teacher has much say in wether or not a kid wakes ups gets out the door in the morning and goes to school, whereas a parent has all the say i the world if their child goes to school or not. Where is your outrage to the lazy parents not doing their job?
mikeln on January 09 at 1:20 p.m.
The seer’s attitude towards children is disturbing. You need to seek help and for the safety of the children in your charge you need to take a leave of absence while you do it!
liberal_in_right_wing_land on January 09 at 1:21 p.m.
I apologize for not taking my own advice that I give to our resident drunk poster in Dazzee and actually proofreading my above comment before posting it.
dataxman on January 09 at 1:31 p.m.
lib - a edit feature would be nice - so would a reply button…
I actually blame the parents more than the teachers. The ‘dumbing’ down in education has been going on for about 30 years. Back when I was a student (god I hate typing that) if I got in trouble (happened about every other year) at school I was punished at home as well. I could plead my case - and if I could convince them the teacher was wrong - I didn’t got out of the home punishment - not the school one. Now little Johnnie and Suzy are perfect and are above punishment. Teachers don’t fail kids so they don’t have to deal with irate parents. The cycle continues. Any teacher that is any good and has high standards gets beat down -but last year s/he did so well so it must be the teacher can’t teach. Both sides are complacent and culpable.
This is why colleges now offer sub-100 courses in reading, writing and math
MrNatural on January 09 at 2:23 p.m.
I support the Cheney school district and I’m very thankful for the way they educated my children…good teachers…good kids…great learning environment…and I will continue to support those teachers, families and children in my district.
The_Seer on January 09 at 3:42 p.m.
valleyman: Knock yourself (and your few remaining, natural teeth) out. I used my laptop, my wi-fi modem and was at lunch when I posted.
The reason I have such contempt for many parents should be obvious after reading these threads. Not one of them has a problem with their tax dollars being used to destroy third world nations and MURDER COUNTLESS THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN THEIR NAMES, but chipping off a few more pennies a year for school? “Over my dead body.”
mikeln: Children are safe in my classroom and safer at school than at home. They are fifty times less likely to get hurt in my classroom than they are at home under their parent’s supervision.
When any of you are willing to spend around fifty grand (and sometimes lots more) to attend college, obtain highly qualified status under the No Child Left Behind Act and then find work in a very limited professional field as of right now, you are welcome to enter the profession of teaching. We could use your help, not your misplaced derision.
I’ve seen the problem and it is you. Children from households with parents who hold them accountable for learning NEVER have academic issues. It’s the majority of you who think you can wash your hands of responsibility for your child’s learning by dropping them off at school or watching them get on the bus. Believe it or not, that attitude rubs off on your children and they bring it with them to school. And it ruins the environment for everyone.
Grow up and do your job as a parent then come looking for us.
In addition, non-faculty positions in U.S. schools since the early 1990’s have increased more than 200% while the size of the faculty has grown about 14%, which barely keeps up with population growth.
GSLFan16 on January 09 at 3:43 p.m.
I support the Mead SD.
91% graduation rate
Continually outperforming the rest with less money. Ranks 268th out of 295 in per student spending.
High schools ranked by Newsweek Magazine
Lowering my taxes!!
Mead354.org
Check it out! I think too many get caught up in the Spokane Public Schools negativity and miss an amazing district!
D Statler on January 09 at 8:42 p.m.
I said it before and I will say it again. Please stop by your closest public school. Walk into the office and ask for a visitors pass. Slowly walk down the halls and look into the classrooms. You will see, as I do every day. Students given the opportunity to learn in a safe enviroment. Advance labs with rows of new computers and smart technology. Kids getting the chance to learn these advanced skills along with necessary ones. It is what it is and it is what ever each kid wants to make of it and with it. I feel honored to be part of public education.Even if I am just the janitor. The students now days are offered more than we ever were. If a student falls thru the cracks.It is a failure by all of us including parents to catch this student before it happens. Alternative education is offered in every school district. We all have a part in our kids’ success or failure.
Voting no on a levy is not a good way to effect change. Get involved and go to your school board meetings. Run for school board if possible. Your kids will appreciate your attention. Your school board will benefit from the new blood and ideas :^)
Thank You to all our friends and families that continue to support our schools and children.You make a difference ! !
nslopeofw on January 09 at 9:05 p.m.
Seer-
I’m fairly certain we dont pay levy’s for war, so that point is as mute as us paying for worthless no works as well.
I got to go with the admin gets cut first, then we see what really needs to get paid for. Personally, my kids go to mead SD and there are MANY volunteer parents in everything including classrooms. I dont see these overworked teachers you talk about. Granted, they do a great job with my kids, but that is probably because they have extra time due to all the parent classroom volunteers. Plus, there is always a list on the whiteboards of stuff we parents can purchase for the class, and many parents do. So, before you rant on about parents that “dont care about their brats” perhaps you should look around more. Dont forget all the parents that also volunteer for non school stuff like scouts, sports, etc. We are not demons. But we are tired of being blamed by people who’s salary we pay.
nslopeofw on January 09 at 9:06 p.m.
And Seer,
Finish the damn video!!
The_Seer on January 10 at 11:05 a.m.
slope: It’s a film and it is finished and sold to a Canadian distributor. It will debut in Spokane probably in May/June.
nslopeofw on January 10 at 8:38 p.m.
Sorry, FILM, and good. But you shoulda let us see it first.
laurierogers on January 23 at 10:20 p.m.
For actual data, links, and supported information about the budget and the levy in Spokane Public Schools, please see my article:
“Yes, vote for kids by asking the adult questions about school levies”:
http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/2012/01/yes-vote-for-kids-by-asking-adult.html
Laurie Rogers, Spokane
flyerd1 on February 02 at 4:26 a.m.
1. Irt it not being a new tax:
Anything with an end date (like a “3yr” levy tax or a mortgage) has to have a “new” one started in order to “remain” in place so it’s perfectly accurate to say it’s a new tax. What if, after paying off your mortgage, the bank said “we don’t want you to pay a new mortgage, we’d just like you to pay on this replacement mortgage” for another mortgage term…? How would that go over?
2. Actual levy rates and Levy Equalization Funds (LEF):
The levy rate most often used by school districts is the smaller, LEF assisted one. However, with our current economy, this is a time when LEF funds could go away and people should plan accordingly (plan worst case scenario). That would cause the amount taken by this levy to be approximately 22% more than the school dist claims.
3. Irt A) It being 28% (mead) of their budget & B) What the levy $ is or is not used for:
A levy is meant to be a one time fill-gap revenue stream that may be necessary once every 10-20 yrs. It’s “NOT” meant to be a “constant” revenue stream… It shows incredibly bad district leadership when they’ve gotten to the point of expecting levies as a never ending part of their budget.
It’s extremely disingenuous to say the money “is not” used for new buildings, repairs, pensions, etc. That’s a simple “shell game”. It’s like having a monthly budget (including $100 each for phone, power, alcohol, and gas) and saying “gee mom, I don’t have enough money to cover all my monthly bills; If you give me $100 I can pay my pwr bill”. There’s no way to realistically seperate that $100 out and stipulate it’s actually being used to pay “the pwr bill” as opposed to the gas, phone, alcohol, etc. budget items. Similarly, there is “no way to realistically separate” levy money such that it can be considered a “completely separate” (from all other budget items) funding amount. The exact part of the budget that the school dist “chooses to say” the levy money pays for is simply a matter of which shell they choose to say it goes towards… Again, its a simple shell game of distortions to say “a specific revenue stream” of any budget is only going to used “for select items” of that overall budget.
4. Despite how this may sound, I’m completely for education funding via a fair and equitable method. A much more equitable method of requesting additional funding would be to request it via a sales tax increase (whatever fraction of a penny required). That way, “everyone” casting a vote would actually be voting to increase “their own taxes” as well as other people’s taxes. If it’s going to be a property tax then either A) only property owners should have the levy on their ballots or B) it should be a supermajority vote. Right now many people vote who don’t even pay property taxes… Otherwise this type of a levy tax should require a super majority in order to be considered more of a fair vote (#5 below).
A cost cutting, as opposed to revenue generating, method of addressing the education budgets would be to address the underfunded TERS1 pensions and work to modify those pensions via negotiations and constitutional changes. The state already acknowledged that TERS1 (stopped in 1977) was unsustainable and a responsible re-negotiation could be done without undue harm to current pension beneficiaries. All other post TERS1 plans should be transitioned to 401K plans. Additionally, cost structures should be reviewed and compared to the charter schools that currently operate for less money while achieving better scholastic success rates.
See 5. below…
flyerd1 on February 02 at 4:26 a.m.
5. If it was a super majority vote this would at least be a fair vote. A super majority vote is necessary anytime you allow a subset group of people to vote on a matter that could be beneficial to them and that they are “not” directly impacted by (in a financially impacting way, i.e. they pay for it). For example (using property ownership rates of 60%), if 65% of “non-property owners” vote “YES”, a levy like this could pass with only 40% of property owners voting for it (even though the property owners pay it).
If Washington was having a vote to increase the sales tax by 2% you wouldn’t want people from Idaho to be allowed to vote because, as stated above, they would be a subset of voters that don’t have to pay for the tax but could actually benefit as their sales went up due to people going into Idaho to avoid the 2% increase.
The counter point of “renters pay these fees via rent” is ridiculous because only in a perfect system would this be the case. In actuality, landlords can only charge what the market will bear. Meaning, if a landlord can’t get a renter at a price that covers the levy costs he/she has to lower the rent in order to simply rent the unit out…