Spokane7
68°
February 4, 2012 in Opinion, Letters
Levy dollars are vital
I am fortunate to live and work in a school district where I am confident my own child receives a comprehensive, quality education. When he walks through the doors of his school he is greeted by friendly para-educators. He participates in patrol, the school news show, band and the math team. Every day, innovative teachers and an instructional coach challenge him academically.
As a Cheney educator, I know my own child’s experiences are not unique. Four thousand children walk through the doors of Cheney’s schools every day to experience a commitment to excellence from support staff and teachers. Without funding from levy dollars, this level of commitment would not be possible. Library/media specialists, custodial staff, music programs, school counselors, quality curriculum and athletic programs are just a few of the important components of a quality school experience directly funded with levy dollars.
Without replacement of the current levy, many programs and people of utmost importance to Cheney students would go away.
I strongly urge that residents of the Cheney School District vote yes to replace the three-year educational programs and operations levy by Feb. 14.
Carol A. Mahoney
Cheney
Trudy Rubin: Egyptians say no to Islamists 
flyerd1 on February 05 at 3:11 a.m.
You mentioned a “educational programs and operations levy”(I’ll abbreviate it EP&O).
Apparently, you don’t understand the shell game surrounding what the levies do and don’t pay for. As an educator, I would certainly hope you would understand this example. Please see below:
For those who didn’t see the college kid’s budget example yet here it is again: Imagine being a college kid who looks at your $700/month budget and realizes you’re $100 short of having enough $ for all your bills (rent, pwr, gas, phone, food, dating, beer, etc). The pwr bill is $100 and you ask your mom if she can help with that bill. Her paying the pwr bill for you allows you to spend the $100 that would have gone to pay that bill on whatever other budget items you choose (like food or beer or dating).
It doesn’t matter what you choose to tell mom her $100 went to pay the pwr, rent, beer, or whatever, the net result is EXACTLY THE SAME because your overall budget has simply gone up by $100 from $700 to $800. The same as a school dist’s budget going up from (X) to (X + EP&O Levy). It’s still one big budget of money with dollars designated at the whim of the district.
It’s just a semantics game of money merry-go-round that tries to convince you that the levy money is “only” used for XYZ and NOT for ABC… PLEASE, don’t let them confuse you with the merry-go-round/shell game double speak…
Here’s another example (if you didn’t understand the previous one):
Imagine 10 buckets lined up that represent all the various budget items involved in the entire state education system. each bucket has money in it for their various line items. Buckets 1-9 costs have gone up (Administrative costs, salaries, retiree pensions, health care costs, etc., etc.). Money that would otherwise go into bucket 10 (like the pwr bill $ in above example) is instead diverted to buckets 1-9, but that leaves bucket 10 empty. So a levy is passed (like asking mom for $100 above) and we “say” the money is ONLY for bucket 10 (like pwr bill in above example), not for any of the other buckets. The shell game is that the end state is EXACTLY THE SAME because it’s all ONE BIG BUDGET.
In other words, there’s absolutely no net difference between:
1) using the levy money to replace bucket 10’s funds (funds that were made available to the other 9 buckets) &
2) Never taking any money from bucket 10’s fund’s and instead using the levy money to top off buckets 1-9.
flyerd1 on February 13 at 1:44 a.m.
Contrary to the apparent beliefs of most levy supporters that people in opposition are sinister child haters, there are many anti-levy citizens with no ulterior motives. I, for one, simply appreciate having actual truths presented (rather than fear invoking commentary and distortions I’ve read/heard). Making it appear that 3yrs of levy costs will be paid in a single yr is an example of distortion on the anti-levy side. Similarly, there are many examples distortions & less than true statements from the pro-levy side. Here’s one irt what levy $ will actually be used for:
Easier to follow example below:
It’s extremely disingenuous to say “specific funds” are for “specific items” of an overall budget. Basic accounting shows that the net impact of a levy is simply to increase the “overall budget” (even if presented as paying for specific items). Here’s an explanation of why (please try to understand that this simply explains the shell game of saying “where” certain $ goes (regardless of your opinion as to the need for the $) and is applicable in many other situations you may encounter besides this one:
Imagine an $8M budget spread into 10 buckets. If someone decided $8M wasn’t enough and wanted to request more $ they could simply put the entire $8M into buckets 1-8 and say “we need $2M (levy $) but it’s only for buckets 9 & 10” (maintenance & operations, or whatever your specific levy indicates). The net result of the additional $2M would simply be that the new budget is $10M instead of $8M. The shell game here is that they could just as easily have said the $2M is for buckets 1 & 2 or 3 & 5 or 4 & 7 etc. In other words, the “exact” place they “choose” to say the $ goes to is absolutely irrelevant because it’s all part of “one overall budget” that is being spent.
Regardless of your stance irt the actual need for the $ it’s a complete shell game when they say “don’t worry, the money is only for this bucket or that one”. It raises the Q of why do they need to use shell games to sell a levy; shouldn’t the actual need be strong enough so as not to require moving shells around?Could it be because they need to distract you from looking in some of the other buckets?..
Being “civic-minded” includes being “fiscally aware” of where/how the community spends ii’s money. Too many people fall into the word manipulation traps employed by pro-levy supporters as well as the exploitative “heart string” tactics of “it’s for the children”…