February 10, 2012 in Opinion, Letters

Great grades for CV

 

Recently the Central Valley School District sent out a newsletter to keep our community informed and involved. We read with interest about the many recent achievements of the district. To name a just a few:

• Recognized in the top 5 percent of highest performing districts in Washington state.

• A high school graduation rate of 88.5 percent.

• A state audit report of financial records with six consecutive years of no findings.

• State Patrol bus inspection with a pass rate of 98.8 percent.

• Reducing waste garbage fees with a cafeteria composting program.

• Students working to support Spokane Valley Partners with food and cash donations.

The communiqué went on to provide information on a forthcoming request for a three-year operations/ replacement levy. After reading about the district’s many significant contributions to our students and community, it made us appreciate just how fortunate we are to have such quality schools educating our children.

CVSD continues to excel even with reduced financial and staffing resources.

Congratulations to the students, staff and administration of Central Valley schools. Count on our vote of confidence for you in the February vote. We encourage the voters of our entire community to do the same.

Jay and Kay Walter

Greenacres

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Two comments on this story so far. Add yours!

  • Dazzeetrader11 on February 10 at 1:23 a.m.

    Thanks Jay……here’s the beef:

    “CVSD continues to excel even with reduced financial and staffing resources”

    Vote No on this Levy. Things get better with dedication and hard work…even if money is scarce. Vote No on increased taxes on your property.

  • flyerd1 on February 13 at 1:18 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:

    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”…

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