School district with no children

[RB TexLa]

Poll question: School district with no children

This is from a DU post on costs for families and a woman on my local news complaining about how people without children vote against school funding and shouldn't be allowed to vote in such elections.

What do you think of the idea of having one, two or a few school districts in urban areas without any children in the districts. Of course any such zoning law would never stand up to the constitution but what if it could be done simply through agreement of the people. This woman said we childfree living in her children's school district was a "huge problem," so maybe it could one day be done simply by agreement of the people.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. and those people who don't support the schools should also not have to

benefit from those educated kids. When they are old and sick, and need a doctor that was educated in a public grade school, too bad. When their electricity goes out, and the only utility workers that can fix it went to public school, they should be out of luck. Want that McDonalds worker to get your order right? tough, take your chances.

It's for the good of Society. ALL of us, not just Them.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. But but but...

It's all about ME!

well said.

[MissB]

10. Thank you for writing my response for me.

:applause:

[goddess40]

13. Well stated!

[RB TexLa]

16. The people in such a school district would still pay taxes to the state

which financially supports school districts, just as school districts with lower number of children and lower costs already do now.

I think it would be very, very interesting to see at what level a school district with an extremely lowered amount of childfree citizens taxes itself.

[Lindacooks]

18. Boy, you've got it!

I only wish that the world worked that way. Those who oppose stem cell research shouldn't benefit from treatments and cures. Those who oppose public school shouldn't benefit from it.

I'm child-free, and I've always voted for school levy increases. It's for the 'greater good', just like it says in the Constitution.

[AlCzervik]

2. my daughter goes to private school and i still vote yes for funding of

public schools and my property taxes also help pay for the public school system and thats ok by me.

[RB TexLa]

5. The childfree don't automatically vote against school taxes

We are DINKs and have voted both for and against various school tax increases. I don't remember a time we didn't vote in the majority on them.

People in a school district that had no kids would still have tax money going toward public education, state governments fund part of education.

[StellaBlue]

4. two points

1 - I pay taxes, so I have the right to vote in my district. Period.

2 - This reminds me of the whole "Robin Hood" financing debate here in Texas, where people in rich districts bitch and moan about how their taxes are put into a statewide pool and then the money is redistributed equally among all the state's districts. Using their reasoning, since I have no children, I shouldn't have to pay taxes at all. But this is obviously ridiculous. Dangerous, truly Republican thinking. Selective education. It benefits society to educate ALL children (and well, but that's another issue!). Unless, of course, you want to create a permanent underclass to serve drinks to your children at the country club.

[annabanana]

6. An educated populace is essential for all of us.

The great sucking sound of funds being drained from our schools has let to adults of voting age who have NO IDEA why it's important to know what's going on in our government.

[RB TexLa]

9. A school district with no children in it would still pay into education

State governments pay for parts of local education. There are already school districts with child populations lower than others and lower costs for education, this would just take that to an extreme.

[LWolf]

11. Funding cuts

and curricular mandates which focus on low-level, drill-and-kill of "skills" in isolation from logical application of those skills.

This issue came to the surface this week, looking at corrupt "program selections" that come with federal mandates. I may start a separate post about that one. It doesn't reach the level of outrage that congressionally condoned torture does, of course, but it points to reasons why so much of the general public has allowed the castration of their constitution.

[Warpy]

7. The selfish and shortsighted who either have no children

or no longer have school age children are always looking for a way to dodge property taxes slated to support the schools.

No scheme beyond local taxes and state distribution (making sure the schools in poor areas are adequately funded) makes sense.

Education is important. The alternative is too awful to contemplate.

They'd all vote GOP. That's what ignorant people DO.

[catabryna]

8. I have known people who have no children...

refuse to vote for any type of tax increase to fund public schools. Having been childless for the first 37 years of my life, I could never understand this mentality because we all benefit from having a well-educated population of kiddos. During the childless part of my life, I viewed it as a pay-it-forward thing. Someone paid for my education when I was growing up and I felt it was my responsibility to do the same. I'll never understand the selfish behaviors of some folks. *sigh*

[LWolf]

14. That's a very common attitude.

The way government funds the building of new schools is extremely dysfunctional. Funding won't be approved until the district is already overcrowded, and then there are several more years of growth before any newly built school is finished and opened. Districts deal with this by trying to pass local bonds to fund school construction. In the districts I've worked for, it can take several years of efforts, and several failed bonds, before one is finally passed, and then it only spits on the fire of school population growth. While I'd like to see the state fund a new school every time a district grows enough to fill one, no one is exactly beating down the doors in the capital, either.

[liberalhistorian]

17. It's what drives me absolutely crazy about the attitudes

of many senior voters. They directly benefit from an educated populace and the strength and reputation of their particular school district plays a large role in the determination of their area's property values. And just who do they think pays for medicare and social security funding once they've retired?

Yet, too many of them couldn't care less and proudly vote against any and all school funding, just because they can. Imagine how they would have howled against people who thought like that when their own kids were in school.

And yet, they expect everyone to vote for levies that benefit them, such as for senior citizen centers, county aging departments, etc., and to continue paying into medicare, social security, etc. That was the case in my old county in Ohio; badly needed school levies were shot down largely by their votes. So, when it came time for a county aging levy that would fund both the county aging department and the senior citizens community center, they were absolutely shocked and infuriated when it went down big time. They just couldn't understand it. Well, they had no problem voting against school levies because "we don't have kids in school anymore, it doesn't affect us anymore, blahblahbhah, etc., etc", so a lot of parents in the county didn't have any problem voting against the aging levies because "it doesn't affect us, we're not old, etc., etc." Never mind that they, too, would be old someday.

I understood where they were coming from, certainly, and share their anger against the senior vote, but I voted for both the school and the aging levies, because it's the job of citizens in a civilized society to take care of each other regardless of whether they're old or have kids, etc., etc.

[seabeyond]

12. all of us had adults that paid tax for our education

all of us now pay tax for future generation.... whether you have kids or not. theory of pass it forward

[Swamp Rat]

15. I pay taxes so I have the right to vote in my district.

If the lady hates America she can leave. :)

[dsc]

19. The problem here is massive giveaways to business

which causes these taxes to be much higher on residences than they should be. School boards virtually never have say so over if a business is excused from property taxes yet they are the ones who get nailed by that. Thus city governments continually give those breaks.