Posted on 02/14/2007 5:27:56 AM PST by wintertime
SCOTTS VALLEY - Parents whose kids take a day off from school will be asked to open their wallets. That will be $36.13, please.
Desperate to hold on to every penny of state funding, Scotts Valley Unified School District leaders are asking parents to make a donation to the district for the amount it loses every time a student is absent for a reason other than illness.
They say such absences cost the district $223,500 last school year.
``When parents keep their kids out of school, it's difficult for the child,'' Superintendent Susan Silver said. ``But it's also a cost to the district, and when we're in declining enrollment, every single bit of money is important to us.''
State funding for schools is based in large part on a formula called ``average daily attendance.'' Districts aren't paid for how many students are enrolled in their schools, but how many kids show up for classes. So, more absences means less money.
Scotts Valley Unified has 2,722 students enrolled this year, down from a high of 2,846 two years ago. Based on enrollment, the district is eligible to receive more than $14.9 million in state aid, or about 80 percent of its operating budget.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
2) Parents who can afford to take their child out of school for Disneyland or a skiing trip can also afford to pay at part of that child's education costs. This is also true if they are driving and expensive new car, or if they are living in a huge house on the hill.
Government schools are nothing more than ADMC&RF ( Aid to Dependant Middle Class and Rich Families). These parents are sucking the life's blood of others ( often less well off than themselves).
Remember, please, as you see the little yellow school buses climb up the hill to the mini-mansions, YOUR school taxes are subsidizing a lifestyle that includes trips to Diseyland, skiing trips, beautiful new cars, and the mini-mansion on the hill.
Change the state constitution if needed. Hand these parents and their little worthies a tuition bill!
"We need more money to educate fewer children."
Well ... at least they are honest enough to admit they money is more important to them then the child
IBTZ
None the less, I'm some one who believes public schools should be eliminated in favor of school vouchers.
That way we can get rid of the teachers union, and we can get the schools to start educating again.
Anyways, if their going to charge a family $36 a day when their children are out for other than sickness, then the school system should pay that amount per day back to the parents of kids who send their children to private school since they're not using up the government resources.
What's fair is fair, if they want money for when the resource is wasted, they should kick out when the resource isn't even used.
The wealthy aren't in the public schools, the middle class are getting out as much as they can. So the so-called "dependent Middle Class and Rich" are already paying a substantial amount through their property taxes for a service they don't use.
The people this is going to hurt are NOT parents who are taking their kids out of school for fancy trips, but the folks who can't afford to get their kids out of the public schools at all. They may have a doctor's appointment (or have to wait all day at the county public clinic because they don't TAKE appointments) or some other family emergency that requires the kids to miss school.
Unintended consequences.
Assuming that's an average for years past, too, those are dollars they've never gotten before! Thus, that scheme is meant as a revenue enhancer!
These are slime puppies, pure and simple.
HF
Nanny State Ping-Worthy, Gabz?
The state already does that. It is called taxation.
Why would my child's education costs he higher, if I take him out of school for a week at Disneyland?
By your logic, I should pay $36 x 180 days to the school district (ON TOP of my school taxes) for the right to hiomechool my son?
I don't follow.
What a Hoot! Parents should start demanding schools reimburse them for after 12 years returning to them a student (?) with little or no education....the illiterate graduate!
How in the he!! do you figure that?
Is that you, John Edwards?
This district is spending $6719 per student, and it is still not enough.
There is no amount of money that will ever be enough.
Thats good for a laugh
I'd support this if you could take all the school fund raisers back out of the school budget -- how many magazine subscriptions, candy bars, and rolls of wrapping paper does a parent have to buy? If you don't buy the teacher takes it out on your kid.
I don't have a stupid-alert ping list :)
If every public school was abolished by a swish of a wand, the middle class children would still get an education, plus the ski trips, plus the house, plus the car, and the ones that would be left on the side would be the above-mentioned groups. Nothing would change for the middle class in terms of school, needs, or luxeries.
At least be honest in your claims as to who is supporting whom here. The working class, the immigrants, and the welfare recipients do not put back the money into the system that the middle class does. The poor benefit from the taxes of others - not from their own contributions.
I'm still trying to parse the logic of this (need. more. coffee).
These folks are ABLE to take a week at Disneyland BECAUSE they don't pay the $36.13 absentee-tax?
Yeah, and homeowners who haven't had at least one house fire within a 5-year period should pay a fee to the fire department for wasting their time and resources.
Oh, so much to say, so little space to say it!
First of all, public school systems are nothing but welfare programs for incompetent teachers and liberal buttheads and provide a less than adequate baby-sitting service for worthless parents that refuse to take responsibility for their own kids.
Second, they suck a huge portion of my, yes, I said my taxes down a sewer hole.
I'm damn tired of paying for the crap that comes out of those places.
Incompetent teacher? Yeah, sure, just try to get rid of one...Ha!
So, since I've homeschooled for the last 5 years, just how much do I owe the stinking system?
Of course, being incompetent myself and unable to raise my own children without the benevolent overseer of the nanny state, I guess the fact that my 15 year old homschooled daughter is now attending college (after getting a dismal 26 on her ACT) is a reflection on how much taxes I should have paid?
Give me a break!
Public schools can go...well, I have no sympathy for them.
Don't forget the stupid tax - AKA the lottery :)
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