monique

Woolgathering
2002-05-07 01:31:29 (UTC)

Questions

I think sometimes I'm better off not reading the daily
newspaper because when I'm done all I'm left with is
questions. Today, for example, I read that our little town
is set to approve a budget of over $1 million. I cannot for
the life of me figure out what they're doing with all that
money. The city water and sewer system, the article said,
are both self-supporting. We contract out for police
patrols but we're talking about six hours a week. This is a
very small town. We have a volunteer fire department and
their budget is from the county. We don't have a library or
other services those in large towns do. So where is this
money going? It amounts to over $1400 a year for every man,
woman and child in town. The streets have potholes and
there are some that have no signs. Of course, they don't
have real names just letters and numbers so if you know
which side of the highway is East and West and if you can
find just one of the lettered or numbered signs you're set.

I know there are at least three city pickup trucks and five
full time city employees but what they do all day, five days
a week, is beyond me. The city hall is old and small but
there are still at least three people working in there full
time and I'm not certain what it is they do all day either.
The mayor and council members are not paid.

So where is all this money going? Beats me! It's the same
thing with the schools. They never have enough money.
Since the district gets $5,500 per child and an average
classroom has 25 students that's $137,500. Let's say the
teacher gets $37,500 and since we have a lot of new
teachers that's probably about right for most, but what are
they doing with the other $100,000 per classroom? We don't
have librarians or nurses. We have two music teachers for
the entire district and no special physical ed teachers.
Technology costs a lot but the district has gotten their
computers from parent fundraisers, gifts, and grants. Each
school has a principal and the high school has a
vice-principal but they share a counselor and the
superintendent's pay is pretty lean at about $65,000 a year.
So where's all the money going? And why is it, no matter
how much they get, it's never enough?




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