"They are doing it again!"

I appreciate the effort of all those working on the current school bond campaign, as I was a member of the 2002-03 facility committee. However, I still think we are not learning from past mistakes. There is a reason that it takes 37 years to pass an issue.

At that time, the vote had already failed on two previous campaigns, the last of which was for around $13 million dollars. We toured several new schools, including Sedalia, Columbia, and Moberly. The Columbia school was 2 stories, but stairs were not very appealing.

I believe the best was Gratz-Brown in Moberly, a beautiful building for grades 3-5. (Current enrollment is 523 students). Gratz-Brown was state-of-the-art, with a classroom-accessible media room, smart boards, and completely furnished for $5.1 million. I called the contractor and asked if he could come to Marshall and build a similar school for that price. He said yes, but the cost would be about $5.5 million since the Moberly school was about 2 years old.

Our plan at that time was over $7 million, unfurnished! After furnishing and adding other school needs, the price tag grew to $11.9 million! I felt that we were spending more money than we needed to and could no longer support the plan. We might have passed a bond issue for much less, and by now we could be thinking about a second building.

Now we are talking $20 million for one school! In this economy! Wow!

With the current assessment increase and the bond issue, my tax will increase 22 percent in one year. While our kids should have the best education we can provide, we must remember that many homeowners simply cannot afford that kind of increase.

I think we should take smaller, positive steps toward a long-range plan. Maybe we should buy the land first, after more input from all concerned, so that land would no longer be part of the issue. You cannot please everyone, but I think most people would approve a good land site.

What is it we say about doing the same thing repeatedly, each time expecting better results?

I cannot support this proposal.

Editor's note: This letter appeared in The Marshall Democrat-News Monday, Sept. 14, 2009.