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Fair ~ High: 79°F ~ Low: 57°F Tuesday, May 22, 2012 |
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Long-time resident: Marshall needs schools the community can be proud ofPosted Wednesday, October 28, 2009, at 11:58 AM
From Clay Mead
Marshall In 1957, my wife, Lela, and I decided to come to Marshall and open a furniture store. One of the qualifications that attracted us was the reputation of the public school system. It proved to be a good decision for me and my family. Our two children graduated from Marshall High School. I was fortunate enough to give my son his diploma while serving on the board (a truly enlightening experience). I served for about 12 years, during which we built the "new" high school. the public thought we had bought way too much land and complained, but had we not bought it, where would the parking lot, tennis courts, football field, Saline County Career Center, Central Office Building, etc., be today? When the board members would attend area and district or state educational meetings and they attached a name plate on us as Marshall board members, it made me proud to be there! This bond issue will put our system up to date. Sure, old buildings can be fixed up. Try to put modern electrical, heating and cooling equipment in with a reasonable expenditure! Don't forget, our kids need computers, TVs and who knows what else is coming. The electronics as we know them today will be outmoded before your kids and grandkids get started in grade schools. I know there will be a tax increase -- quite a bit for some and a little for others -- but none of us will be bankrupted by it. If we can restore a courthouse, have one of the best 18-hole public golf courses in the state, good streets, a fancy airport, a great college, new ambulance and 911 buildings and an air museum/community center, I'll be darned if I want to be one of those who might turn down a great school system. Respectfully written to the friends I have and to the citizens who want to be proud of our schools. Editor's note: This letter will be published Thursday, Oct. 29, in the print edition of The Marshall Democrat-News. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
New School?  - Archives - Blog RSS feed ![[Feed icon]](http://www.marshallnews.com/images/icons/feed-icon-14x14.png){kind=icon} - Comments RSS feed - Send email to Residents of Marshall School District - Login As the April 6 election approaches, voters in the Marshall Public School District will have much to say about the bond issue on the ballot and the proposed new elementary school the district will build if the issue is approved.
Anyone who is interested in the issue can contribute an entry to this blog. However, only signed commentary will be posted as blog entries, but any MDN website user can post comments on the entries, just like on any other blog.
We recommend community members use the Letter to the Editor form to submit their views on the issue. Commentary posted in this blog will also be published in the newspaper. We hope to see a wide range of views, with reasons given for positions taken, questions asked and concerns respectfully expressed.
Anyone wishing to read articles about the bond issue and facility problems it is intended to address may wish to visit www.marshallnews.com/topic/mpsdbond09.
Hot topics Writer supports kids but opposes tax increase to build new school(20 ~ 10:20 AM, Apr 4)
Old school buildings no longer fit educational needs
Property owner questions school district's process for selecting site for proposed new school
New school should be added to list of Marshall's recent additions
New school proposal appears well-researched
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I fully agree with Mr. Meade, Our Kids Need this new school!
Spoken well, Mr. Mead, but I take issue with one of your remarks. True, probably no one will go bankrupt from the higher taxes but many people, especially our elderly on a fixed income, will have to make the decision whether to buy medicine or food since their taxes will be higher.
You have the money to not have to make this decision, Mr. Mead. Not everyone does.
I agree with Tori, this stimulus borrowing is a two way street also, we borrow back our own money from the federal government, then pay it back with interest from a tax increase on our local folks. I agree that a tax increase will not hurt all but it will hurt. We just had an increase because of a bad formula used by the local assesor's office, the state made them up our taxes because of it. Now another one so soon. Property taxes are unfair anyway. there are to many multiple family homes in this county who do not pay property taxes, but their childern still need a quality education and get it. We need our local government officials to try to change the law so we can use a sales tax, a fair system and it raises alot more money. Thanks for allowing me to voice my opinion...I support schools just not all the tax increases..
A sales tax is so regressive. It hits the poor, and elderly the most and many of the more affluent will import their foodstuffs and clothing from outside the state and would not pay any sales tax.
Heck even now I being middle class order online goods from outside the state just to not pay sales tax.
But the property tax is fair?? Don't think so. Shop at home and help out. I even shop online but not to avoid taxes just to get hard to find items. Sales tax is the only fair system, sorry.
Property tax is paid by both renters (it's calculated by the owner into the monthly rent) and property owners.
Citizens for the School Bond
I surely hope the school bond passes. I am so tired of listening to "I'm on a fixed income!!" Sorry, but you should have thought that someday you might get older and need to save a little--someone paid taxes for your education and now it is way passed time to PASS IT ON. As Clay said--no telling what is comming in our future and our childred and grandchildren are the working force that will be paying so someone can be on that fixed income!! Let's give them the best education we can with all the equipment they need to keep us in top educational condition!! This is our future as well as our children's we are talking about folks--Thanks for letting me have my say!!
farmerwife,
We're glad that you support the school bond. The surest way to make sure it passes is to get out and vote and encourage all your friends and family to do the same.
Last time, the bond failed by less than 300 votes. We need to make sure that every person comes to vote and doesn't think their vote doesn't matter.
If you give me the tax money collected to pay for... "one of the best 18-hole public golf courses in the state, a fancy airport, new ambulance and 911 buildings and an air museum/community center" ... back, I'll gladly give to the school district.
I agree with Tori, I reckon Mr. Mead might absorb the higher property taxes better than most. And by the way, where is Mr. Mead's residence? Nothing personal, but a new school next to the Country Club would be waaaay better than a trailer park, right?
countryman,
The selection of the land was based on economics and nothing more. It was the best price, simple as that.
You have suggested that the choice was based on what borders the property. If the best price had been next to a trailer park, the school would have built there. To suggest otherwise is a misrepresentation.
farmerwife's post left out one thing about our grand childern with all this stimulus money handed out all over the place and bailouts, our grand childern will be paying it back when they grow up and go to work. The federal government will raise taxes soon or later to get this money back. And the fixed income people saving more for this time, how many 401 K'S have been lost because of the Bush administration. These people did save and now its all gone...