Things That Suck
Today's Indians game sucked. I don't really blame anyone. Millwood said he was done and I believe him. Wick is the closer, and, even though, this is his third day, he's gotta go get it. We were playing with fire, trying to beat the Yanks with only 3 runs, that doesn't happen ever. The umpire was terrible. We've got to win this game though...and I really would have liked to see Millwood in the 9th. God, I hate when we lose like this. 4 solo homers...that means they couldn't get anything together, that we got nailed a few times. But...gotta move on.
Anyways, here's the thing about schools. The funding system in Ohio is terrible. Property tax pays for fire, parks, police, libraries, and schools. All of those have their problems with levies, but which one matters least to voters, when it comes down to bare bones. Schools. Voters are out of school, the system worked for them, and if they don't like it, they move their kids (community or private). If they can afford it. And it's those who can't afford to move or afford the tax who are trapped. The system is broken and I gave you the three reasons.
1. People need to open their wallets. Education leads to decreases in crime, increases in wealth, and a whole lot of positive externalities. In places like Cleveland, they need a ton of money to provide the level of education that is taken for granted in the suburbs. Security costs a ton of money. When you have a ton of students, you need a ton of teachers. Extracurriculars need more promoting and more funding. It's a reality, when you start at a lower level with more children, you need more money to bring everyone up to the appropriate level. Like I rant about often, we spend a ton of money on the elderly, which bears very little long-term return. So, we need to get the money. So how do we do it?
2. Governments need to refigure their priorities. In my opinion, education is the best investment a government can make, and should be the number two priority of any government (after public safety). I also think that the job is too massive for the Federal government, not money-wise, but micromanagerially. Thus, I argue for fewer unfunded mandates and a reform of the health care and pensions system to allow the states to reprioritize away from some of this spending. States need to actually do this job well, which leads into...
3. Ohio has a terrible system for funding. People pay a lot of taxes, they are poor, and if you give them the option to vote something down, they will unless given a reason not to. And schools are a tough sell. If the schools are bad, then people want "results" before they spend more money. If the schools are good, then they don't "need" more money. People who are living on a fixed income and people without kids don't see any reason to pay more taxes. We don't ask for spending for a lot of useless pork...(my tax money gets spent on a useless bridge in Alaska?) but we give referendums on the most useful, but most difficult to quantify pieces of funding. Education is the classic public good...it's almost impossible to quantify who benefits and how much.
Anyways, its frustrating.
Peace
Anyways, here's the thing about schools. The funding system in Ohio is terrible. Property tax pays for fire, parks, police, libraries, and schools. All of those have their problems with levies, but which one matters least to voters, when it comes down to bare bones. Schools. Voters are out of school, the system worked for them, and if they don't like it, they move their kids (community or private). If they can afford it. And it's those who can't afford to move or afford the tax who are trapped. The system is broken and I gave you the three reasons.
1. People need to open their wallets. Education leads to decreases in crime, increases in wealth, and a whole lot of positive externalities. In places like Cleveland, they need a ton of money to provide the level of education that is taken for granted in the suburbs. Security costs a ton of money. When you have a ton of students, you need a ton of teachers. Extracurriculars need more promoting and more funding. It's a reality, when you start at a lower level with more children, you need more money to bring everyone up to the appropriate level. Like I rant about often, we spend a ton of money on the elderly, which bears very little long-term return. So, we need to get the money. So how do we do it?
2. Governments need to refigure their priorities. In my opinion, education is the best investment a government can make, and should be the number two priority of any government (after public safety). I also think that the job is too massive for the Federal government, not money-wise, but micromanagerially. Thus, I argue for fewer unfunded mandates and a reform of the health care and pensions system to allow the states to reprioritize away from some of this spending. States need to actually do this job well, which leads into...
3. Ohio has a terrible system for funding. People pay a lot of taxes, they are poor, and if you give them the option to vote something down, they will unless given a reason not to. And schools are a tough sell. If the schools are bad, then people want "results" before they spend more money. If the schools are good, then they don't "need" more money. People who are living on a fixed income and people without kids don't see any reason to pay more taxes. We don't ask for spending for a lot of useless pork...(my tax money gets spent on a useless bridge in Alaska?) but we give referendums on the most useful, but most difficult to quantify pieces of funding. Education is the classic public good...it's almost impossible to quantify who benefits and how much.
Anyways, its frustrating.
Peace
posted by David Ebersole at 11:13 PM
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