Idaho education issues

In Idaho, a couple of years ago, we had an interim governor. He now serves on the U.S. Senate. Senator Jim Risch (during his short tenure as governor) switched the funding of education from property tax to sales tax. Because sales tax is so changing depending on the state of the economy, this switch has had a negative impact on the funding of education.

Decreased revenues from the sales tax have caused the Idaho legislature to make 128.5 million dollars in unprecedented tax cuts for education next year. All districts have been hit hard. Our district, Madison District 321, is facing huge cuts and has declared the situation an emergency. The first cutback is coming at the end of the school year. Our year will end one week early. All schools will shut down, the buses will be parked, and all buildings will remain closed until next fall. A projected $100.000 will be saved with this move. Other plans include shortening the school year in 2011-12, reducing extracurricular activities, and eliminating kindergarten midday bussing. More cuts are in the works. I'm certain that our benefits and salaries will be effected.

One graduation requirement that seniors are required to fulfill at MHS is Project Citizen. This assignment is accomplished by groups of students identifying a problem, studying solutions and then making proposals for solving the problem. Groups consist of about seven students. These students present their findings to fellow students and invited guests.

Kirsten and group presented their project this past Monday. They addressed funding of education. Their four proposals consisted of:

1. Consolidating School Districts in Idaho

2. Shortening the school year

3. Switching state income taxes from a progressive tax to a combination of progressive and flat. All incomes from $20,000 up to $100,000 will pay a progressive tax starting at 1% and ending at 7%. All incomes that are above $100,000 will pay a flat tax of 7%. Also as a part of this policy there will be no exemptions, deductions, etc. This will result in the general population paying lower taxes, but because more people will be paying lower taxes the state will bring in higher revenue.

4. Raising the alcohol tax (which hasn't been changed since the 1960's)

If these policies were implemented they could potentially save/bring in over $71 million!!!

The group was picked to go to the next level which means competing against other groups from other government classes. In attendance at her first presentation were State Senator Brent Hill, State Representative Dell Raybould, District 321 Superintendant Geoffrey Thomas and School board member Melody Johnson. They had a good showing of the big wigs. Hope they listened and heard about the students desire to have continued growing opportunities in their education. This opportunity will surely cease to exist if attention is not given to aspiring educators. These future educators need to be certain that they are able to support themselves and a family on a teacher's income. Many prospective teachers are steering clear of teaching as a profession because the outlook is quite dismal. I hope it becomes a priority. Having an absence of quality role models will surely effect our future and our children.

April Fooled Us with 3 inches of Snow

We enjoyed a lovely Spring break. The weather didn't really fit the title. I believe we received about 3 inches of snow. It has since melted and now we are looking forward to another attempt at Spring weather. The air seemed to be little warmer today. There is hope.

A few updates:

Camille just finished her 4th semester at BYU-I. She gets to relax this next week before she resumes her classes. Because she is in Dance Alliance again this year, she is staying in school for Spring Term. At the end of this next term the team will travel to the Northwest to perform their show.

Kirsten is savoring every moment of her senior year. She has loved the social part of her senior year and doesn't want all the fun to end. This past weekend Sarah and Kirsten went to the high school's Spring Fling with some guys that they invited. At the end of the dance, they discovered the car that they rode to the dance in was covered in ketchup and peanut butter. So at midnight they went to the car wash.

Our garage door suffered some damage for the second time in it's life cycle. On Thursday as Kirsten was beginning to back the car out for dance, she discovered that she hadn't pushed up the door to get the right amount of clearance for the van. Hence, she pushed out the bottom panel of the garage door and shattered the rear window in the van. It was a sad moment. But the expense has not added up to be as much as we assumed it might be in the beginning. The repairman was able to straighten the door and the body shop found a window in another van that they will install. Then they will take care of the dents on the door. Really not what we had hoped to spend our money on but at least less expensive options worked out. The first damage to the same door happened about ten years ago, when I had a very similar experience. Of course I couldn't get to upset with Kirsten.

Spencer and Matthew are trying out Babe Ruth baseball for the first time. We haven't experienced any games yet, but I do know that it is taken fairly seriously by many adult men in our area. We will have to see how it all goes. The boys are excited.

Catherine has been busy choreographing dance moves for the mini-musical to be put on by the youth in our ward. Kirsten and Sarah have been good sports and helped her out. They have come up with some pretty cute ballroom moves.

Well that was a short update considering it has been a month. I think our lives have been rather ordinary lately which is a good thing. No complaining.