When is enough enough?
Posted by: Noel Jones
Is the EASD out of their friggin' minds? According to the Express Times article below, the Easton Area School District, in the middle of an economic downturn, has proposed raising residents taxes almost 12% this year, even though the State mandated cap on how much they can raise taxes is 3.6%! They are filing for a special exemption with the State to be able to exceed the maximum.
Now, aside from the EASD sticking residents up for money we already don't have lying around, what really makes me mad about this is my favorite pet peeve: folks talking to me like I'm stupid. It's true, I am a poet, and not a banker, but I don't need an accounting degree to see
that the EASD feeding this information in this way to our local paper is a clear attempt to try to frame an outrageous tax hike as if it were really an appropriate renegotiation of a tax limit, that is meant specifically to protect the people from such robbery. By tossing "11.85%" and "3.6%" out there, the aim is to set a range for a negotiation that should never be happening in the first place, so that if they later land on 8.5% or so, they can try to make us feel lucky that the result is not nearly as bad as it could have been.
Express Times Article by Colin McEvoy on Proposed EASD Tax Hike
What I want to know is, what can we do about this? Write letters to the editors of local papers? That, we can do on line, the links to the papers are on the side bar of this home page. Vote the rascals out? When is the next election? Attend School Board meetings and speak up? Has anyone on this blog done this before? I have attended City and County Council meetings, but no EASD meetings yet, and they charge us more taxes than anyone.
EASD meetings can be watched on line here, but that is not the same as attending in person and speaking up. Unless we do our part as citizens and hold our public officials accountable for their actions, things will get worse rather than better. So I guess the question is:
How bad does it have to get before residents start making local politics a priority in their lives and take matters back into their own hands by being active citizens?
Post your ideas and comments here!
Posts
22 comments:
Didn't the EASD look for residents to serve on a committee that will oversee the budgeting process? Do we know anyone on that committee?
Excellent question--is anyone reading this blog on the committee? Do we know if the seats were filled?
the EASD is the biggest tax and spend district in the area. Theyneed to taker a lesson from the city and live within their means - especially now wioth unemployment at 10%. If the caqsh-strapped city can do it they can do it
Noel,It is my understanding that the EASD acts as it's own entity and has since the late 90's early 2000's and up until today.
If you look at the Board structure and members,who are elected officials they are no different than the other Districts.There is virtually no public input,they constantly violate the Sunshine laws and with the increase of the racially fueled lawsuits,it is no secret that they and most of the other School Districts are in trouble.
I hate to belabor the fact or bring up ancient history but prior to the original Weed & Seed grant,there was an initiative to create a Family Center,which in theory,was a in school based program which was supposed to bring health/family based services directly into the schools.
It was a United Way driven concept and a panel of lots of folks,Directors of Social Service Agencies,a UW rep,and the principle of Cheston Elementary all were behind this,oh and I can't forget my dear friend formally from Easton Hospital now head of ER services at Warren Hospital,Dr.Daria Starosta.To make a long story short,Dr.Starosta and "our gang" made an attempt to vacinate all of the children in the area's summer camps to insure that they were up to date on all of their vaccinations prior to entering school.Well you would have thought that we ask for the world.We got very little to no help from School nurses,in fact if Dr.Starosta had not enlisted her staff of nurses who understood"Community Health"issues,the project would have failed miserably but we pushed and pushed and succeeded in the project.But only after countless meetings and arguments and a small miracle.At the time we also tried to make sure that there was student representation on the School Board. No small task,a lot of work went into that project which earned us State recognition and became the stepping stone for access to the PCCD for the Weed & Seed monies.This family center was replicated all over the Lehigh Valley and most are operating to date.In fact,at that time we earned a state wide reputation of being a "Community That Cares".
The creators of the initiative,actually sent a woman from Seattle to do a chapter in a book,on all of this.But alas,administrations change,people and agenda's change and obviously things kind of fell through the cracks.So,I don't have the answer to the question that you and Alan ask,but I do know that there is a definite need for fiscal oversight and student and community input on such a level.And I am sure this posting will generate some discussion and hopefully pressure.
The key word is ACCOUNTABILITY!And we need to keep our elected officials accountable for how monies are spent and how they are spending it.Bottom Line
I am very dissappointed in the school board. They committed to 3.6 % and 3.6% it should be. How did this happen? We just started in the program and already we need an exemption.
Us senior citizens on pensions, that don't rise with the cost of living, are reaching the breaking point. As a retired educator, I support public education, but I can now understand those who have shopped for regions to live in where tax costs are lower.
I would like to know what people think is the main reason behind this hike. I've heard people say that it's the teacher's pension, and I've heard others say it's the spending of outrageous sums of money on sports programs. Anything else? What are the reasons and what are the potential solutions?
Here is a big part of the problem
the school district can not afford this.
Reno
ZARCHIVES: Lehigh Valley Live Breaking News Breaking News »
Easton Area School Board OKs five-year teachers' deal
By Steve Althouse
December 20, 2007, 11:11PM
The Easton Area School Board tonight agreed to a five-year teachers' contract that increases teacher salaries by an average of about 4.96 percent for each year of the agreement.
The large salary jump came in exchange for an increase in the length of both the teacher work day and the school year, Easton Area Education Association President Kevin Deely said.
"This contract essentially compensates us for the extra work we're putting in," Deely said.
Deely said the average teacher salary, currently about $55,000, and would increase to somewhere between $65,000 to $70,000 by the end of the five-year agreement.
The current teacher starting salary of $40,000 would also increase to slightly more than $50,000 by the end of the agreement, he said.
District Business Manager Jeff Bader said the contract improved salary options for teachers who have been with the district a long time, and also increased starting salaries to make the school more competitive in seeking new teachers.
"We've currently been finding that we gain teachers, we train them, put a lot of money invested in them and then we lose them to other districts because of non-competitive salaries," Bader said.
The school board approved the contract with a 6-0 vote, and two abstentions.
The EAEA ratified it earlier in the day with a vote of 378-30, Deely said.
Read the full article in Friday's Express-Times.
Hello! I just found this site, so I'm new to reading any comments. I am also new to South Easton as a resident. I moved here from NJ two years ago. Although Pa is better than living in NJ, the government still does the same thing. Anyon eis the position to control spending and budgets, expecially in schools are out of their minds. They spend money like it's water. It needs to stop. Please stop spending money no one has! We don't need several million dollars to run our schools and build new municipal buildings.
the teachers get paid too much (of course they say they are UNDER paid for the degrees they have, but considering the district continues to miss student benchmarks, they are WAY overpaid)and there is WAY too much emphasis on sports!
besides their inability to live within their means, the power they have to seize your house is appalling. anyone who thinks they have 'freedom' in this country, try falling behind in your school taxes; bye, bye house.
reason 875 why my kids don't go to public school. at least that way, the ridiculous taxes I pay go to someone who KNOWS how to educate my kids.
Anon 8:29--welcome! Your frustrations with the local political system are shared by many, and the only way it will change is for each of us to do our part as citizens, by reading the news, attending City Council meetings, participating in discussions like these, and most of all, VOTING and helping to get out the vote at election time. Thanks for jumping in and posting!
I'm curious to know what part of NJ you moved from?
EHB~
I'm confused by this part of your comment:
"reason 875 why my kids don't go to public school. at least that way, the ridiculous taxes I pay go to someone who KNOWS how to educate my kids."
Don't your taxes still go to the EASD whether your kids are home-schooled or not?
I do not have kids, but still have to pay EASD taxes. In NY, I hear that residents that don't have kids get a 50% school tax rebate--I wish PA were like that. I believe in the importance of everyone investing in the education of a community's youth, but it does seem extreme that a couple with no children pays at the same rate as a couple with several kids that are benefitting from the school system.
Noel,
the way I understand it, taxes that I pay to EASD go to the state, which pays the cyber charter school my kids are enrolled in. but I really don't know the mechanics of it.
the cyber school provides my kids with computers, textbooks, all the supplies and reimburses us for our internet connection. there is no charge to us at all from the school.
'Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors...and miss.'
--Robert Heinlein
ha ha. now seriously. what can we DO about this? is anyone up for letters to the editor? links to the local papers are on the side bars of the home page of this blog, one click away. if you write a letter, be sure to post here to let us know!
"Your frustrations with the local political system are shared by many, and the only way it will change is for each of us to do our part as citizens, by reading the news, attending City Council meetings, participating in discussions like these, and most of all, VOTING and helping to get out the vote at election time. Thanks for jumping in and posting!"
The most outrageous taxing body is the school district. We need to get people to attned the School Board meetings.
Is there anyone on this blog that has attended a school board meeting that can describe their experience?
If someone would like to go protest the proposed tax hike, I will be happy to go along.
I would like to attend however the meeting is this Thursday evening, the 28th at 7:30pm. The quarterly Blockwatch meeting is the same evening at 7:00pm and i am committed to attend.
Here is the link to the agenda:note budget 2010-2011.
http://bms2.eastonsd.org/eAgendaEastonSD/238/4196/Files/agenda-1-28-10.pdf
Public comment is listed.
To whomever decides to attend...you might want to remind the board members that Easton High School has been in corrective action level 2 status for the past 3 years and the 7/8 building has been in Corrective Action 2 status for 1 year. Now...where is the logic here? They are proposing a tax hike well above 3.6% and though the grade schools perform well, by the time the students reach grade 9 they are not doing anywhere near as well as their younger peers.
Maybe the board should propose taking some of the money they have funneled into the top-notch sports programs like football and wrestling and leave the buldings open until 8:00pm so that community organizations could utilize them FREE OF CHARGE to supplement the education and recreation programs to build positive assets in these "challenged" students with greater needs than the district can provide for. The vast majority of underserved high school students (especially those that live in the West Ward)have nowhere to go afterschool to even use a computer to do their assignments.
Best of luck to the brave souls that take on "Goliath".
Laura Accetta
Weed and Seed Site Coordinator
Laura, thanks so much for this information!
Any takers? Anyone who wants to go speak up against having their taxes hiked almost 12% will have my company. Post here to let me know. I have a class that night, but I will skip it if someone else is going to the meeting--who wants to go?!
This is everybody's fight--how badly do you NOT want to get taxed 12% more this year? If you want things to change, you can't wait for others to do it for you, and I won't go alone, the neighborhood has to want it for themselves. Otherwise, time to suck it up and fork out more money...
Post here if you want to stop this enough to do something about it!
i heard from another resident last night that she will be coming to the school board meeting to protest tax hike, so it looks like we have 10 people so far--if anyone else is planning on coming, please post here!
if you can't attend the meeting but would like to do something to stop this tax hike, please copy this line:
myersk@eastonsd.org, reillyt@eastonsd.org2013, vulcanop@eastonsd.org2013
…into the address of an email, and send your comments to our school board reps (Kerry Myers, Timothy Reilly, Pat Vulcano) so that they can be entered as part of the public response!
it is rediculous to think that the school board is thinking of raising taxes by 12%. Thankfully the city held the line but the county is up as well. The school district is getting more money than ever from Harriburg since Rendell is in office and has made education a major priority. But in your discussions at the meeting why not ask Mr. Deeley, President of the teachers union why he won't sign the "Race to the Top." This is a federal program started by Obama to INCREASE the standards and those districts that increase results are eligible for billions of dollars. With Rendell going out of office next year and state budget the way it is, there is a good chance that funding from the state will decrease. We need to be on board to get our share of federal dollars which will help to keep taxes down.
Anon 10:02--just seeing this now. There was a good turnout at the meeting and five residents spoke up for the tax paying residents against the hike.
Please come if you can next Thursday, Feb. 4th, when we are going to bring an even bigger group of people--it would be great if you could come and make your points with us then--Or if you can't make it, please email our reps (Meyers, Reilly, Vulcano) and tell them your thoughts in writing so that they can be entered as part of the public record!
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