When I think of all the reasons to support the school bond issue on Tuesday, the one that continues to rise to the top is the difference a new elementary school would mean to the children.
Instead of attending three different attendance centers, children would be in a single elementary school from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. That continuity would provide a wonderful sense of community for not only students but also teachers as they witness the progress of their students from one grade to the next.
Add to this the fact that the new school would be healthier no mold; safer integrated security system; and would provide a better environment for learning, and the decision to vote yes came easily and joyfully.
The same reasons could be applied to voting to approve additional funding to replace the aging heating and cooling system at the middle school and to create a new science and technology building at the high school.
I voted on Tuesday couldnt wait with check marks beside all three propositions.
SOME HAVE questioned the decision to pay for the bond issue through property taxes rather than sales taxes.
The short answer is that the school district doesnt have the ability to levy a sales tax, but it could ask the cities of Iola, Gas and LaHarpe to raise their sales taxes and devote a portion to the district.
For arguments sake, lets say school officials took that path.
If so, sales taxes in Iola, Gas and LaHarpe would need to be increased by 12 percent, school officials estimate, in order to pay for the new elementary school.
That 12 percent tax hike, if approved by each community, would be added to their current 1 percent sales tax in addition to the county sales tax of 1.25 percent as well as the state sales tax of 6.5 percent.
All of a sudden, the overall sales tax of each community would be 19.75 percent. That pork tenderloin at G&W Foods just went from $2.99 to $3.58 per pound. And lets not even think what the difference would be in big-ticket items such as a pickup at Twin Motors.
Talk about a turn-off for not only shoppers but also prospective retailers.
Such a tax is also regressive by the fact that everyone has to eat, buy gas, or put clothes on their backs. So an increase in the cost of everyday commodities by way of a higher sales tax affects the poor just as much as the rich.
The property tax, on the other hand, affects those who own property. In other words, those who have. The bigger the house, the bigger the tax as it should be. The bigger and more productive the farm operation, the bigger the tax as it should be.
IM EXCITED, if not a little anxious, about Tuesdays results. Fingers crossed its a Yes! Yes! Yes!
