How's this for big kahunas.The Mulberry Street Gang is betting on the come the referendum is a done deal.
So, confident is the Zionsville School Corp. that the referendum tax will pass in November that $5.8 million of the first year's proceeds from the tax was included in the 2011 budget, which the Zionsville school board has on its agenda again at Monday night's meeting (8-23)! Page 8 in the budget shows a line item for "referendum fund" with $5.84 million in it. ZCS apparently feels like they are playing with the house's money because, "The Referendum Fund, if the operating referendum is approved, will also be included in future years." (page 10.) Isn't it grand to play with O.P.M.?
But, perhaps the Robison administration should make some side bets, just as insurance.
It must be in the cards that the referendum will be protested. The 2011 budget is being challenged by a group of local residents, with more than the required number of signatures.
A devoted and die-hard group of anti-tax folks has formed a committee - Zionsville Taxpayers for Responsible Education - to do battle with the Zionsville Community Schools PAC, ZCS Yes. The ZTRE is currently soliciting contributions through a post office box - Zionsville Taxpayers for Responsible Education, P.O. Box 93, Zionsville 46077.
And, from the sounds of the cash register, the money is rolling in - and the group is only two weeks old. But with $5.8 million a year on the table, expect Robison to scramble for his trump card.
David Drexel's money is on the underdog.
Typical ZCS mentality. Where can more information on the ZTRE be obtained?
ReplyDeleteUntil Mr. Robison resides in Zionsville, pays the taxes the rest of us pay, and has to pay for his own gas instead of the fine people of Zionsville doing so, I am voting no. Get rid of the middle schoolers laptops and get back to the basics of teaching. Bigger and more expensive doesn't always equate to higher quality or better educations.
ReplyDeleteConcerning Zionsville Community Schools' expenditures, has anyone publicized information about the "MIC" Room, otherwise known as the Multi-Instructional Classroom? Over one million dollars was spent to change this extra area in the Freshman Center into a fancy, schmancy independent study room for high school students. The idea was to allow student-designed courses of study, acceptable I'm sure by the teachers, that would incorporate various individualized academics: English, history, art, etc. It was planned for perhaps over seventy students to use and touted as an eagerly anticipated student option. I believe it was finished and first utilized by pupils during the 2007-2008 school year and continued, I believe, the following year. After lackluster interest and participation ( probably fewer than twenty students at any time), the program was abandoned. Now, I think, it is being used by the children with learning difficulties. Furnished to the hilt (plush chairs, multiple tv's, etc.), it was an expensive endeavor that apparently wasn't duly appreciated by the "chosen ones," students who were thought to be awaiting special opportunities to exhibit their mental and creative initiative. I can't verify all the numbers or stats (operational time, etc.), but I do know it was a million-dollar-plus experiment that was poorly conceived, executed, received, and conceptually utilized that had to be discarded at taxpayer expense. Nor do I think it was publicized, but rather kept as quiet as possible to allow it to proceed without monetary objection. LESSON: At Zionsville greater taxpayer funding allows greater abuse.
ReplyDeleteYou all don't have a clue!!! Go do a teacher's job for a day and then you will understand!
ReplyDelete