Funding the Academies
The Good News
After years of
trying, the current school officials may have a solution for some of
Englewood's problems. In a very short
period of time the School Board has negotiated new sources of funding for two
programs - the Pre School and the Academies.
The pre school
program was originally funded by a yearly state grant of $5 million. Instead of using all this money as intended,
the previous School Board used the majority of these funds for other school
programs. When the state grant ended,
Englewood was forced to make major cut backs in these programs and raise
taxes. In addition, the city agreed to
take over funding the pre school program in its entirety and using the existing
Vincent K. Tibbs School to manage it.
The
Academies@Englewood needed several million dollars to start operating this year
and will need many more millions to complete the programs. When the state only pledged $3 million, the
city again stepped up and agreed to provide $5.4 million. The BOE voted to spend $600,000 from its
past surplus and to look to the county for the remaining $1 million.
The Bad News
This method of
funding these programs is very misleading.
Although voters can now approve or reject the school budget every year,
by moving school expenses to the city budget the voters lose this right. We are taking a step backward! The city budget is not some mysterious free
money; the source of these funds is same taxpayers who pay for the school
budget! This deprives the voters of
their right to decide the school budget, and instead gives the decision to the
politicians. They in turn will now have
many photo opportunities to further their own agendas.
There is no
commitment to funding beyond the first year of the academy. Now the BOE may be repeating the same mistake
that was made with the pre school program.
We are making commitments to spend millions of dollars for the next few
years without any clear source of financing!
If we don't get the money from other sources, taxpayers may be
told: "It's too late! We have to raise taxes because we've made
commitments to these students."
The Right Way
These two programs
sound very good. However, they are very
expensive. The voters should be given
all the facts and have the opportunity to decide how their money is best spent.
What is your
opinion? Let us know!
Note: Numerous
homeowners have expressed their concerns about funding. We wrote this article to reflect their
opinions.
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