I can't begin to tell you how disscused I was to hear our Power Ball revenue goes towards the parks! Sure the mountains are pretty but I would rather see my kids have new textbooks and better paid teachers. Power Ball revenue in Iowa did go towards education, don't know if this has changed but I do miss the quality of education.

I about DIED when I paid my car, property, and sales taxes! Welcome to Colorado.

Don't you wish they could learn how to report the WHOLE STORY...you know like Adams 12 School District vows to teach the "whole child."

The article about Denver area schools doesn't give the whole story. They left out the Denver school that, because the parents were afraid they were going to loose thier K-6 orchestra, was able to raise $30,000 in a week from private and business donsations.

My first thought was - I want a K-6 orchestra in our school. The next thought was what great networking. There is a push to go into business for the schools. Our school doesn't turn to the PTSA for funds on basic programs, they turn to us for volunteers to help drill kids in math, to volunteer in the classrooms and to do simple tasks that would take up teachers' valuable time.
Our school is lucky that every grade gets a field trip, we have assemblies and we sponsor extracuricular but educational programs such as Junior Great Books and Destination Imagination. The PTSA buys extra books for Jr Great books to lend to the students who can't afford it. Destination Imagination sells Butter Braids to cover thier costs. (They actually gave the PTSA $300 extra.)
It's like every school is it's own little country with different priorities and deffinitions on what their needs are. And very different economic situations.
I thought the entire point of a nationally and state funded school system was to even out the inequities of wealth and poverty. I realize wealthy people can still send their children to top notch private schools. That's fine. But I feel public schools should be a priority nationally to keep the playing field as level as possible. Giving schools less than enough money to staff classrooms is not okay. This accentuates the problem.
I might be the only person who will publicly admit that I LIKE taxes. I like good schools, I like having roads, I like national defense and local police and fire protection. You cannot get something for nothing. Cutting money from national and state programs like education take us backward in equality. It reinforces econimic and social differences and problems.
I didn't mean this to be a polical commentary, but it seems that people are tiptoeing around the real issue that we are voting or letting our leaders vote us out of essentials that we will have to pay out of pocket directly or do without.
I agree with a quote from the BLOG article, we are band-aiding the problem.