OK Durham teachers. You guys have been making a good show lately. Way to represent!
Now we need a bunch of you to comment about what is happening in the trenches at your school.
What do you need? How much of your own money do you spend? Do you get the support in the classroom you need? Do your students get the help they need?
I'm being asked to write an article for the N&O about the need for more funding in the DPS school system. It will be published Monday. I need your stories.
I just finished reading an article from the John Locke foundation that stated that our NC schools are well funded and are teachers are well paided. In fact, they think that your pay scale is a bit extreme compared to other state employees. Really? How do you feel about that?
Let me know. Leave your comments. We need to hear from you.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Stewardship
Many people have commented that they'd be happy to pay an extra tax to support Durham's schools, but they understand that there might be many people who would suffer under this added tax burden.
I've been thinking about this.
In asking for a tax increase, am I simply doing what is easy for me. Afterall, I'm just another amazingly wealthy liberal who is blessed with the financial security of a wife who provides for me ;)
But you know what? This isn't about who has what and who doesn't. This is about making an investment in our children and in our country's future. This is about stewardship and taking care of what we have. If you let rot get into your house because you fail to save enough to make needed repairs, the rot will bring your house down around you.
Why does this seem so old fashioned?
I remember my father, a teacher with the financial pressure of supporting three children, a wife, and a mother in a nursing home. Every year in the early Spring,as the trees began to bloom outside, he'd sit at our dining room table with papers scattered about. For several days in a row, he'd bring out a big calculator with a paper roll on one end and a screen that was made up of big red lights. He'd mysteriously punch keys and shuffle papers as the lunch box sized machine spit out columns of numbers. Ever curious, I'd ask him what he was doing-- what I really wanted to do was play with that machine! Well... it was tax season! He'd show me his paystubs and bills. The file with all his reciepts from trips would look like some horrible lasagna casserole gone wrong.
What I don't ever remember him telling me was that he was looking for a tax loophole or a way to dodge his responsibility. Never once did he complain about the beaurocrats in Washington trying to take his hard earned money (even though, as a lifelong Democrat, I often heard him complain about Ronald Reagan). No he explained to me how taxes are the way a civilized society invests and pays for services that it values. He would talk to me about schools and firefighters, about the social workers and parole officers that provided much needed services. Would he have loved to purchase a second car? Sure. The vinyl seats of our K-car sure would burn the backs of my legs on the sweltering southern summer days. But...
He didn't begrudge his tax burden. He did and does see it as an honor and priveledge of living in such a great country as ours. This wasn't unique to my father a lifelong Democrat. Was it something about that generation? My wife's grandmother, Marion Sjostrom, used to worry about the estate tax and her ability to provide for her children after she died. But never once did I hear her begrudge the system of taxation we have in America. We pay because we are stewards of this country. All of us. Rich and poor. Black and White. Immigrant and native. We don't pay because we can. We pay because it is right.
So, when I ask people to consider paying more taxes, I see it in this light. I'm celebrating the foresight and fiscal discipline that a tax increase would require and the future rewards it would bring. If you don't do the preventative maintenance on your home, it will fall down around you.
I've been thinking about this.
In asking for a tax increase, am I simply doing what is easy for me. Afterall, I'm just another amazingly wealthy liberal who is blessed with the financial security of a wife who provides for me ;)
But you know what? This isn't about who has what and who doesn't. This is about making an investment in our children and in our country's future. This is about stewardship and taking care of what we have. If you let rot get into your house because you fail to save enough to make needed repairs, the rot will bring your house down around you.
Why does this seem so old fashioned?
I remember my father, a teacher with the financial pressure of supporting three children, a wife, and a mother in a nursing home. Every year in the early Spring,as the trees began to bloom outside, he'd sit at our dining room table with papers scattered about. For several days in a row, he'd bring out a big calculator with a paper roll on one end and a screen that was made up of big red lights. He'd mysteriously punch keys and shuffle papers as the lunch box sized machine spit out columns of numbers. Ever curious, I'd ask him what he was doing-- what I really wanted to do was play with that machine! Well... it was tax season! He'd show me his paystubs and bills. The file with all his reciepts from trips would look like some horrible lasagna casserole gone wrong.
What I don't ever remember him telling me was that he was looking for a tax loophole or a way to dodge his responsibility. Never once did he complain about the beaurocrats in Washington trying to take his hard earned money (even though, as a lifelong Democrat, I often heard him complain about Ronald Reagan). No he explained to me how taxes are the way a civilized society invests and pays for services that it values. He would talk to me about schools and firefighters, about the social workers and parole officers that provided much needed services. Would he have loved to purchase a second car? Sure. The vinyl seats of our K-car sure would burn the backs of my legs on the sweltering southern summer days. But...
He didn't begrudge his tax burden. He did and does see it as an honor and priveledge of living in such a great country as ours. This wasn't unique to my father a lifelong Democrat. Was it something about that generation? My wife's grandmother, Marion Sjostrom, used to worry about the estate tax and her ability to provide for her children after she died. But never once did I hear her begrudge the system of taxation we have in America. We pay because we are stewards of this country. All of us. Rich and poor. Black and White. Immigrant and native. We don't pay because we can. We pay because it is right.
So, when I ask people to consider paying more taxes, I see it in this light. I'm celebrating the foresight and fiscal discipline that a tax increase would require and the future rewards it would bring. If you don't do the preventative maintenance on your home, it will fall down around you.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tax increases
After last night's meeting with the County Commissioners and the School Board, it is clear to me and others that the only solution to our system's budget crisis is a tax increase. For too long, we have underfunded Durham's schools. Now, we are at a tipping point. The passion and hope on display at last night's meeting was inspiring. Now, we must focus this energy into pressure on our elected officials. I propose we ask for the creation of a special Durham School District Tax of .33 on $100 of assessed property value. This rate increase would happen over the course of 10 years with a 6% increase the first year followed by 3% increases the next 9 years. While it wouldn't immediately alleviate our current budget mess, it would show a real commitment to our children's future.
Some particulars: A .33 cent increase per $100 would mean roughly and extra $660 on a $200,000 house by the end of the tenth year. This would increase our per pupil spending in Durham County from $2,845 to $5,684 and far outpace the current state high spender, Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Who would not like that? Well...
Many will claim that if we raise taxes that much in Durham that people on fixed incomes like the elderly, unemployed, or poor, would be forced out of their homes. While this is a very real concern, I believe we cannot let our future suffer for the wrong policy decisions of the past. Provide limited tax increments for those who are on fixed incomes or in poverty which is not MOST of Durham's property tax base.
People will claim that housing prices will rise so much that only the affluent will be able to afford the taxes and only the affluent will enjoy the good schools. Do we have a problem with affordable housing in Durham County? Yes, but that is not because of our tax rate. It is a problem caused by developers not wanting to build affordable houses. It is the problem of a city and county officials giving sweetheart deals to big developers. Why do developers and Realtors fight so hard against ordinances that attempt to require certain percentages of affordable housing? It isn't because of the tax rate?
Would a higher tax rate drive the poor out of Durham and make their lives worse as Mike Ruffin suggested at last night's meeting? This logic seems so circuitous it makes my head hurt. Certainly, as schools improved, all home values in Durham County would increase. However, to make the argument that we should keep our schools underfunded and suffering so that poor people can still live in Durham and attend these suffering schools is the definition of insanity.
People will say that there are approximately 35,000 students in Durham County schools and there are 260,000 residents in the county. They will say that school children make up 13.5% of the population, yet DPS alone makes up roughly 30% of the county budget. They will point out that DPS funds no portion of their tax burden. (Like our children should be out selling chocolate bars so that they can keep teachers in their classrooms?) They will claim that we already have more than a "reasonable" amount of our tax dollars going to support our children-- more tax dollars than go to any other one agency in the County. We will be told that the county tax rate is 70.81 cents and the city tax rate is 54 cents, so Durham city residents (which is the vast majority all Durham County residents)pay a total of $1.2481 dollars per hundred valuation. Are we supposed to forget that pretty much one of the only reasons that local governments exist anymore is to educate (schools), protect (police and fire), and assist (social services)? What do these people want? A police and fire department as big as the school system? Well, that is what would happen, and is happening, if we continue to cut education.
Finally, we'll be told that Durham County schools are not underfunded at the local level, at least not in comparison to other systems in the state. We'll be told they are in the top 5 in local funding since forever. Hundreds of dollars more per pupil than surrounding counties and comparable counties, except for Orange County. We'll be shown this list from the 2009-10 Per pupil funding from the NCACC Budget and Tax Survey.
Alamance - $1,466
Buncombe - $1,758
Chatham - $2,727
Cumberland - $1,388
Durham - $2,854
Forsyth - $2,079
Guilford - $2,405
Johnston - $1,735
Mecklenburg - $2,267
New Hanover - $2,520
Orange - $3,073
Wake - $2,112
We'll be told to believe that this means we're succeeding. Yet, aren't all those other school systems suffering too? Aren't they facing the same if not greater problems? When we were getting the most money, weren't these same leaders pointing to DPS scores and asking us what good the money did? Durham has one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the state. Wasn't that one of the reasons for not raising taxes? But then, isn't it also a reason our schools need more money?
We are not fools. It is time for us to get together and demand proper funding for Durham's schools. Please, I'm not a policy wonk. I've started this blog in an attempt to reach out. We can make a difference. Think about what each of you can do.
Some particulars: A .33 cent increase per $100 would mean roughly and extra $660 on a $200,000 house by the end of the tenth year. This would increase our per pupil spending in Durham County from $2,845 to $5,684 and far outpace the current state high spender, Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Who would not like that? Well...
Many will claim that if we raise taxes that much in Durham that people on fixed incomes like the elderly, unemployed, or poor, would be forced out of their homes. While this is a very real concern, I believe we cannot let our future suffer for the wrong policy decisions of the past. Provide limited tax increments for those who are on fixed incomes or in poverty which is not MOST of Durham's property tax base.
People will claim that housing prices will rise so much that only the affluent will be able to afford the taxes and only the affluent will enjoy the good schools. Do we have a problem with affordable housing in Durham County? Yes, but that is not because of our tax rate. It is a problem caused by developers not wanting to build affordable houses. It is the problem of a city and county officials giving sweetheart deals to big developers. Why do developers and Realtors fight so hard against ordinances that attempt to require certain percentages of affordable housing? It isn't because of the tax rate?
Would a higher tax rate drive the poor out of Durham and make their lives worse as Mike Ruffin suggested at last night's meeting? This logic seems so circuitous it makes my head hurt. Certainly, as schools improved, all home values in Durham County would increase. However, to make the argument that we should keep our schools underfunded and suffering so that poor people can still live in Durham and attend these suffering schools is the definition of insanity.
People will say that there are approximately 35,000 students in Durham County schools and there are 260,000 residents in the county. They will say that school children make up 13.5% of the population, yet DPS alone makes up roughly 30% of the county budget. They will point out that DPS funds no portion of their tax burden. (Like our children should be out selling chocolate bars so that they can keep teachers in their classrooms?) They will claim that we already have more than a "reasonable" amount of our tax dollars going to support our children-- more tax dollars than go to any other one agency in the County. We will be told that the county tax rate is 70.81 cents and the city tax rate is 54 cents, so Durham city residents (which is the vast majority all Durham County residents)pay a total of $1.2481 dollars per hundred valuation. Are we supposed to forget that pretty much one of the only reasons that local governments exist anymore is to educate (schools), protect (police and fire), and assist (social services)? What do these people want? A police and fire department as big as the school system? Well, that is what would happen, and is happening, if we continue to cut education.
Finally, we'll be told that Durham County schools are not underfunded at the local level, at least not in comparison to other systems in the state. We'll be told they are in the top 5 in local funding since forever. Hundreds of dollars more per pupil than surrounding counties and comparable counties, except for Orange County. We'll be shown this list from the 2009-10 Per pupil funding from the NCACC Budget and Tax Survey.
Alamance - $1,466
Buncombe - $1,758
Chatham - $2,727
Cumberland - $1,388
Durham - $2,854
Forsyth - $2,079
Guilford - $2,405
Johnston - $1,735
Mecklenburg - $2,267
New Hanover - $2,520
Orange - $3,073
Wake - $2,112
We'll be told to believe that this means we're succeeding. Yet, aren't all those other school systems suffering too? Aren't they facing the same if not greater problems? When we were getting the most money, weren't these same leaders pointing to DPS scores and asking us what good the money did? Durham has one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the state. Wasn't that one of the reasons for not raising taxes? But then, isn't it also a reason our schools need more money?
We are not fools. It is time for us to get together and demand proper funding for Durham's schools. Please, I'm not a policy wonk. I've started this blog in an attempt to reach out. We can make a difference. Think about what each of you can do.
Our stories-- What made you an educator?
When you're a teacher, people almost always make assumptions: you like the summers off, you didn't do so well in school, you're planning on marrying someone rich, you're a dreamy eyed liberal. Well, when I was a teacher, I always introduced myself at Meet the Teacher Night the same way. I'd put on my biggest smile and say, "In my family, you're either a teacher or a preacher, and if you can't tell already... I'm not really cut out for the ministry." Growing up in my family, I never thought of it any other way.
My parents, born 1941 and 1943, were teachers in NC public schools. My father's father, John S. Oehler, Sr. born 1911, was the principal of an elementary school in Kannapolis, NC. My father's mother, born 1907, was a teacher in a NC public school. My mother's father, Ira C. Sassaman, born 1910, was an English and Math teacher as well as a School Board Member of his town. My mother's mother, born 1904, was a teacher at age 15 in her central PA town of Belleville. My older sister and I both went into teaching. I suppose, one day, one of my two children will be teachers.
Yet, when I think back about what really led me into teaching, it wasn't what my parent's or grandparents did, but how they acted and how they treated others. I always think of going to the Kannapolis K&W with my Grandmother, Lucile Oehler. I must have been about six, and oh boy did I love the cafeteria. Even today, the thought of going down that line and looking at all those types of desserts makes my mouth water; but going with my Grandmother was about something other than food.
As soon as we walked in the door one person after another walked up and politely thanked her for having been their teacher. It is as if the cafeteria line were pointing in her direction. They would boast that they were now fine citizens with good jobs just as if she was waiting there ready to reward them, gradebook in hand. These grown men and women gazed into my Grandmother's denture less wrinkled face the same way they had done so many years before when they first walked into her classroom. They knew that Ms. Oehler would not treat them like lint heads, the poor children of mill workers. They knew from the moment they walked into my Grandmother's classroom that they were going to be respected. My grandmother didn't shy away from providing tough love (she was after all a good Lutheran and the mother of three boys), but she believed in providing her students with the tools and skills that would enable them to reach their dreams. This interaction mesmerized me, even then, as I watched my toothless grandmother eat her jello and butter beans so long removed from the classroom.
My parents, born 1941 and 1943, were teachers in NC public schools. My father's father, John S. Oehler, Sr. born 1911, was the principal of an elementary school in Kannapolis, NC. My father's mother, born 1907, was a teacher in a NC public school. My mother's father, Ira C. Sassaman, born 1910, was an English and Math teacher as well as a School Board Member of his town. My mother's mother, born 1904, was a teacher at age 15 in her central PA town of Belleville. My older sister and I both went into teaching. I suppose, one day, one of my two children will be teachers.
Yet, when I think back about what really led me into teaching, it wasn't what my parent's or grandparents did, but how they acted and how they treated others. I always think of going to the Kannapolis K&W with my Grandmother, Lucile Oehler. I must have been about six, and oh boy did I love the cafeteria. Even today, the thought of going down that line and looking at all those types of desserts makes my mouth water; but going with my Grandmother was about something other than food.
As soon as we walked in the door one person after another walked up and politely thanked her for having been their teacher. It is as if the cafeteria line were pointing in her direction. They would boast that they were now fine citizens with good jobs just as if she was waiting there ready to reward them, gradebook in hand. These grown men and women gazed into my Grandmother's denture less wrinkled face the same way they had done so many years before when they first walked into her classroom. They knew that Ms. Oehler would not treat them like lint heads, the poor children of mill workers. They knew from the moment they walked into my Grandmother's classroom that they were going to be respected. My grandmother didn't shy away from providing tough love (she was after all a good Lutheran and the mother of three boys), but she believed in providing her students with the tools and skills that would enable them to reach their dreams. This interaction mesmerized me, even then, as I watched my toothless grandmother eat her jello and butter beans so long removed from the classroom.
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