I wanted to take this opportunity to address a serious issue we face here in District 49: the education of our children in the public school system.With the recent defeat of the school bond issue, twice in our district, I think we need to step back and look at this issue objectively. Both sides have good points but now we are faced with a deadlock. Voters want fiscal responsibility with limitations and consequences and a school district that is having to rob Peter to pay Paul. And our children’s education suffers because of all the negativity these issues incite, on both sides.What is the problem? Time and money. It seems when we have time there is no money and when we have the money there is no time, one of life’s little ironies.First, there’s all these people moving or wanting to move into the area, which is great because I think it is a wonderful place to live, too. But what has happened is that too many people moved into the area too fast. Builders ramped up construction to accommodate the demand, but herein lies the oversight and problem. Does anyone plan for the expansion? Let’s look at the players: the voters, the school district, the builders, and the government. Now I don’t know about you but as for me, dealing with just one of these players can be like trying to move a mountain. Now we need to move four mountains.It’s my contention that the voters, hence taxpayers, can and would approve to pay for new district support services meaning schools, roads, emergency services, etc., if voters had credible confidence in a plan and budget that was presented and followed properly.Regarding the builders:I believe they should contribute to those issues that best serve their interests and any associated costs that are direct result of their activities. It seems to me that by contributing to schools, roads, and emergency and community services it would only enhance their selling points of the real estate. Also, to me as a buyer, it would say a lot about the builders and sellers as a viable business entity.Regarding the government:At last, the government, in my opinion, is the one that can have the biggest impact on our community. Think of this guy as the train engineer. This guy controls which track we’re on, how fast we go and the destination.This takes me back to my question: Does anyone plan for the expansion? The answer clearly has to be NO, or I would not be writing about this right now. What can the government do? It’s a ratio problem. The ratio is resident occupied homes to community support services. Our net effect in District 49 is too many resident occupied homes to available community support services, which leaves a deficit in our community. Therefore, this is how the builder and the government come into play in my scenario. The builder needs permits to build and the government agency needs to supply those permits.How do government agencies issue the permits? Do they look at community support services as a factor when issuing the permits? Is there a “master plan” of the community?In conclusion, all this is commentary, hopefully leading to perseverance in that we are talking about big issues about priorities that need to be made and responsibility that needs to be effectively delegated.Phillip JohnsonFalcon
