Scare tactics, students being used to pass this levy

Dear editor:

I am disappointed again in our school officials and the way the "levy" has been handled.

For us who have been around this "liberty pole" once too often, we are not impressed. You are using the students with your scare tactics to convince their parents, relatives, and friends to give a yes vote to the proposed "levy."

When I listened to the TV news report, the plea for the "proposed levy" was given with the statement that "the sports program MAY be cut if the levy did not succeed. The word "may" caught my attention. Later, talking to a person who works for the district, my inquiry was corrected as to what the levy was needed for. It is not about the sports program, but is intended to be used to keep the faculty intact, with a proposed salary cut, thus ensuring that the present teachers have their jobs for the 2010-2011 school year.

What is the truth? Are we saving the sports program or are we retaining our teachers or both? The student body is working hard to see the levy pass, when it may not even have anything to do with their sports program.

We who have been here for many years, remember when a one percent sales tax was voted in to made it better for our teachers, then it was a push for the state lottery (for which our teachers worked hard to convince us all) so that would make it better for the teachers. Then the state legislators came up with an extra amount of several million dollars for the schools, at the end of their session. Did that make it better for our teachers?

They are still buying needed supplies for their own classrooms and our students still do not have enough books so they can study at home.

How are our administrators doing? Do they have enough money? Do they have the supplies they need to staff and supply their many offices?

I later was able to talk to our Rep. Francis Fields about the money the legislators allocated to our school districts from a small windfall at the end of the session. She said that she was making the rounds to the school districts to see how the money was being spent. She found after some 15 schools that it did not get beyond the administrators. When cuts are made, who takes the cuts?

If you want dates, times, and amounts, ask the school district for the facts. Will they come up with the money trail? Should not our school districts be one of the wealthiest districts in the state? Funding for our schools come from many different sources, one of many is the Air Force base. How do we rate in the funding our district receives compared to the other districts in Idaho?

A levy to help our teachers or our sports programs. I do not know whether it will make a difference down where our teachers and students live.

We have many who are working very hard under very difficult circumstances with our children. They certainly are deserving, but I am not sure that they will receive anything from a levy.

Evanna B. Hamilton