New Menifee School Bond Measure
Trustees of the the Menifee Union School District voted 3-1 to put another bond measure on the ballot, asking homeowners in Menifee and Sun ...
http://www.menifee247.com/2007/07/new-menifee-school-bond-measure.htm
Trustees of the the Menifee Union School District voted 3-1 to put another bond measure on the ballot, asking homeowners in Menifee and Sun City to pay higher taxes.You can read about in the Press Enterprise...
http://www.pe.com/..../ PE_News_Local_S_sbond25.3e999ed.html
Basically, you're going to pay an extra $17.90 per year for every $100,000 of your home's value, on top of what you're already paying now. This means if your house is valued at $400,000, you'll be paying an extra $71.60 per year.
Based on what I read in the article, this additional tax revenue will pay for expansion of classrooms and build more schools.
Interestingly, the trustees are bringing up the subject of switching the school calendar back to a traditional calendar, and away from the year-round system. One trustee was also quoted as suggesting that if parents want their kids in a traditional calendar, they have to approve this measure, because we don't currently have the capacity to do it.
Last month, I posted an article on this subject, but saw the problem as a lack of available private schools.
I know there are many parents in this community that can afford to send their kids to private schools, but don't do so mainly because there aren't many available. If more kids were in private schools, there would be plenty of room in the public school system to keep our taxes down, and to keep kids on a traditional school calendar.
Going down the bond measure route, the higher families have to pay in taxes, the less likely they can afford private schooling. In other words, it's a vicious cycle of self-defeat.
I don't know what it takes to get more private schools in the area, but I think our district trustees ought to put more time into luring them into our valley.
Steve, is this website for you to spread your own personal and political platform? If you keep this up you'll lose people like me who have enjoyed this site for some time now.
ReplyDeletePutting your child in private school does NOT help the Menifee schools at all. The opposite in fact! You'll pay tuition AND the school loses money for having less kids enrolled. The district gets funds for every kid that attends school each day. No student = no money.
Some quality folks have passed on Menifee because of year-round multi-track schools. If you want that to change, it will require additional funding of some sort.
Let me get this right, put your kid in private school to keep taxes lower... $70 a year or private tuition?
I'll support Menifee by happily paying the $70 to build great schools that attract quality citizens to our community. These schools educate the vast majority of our community's children and I'm proud to support them.
To use your logic, if you can afford to send your kid to private school, then you can afford $70 a year to improve our community.
Or is this more about you Steve... and less about Menifee and the rest of us?
After seeing the the Vista school board use up reserve moneys($5,000,000.00 or so of reserve money set aside specifically for new schools) then ask for a bond issue to build new schools. I vote no always when they aren't smart enough to have the foresight to see that they will need new schools. When there are hundreds if not thousands of new people being lured into the area how can you not see the future need??
ReplyDeleteWhen I was on our home owners board in Vista, before moving to Menifee, the board had to put money into reserves for future needs of the association. I paid those monthly fees as everyone else, as hard as it was I saw the need to pay now instead of later. Previous boards spent all the reserves and it hurt, it really hurt to make those sacrifices to build them back again!!
Those in charge of such things need to have better foresight than hindsight. I feel that people presenting the greatest burden on the system should be the ones that carry that burden. Seniors, those with no children or people with fixed incomes shouldn't be asked to carry it!
In closing I would vote NO on such a bond issue every time, I know there is a need for schools, but I knew that in 2004 when I moved here. Start planning now for the future, don't wait till new schools are already needed, have a plan and pay for it now!
A.R.V.
Yet ANOTHER reason we are selling and moving closer to the beach - Huntington Beach to be specific. The property taxes here in Sun City are already insane! Add to that the Homeowner fees, the bus passes for kids to ride the bus to school and the cost to run the A/C in the summer months and we might as well be living by the beach! So much for it being cheaper to live out here.
ReplyDeleteWhat is with you & private schools?? Some of us can't afford the tuition, I rather pay the taxes.
ReplyDeleteI hate to take us off this popular subject of taxes and private schools but can someone please enlighten me as to why Southern Californians have to have June, July, and August off for vacations? Yes, the multi-track has to go but hasn't everyone noticed that May and Sept. are just as warm and the beaches, lakes, and amusement parks are half as full, if not, empty! Are we so much herd animals that we relish standing in line for endless hours for entertainment and we have to crowd onto beaches inches away for the next blanket? I am thankful I can get a tan in late Sept., ski in late Jan. without crowds because it is Wed., and go to Yosemite in May before 8 thousand other people do. I like the C, D, and B schedules. Yes, I will vote for the bond but no I will not be happy to see traditional schedule if it follows the archaic schedule of June-Aug. as vacation. There is no crop for the kids to help bring in so it is time for tradition to meet reality and come up with a schedule that allows for seasonal breaks to take advantage of more of what CA and America has to offer.
ReplyDeleteThere are areas of Menifee that are very affordable...we live in a nice neighborhood with NO HOA and low taxes..we also invested in a new AC unit last year so our cooling bills are much lower..so yes, it is less expensive to live here...just depends on where you live.
ReplyDeleteWe have one child in high school but do not pay for the bus...he is taken to school, or gets a ride from a friend....
But no, I am not willing to pay for more taxes. Has the school board done a reserve study? Are they planning for the future? How responsible have they or past boards been?
I am not in favor of any tax increase until the pork spending and redistribution to Sacramento stops. b.) Schools are needed due to increased housing developments, with all home builder permits comes stipulations for roadway widening for the new traffic index, and developing part of the property for the school district to purchase at a discounted rate. All that is left, the district must construct, manage, and plot a profitable business plan for the school to be successful based on the current public funding. Why must there always be an increase in taxes? Instead they insist it's all of our responsibility to pay for, children or not. Why not practice the 7 P's Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
ReplyDeleteIf a bond comes up I am voting no. If the new students are coming as a result of new homes, why aren't those schools being funded by the new home builders? That makes perfect sense to me. Why penalize the existing residents?
ReplyDeleteMy property taxes in Menifee are already scraping the bottom side of 2% thanks to the existing huge school bonds. Our friends in the coastal counties are paying property taxes around 1.25% on average and they have schools also. How much higher can we raise property taxes and still expect people to want to move here?
It is no surprise to anybody that more schools are needed. What is needed is a school board that is willing to make some tough decisions about the future and find funding for construction someplace other than yet another school bond measure.
I guarantee if this bond measure passes there will be another one in a couple years that will "only" cost $70 per year. And most likely another bond a few years after that, and so on.
I say, "Enough!"
As a school employee in a neighboring district, I understand fully what Menifee Union School District is going through in terms of a bond issue. However, Menifee is known throughout this region as a school district that has poor management--which in turn reflects on its fiscal responsibility.
ReplyDeleteA huge savings will be to go toward traditional school calendars. Management savings alone will save a huge amount. Principals and Assistant Principals in neighboring districts earn approximately $20,000 less per year being on traditional calendar. If you add the costs of all the management in Menifee over a few years, it would be surprising what the savings would be. Another step would be to lose class size reduction at 3rd grade--huge gains in revenue by simply not needing the number of teachers currently needed.
Realistically, there is huge waste in all districts, however, Menifee's school district has priorities that really aren't priorities in the big scheme of things.
Wouldn't it be nice to see some before and after school programs on their campuses. After all these are federal mandates that each district (including the arrogant Menifee Union School District). But as I have seen, the priority here in Menifee is all about the staff, not the students or the families being serviced........
A lot to think about...
I vote no on any new taxes. If the people we vote into office would do their job and not give into pressure to spend our money frivolously we would not have this problem. We as voters need to be diligent and keep pressure on those we vote into office, after all it is our money they are spending!
ReplyDeleteRT
Menifee Union School District has an absolutely steller reputation throughout educational circles.
ReplyDeleteThe poster above that does some "Menifee bashing" must have a personal beef with the district.
I agree with the poster who stated that Menifee has a "stellar reputation" in the area. All of my children have been educated in Menifee from K through 8. With the exception of the "social promotion" experiment a few years back, it has been a great school district. All of you who bash the bonds and bash cityhood and bash unification with Perris Union High School District need to get a clue... If you want improved quality of life in this Valley then vote "yes" for the bond, "yes" for cityhood, and "yes" for unification.
ReplyDeleteWith respect to going to a traditional school year... I am not in favor of this. I too believe that society, at large, has passed up the need for a traditional track. My kids have yet to participate in the harvest, why, because my great-grandfather was the last farmer in my family! Year-round tracks are the way to go and the way of the FUTURE! Year-round tracks are good for communities, good for families (including single parents), good for the student. What industry in America, other than the heavily unionized education industry, takes 2 1/2 to 3 months off in the Summer? Maybe professional athletes but, lets save that for another blog discussion. Year-round schooling keeps the kid engaged in studies, keeps lessons fresh, keeps them busy...in other words, in helps keep them out of trouble and off the streets.
I am a conservative parent who has lived in this Valley since the late eighties. Typically, I too am not in favor of new and higher taxes. However, I know many in the community, like myself, who want more and better schools, cityhood and unification so that Menifee can be K-12 and, govern ourselves with a Mayor and City Council (and all that comes with it).
Oh by the way, for you geniuses who don't want a new bond initiative... how would pay for new schools during a downward turn in the business cycle...? Translation = lower developer fee revenues to the school district. The Countrywide Marketplace will generate revenue (for cityhood and schools) but, that won't start to generate revenue until the 1st quarter of 2010 (assuming the Fall 2009 opening is met).
Meantime, we still need to build 4 more elementary schools and two more middle schools on the land that the developers have provided to handle the growth! So...Vote "Yes" on the bond measure.