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Investing in Education
by Bill Krieger
The cap on property tax increases spells doom for educational programs across New York State. When will this state recognize that it is so top-heavy in administrative costs that it makes it virtually impossible for anything to trickle down to the trenches where the majority of the dollars should be invested? There are multiple school districts in towns where consolidation would eliminate administration and all the costs and benefits provided. Prime example: the Town of Cheektowaga. There are four separate school districts serving the town: Cleveland Hill, Maryvale, JFK Sloan, and Cheektowaga Central. Each district has administrative staffs, all providing the same basic services that one unified district could provide. Eliminating three superintendents and all their related staffing would greatly reduce school taxes.
We have an either/or proposition in New York State. We have legal, off-track betting. We have lottery systems, scratch-off games, and Quick Draw systems. Tobacco money? Leave the Indians alone. Honor their treaties. We as taxpayers were hoodwinked into believing that if we approved games of chance that our educational systems would flourish. The Wednesday and Saturday Lotto gives away half of the money collected for their drawigs, with the other half going to education. Simply keep track on the amount of money given away (and taxed again, I might add) and Wednesday or Saturday in a year, with an equal portion going to education. Where does all this money go? Let’s get this lottery money back into education, not administration.
Bill Krieger, Cheektowaga
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