Sunday, January 08, 2006

Lincoln Public School Bond Issue

There will be a special election next month for a bond issue for the Lincoln Public Schools:
JournalStar.com: "The prospect of voters approving $250 million in bonds to pay for school renovation and construction hasn’t silenced a vocal critic of Lincoln Public Schools’ fiscal policies.

Nor has it persuaded former school board member Peter Katt to dismiss his tax appeal challenging the way LPS has raised money to pay for heating, air conditioning and codes updates over the past decade."
Mr. Katt has also started a blog on this issue.

I haven't yet made up my own mind on the bond, but I'm leaning toward approval. LPS does a very good job of educating the students; standardized test results are well above the national and state averages. Tycho and I are former LPS students (quite awhile ago for me, obviously) and Viper is currently one. Mrs. Abe volunteers in several schools. There has been a cap in place for several years which limits property taxes, which are the main source of money for the schools. Efforts to raise that limit were defeated soundly the last time the voters were asked, and LPS has had to get by with less money than it wants. (Haven't we all.) Some of the older schools are definitely in need of renovation, although those in my immediate area are in good shape.

On the other hand Mr. Katt raises some good points, and he has certainly seen the way the system works from the inside. LPS is a big part of Lincoln's total budget and, consequently, of the tax burden on the citizens.

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