So here were are, election eve. Everything comes down to what happens tomorrow. If the levy passes, we get to watch the district squander our tax money once again. Yes, people say it's all for essentials, but the reality is it's all going in the pockets of the district's employees through their salaries and benefits.
And that's the problem. It's not that district staff don't deserve to be paid, or that their pay shouldn't be above minimum wage. It's that the rate at which the spending on compensation increases each year is now at a point where the tax base simply cannot support it any more. It's not just this levy. It's the ones coming in 2013, and in 2015, and in 2017.
At some point the train comes off the tracks, because it continues to increase speed and not one person steering the train is willing to apply the brakes. OK, well ONE person -- Paul Lambert -- is willing to try, but none of the others will let him near the brake pedal.
And in the end that's the crux of the issue: we have a bunch of folks running the train that don't understand how it works. And those people need to be changed.
But that's November's battle. Right now the focus is on tomorrow. Right now we must send a clear message to the board of education that enough is enough. Cut spending -- heck, just cut the rate at which it's growing to start with -- and live within your means.
People in this district have lost their jobs. Our senior citizens on fixed incomes have seen no Social Security increases since George Bush was the President. Let that sink in a minute. Three years and no increase.
They're managing -- so why can't our district also manage?
Why must they continue to ramp up the speed of the train, knowing full well it will derail and that the kids that are still waiting to get on the train -- those yet to start school -- will be the ones paying the price when the train they're left with to get their education is nothing but a mangled wreck.
And it IS about the kids. Just not in the way that the Hilliard City School District and its board of education would make you think. It's about our future as a community for the next generation of kids. At some point, the adults in the community need to step and take a stand, and force those in charge of the train to take their foot off the pedal and bring it under control once again.
That time is now.
Vote NO on Issue 7.
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