And my tax dollars paid for this?!

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

The state of missouri is finally taking over the public schools for the city of st.louis. So now the city has lost its accreditation and as of june will no longer have its own elected school board. The teachers union is threatening all sorts of lovely things, The high school kids are protesting. There is no joy in mudville. What really gets me is the fact that we live in the city. Now we never planned for our dc to attend the public schools, we always planned for them to attend the parochiol school down the street.
But now I'm a little relieved because our schools had become a joke and now maybe they'll get fixed, but what about the kids who have no choice but to attend those schools. Also-what about the extra money I pay. Since the school has lost it's accreditation shouldn't taxpayers get a break somehow. Like saying sorry our schools suck-here's your money back, use it for tuition so you don't have to send your kids to our sucky schools. But nooo that's not going to happen so now I get to pay my taxes for an unaccredited school system and pay for private school. At least before it was more bearable because the schools were regular schools. Now i'm just paying for crap. I'm just hacked off about the money I guess. It's also not going to make it easy to sell our house if we ever want to move- I mean come on. Who would buy a house in a town where the schools are unacredited. Crap,crap,crap. Hopefully the state can get things back on track sooner than later and they'll have their acreditation back. (yeah, and people in hell want ice water too). Why oh why didn't we buy a house in the county-why why why.

[C99]

Because that is the way the property tax and government system are set up in Missouri (and most other states). I pay into a big coffer of money that goes toward a lot of things in which I don't believe, but you know, if I don't like it, I can always forego the benefits of home ownership. Who would buy a house in an area with crap schools? People without kids!

[Bethann31]

I have always considered St. Louis my hometown and I miss it enormously. I hated to see this happen yesterday, but I really truly feel like it had to be done. Yes, the City schools have been bad for a long time (I graduated in 1982, they weren't great then) and they have just continued to go downhill. Something had to be done. The state is not going to allow them to stay non-accredited. I think that DRASTIC changes will be made and accreditation will be back within a year. I do feel horrible for those students who have no choice, though, and hope that the college-bound students are not made to suffer needlessly.


Beth
mom to:

Josh 3/90
Mollie 4/92
Jeffrey 12/94
Katherine 6/03

[kijip]

If the roads have potholes in them do taxes go down because they are sub-standard and thus we deserve a refund or do taxes stay the same/go up in order to fix them? Public schools benefit more than those currently with kids using them. And if you get a tax reduction on your school taxes, you'll just take the ding on your federal return. :)