I have heard from at least two people that they have gotten robo calls about the school bond issue. One was a push poll the other was asking them to vote yes.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. There will be a lot of money and effort spent to get this passed, several important people in town have a lot at stake and a lot of money to make.
Maher made the point yesterday that they will have the contractor and architectural bids completely open (ironically this transparency is a requirement by law). When someone has a $190 million of taxpayer money to be spent locally, I guarantee the banksters, realtors, contractors, developers and engineers will be lining up to the trough. Remember, these public projects pay well and it is a reliable source of income.
It seems these days if the hospitals or the government wasn’t building, the contractors in town wouldn’t have much to do.
Just look at the recent past and future;
EC – $115 Mil
Pool – $25 Mil
Admin – $25 Mil
Water Treatment – $230 Mil
Downtown Hotel/Parking Ramp – $50 Mil ($20 mil public)
Schools – $190 Mil
Jail – $48 Mil
That is over $600 Million in public projects in less than a decade. When you tack on interest you are plenty South of a Billion dollars.
Isn’t it sad, when “transparency” is presented as an option.
#WelcomeToTheAgeOfTrump
These major seven expenditures represent the story of life in general. We need water to live. We look for entertainment from the EC or an indoor pool, then we go to school, pay our taxes at the City Center, congregate at the hotel for a while (or ramp (We’re “Loopers”)), then end up in jail.. 😉
A billion dollars in 10 years for a city with a 160k population! Huh? How? Why?
Schools need attention but phase it in slowly. A sudden shock doesn’t work. Show us you’ll raise teacher pay and we’re on board. The mark of better education is retaining good teachers who (otherwise) have better job offers in Wyoming.
Great point, D.S.! Does anyone have any comparison/context to other metro areas for these $$$??
DS, I agree 100% with increasing teacher pay, but SD on the whole doesn’t seem to value teachers or for that matter educatation in general. Scott, I’m curious..you’ve posted a great deal of criticism of the school bond issue, what are/were the stats on how expanding/building jail facilities impact tax payers. Perhaps, I wasn’t paying enough attention, but I’d be curious to know where the criticism of jail expansion is?
Rachel, I would much rather see we treated addicts than jail them, but I also know that we don’t have much of a choice when building a new jail, we have to put criminals somewhere. I also think the county did their due diligence on trying to keep the costs down. I think originally they were looking at a $70 million pricetag and they got it down to $48 million.
As for teacher pay, I have often felt that SD could pay it’s teachers better if they had some equality in Admin VS teacher pay. We are around 26th in the nation for admin pay but last for teachers. Things that make you go Hmmm?
I will say it for the 1000th time since everyone is so f’ing tone deaf, I support building more facilities and bonding for a (portion) of it. But I think we can cut the bond in half, expand facilities and pay for half of it with levees over time. We could still keep the same schedule and do if with less debt. I’m sorry, but I struggle with $110 million in interest. This is money that WILL never go to educating kids, just to bond investors and banksters.
I dig that answer 13wis.
13wis, could your argument be applied to children as well? We don’t have room for them, so we must expand? We have to put children somewhere.
@ Rachel,
Clever girl…..
yes Rachel- we can put kids somewhere- back in the district where they open enrolled from; and for those in the district we might try filling up the new middle school with boundary adjustments;
If you want to understand the meaning of the word, evasion, listen at 22:44 when the leader of the SFSD explains, what does this 190m (300m) bond issue mean to you.
Then, if you believe, this is going to cost you only $2 a month or $24 a year, you may want to consider voting ‘NO’ because the part he left off is that it will cost you $2 a month for the first 12 months and the remaining re-payment period of 24 YEARS are an unknown.
There’s a new accepted internet home based primary education service I’ve seen advertised. Might the future become home school? Should there be a school taxes opt out? The current environment is inferior education at astronomical politically infused prices. The school board has become an empire that needs threatening checks and balance.
stopped to absentee vote- the high heels/ torn jean (not from real wear) crowd was out- better get cooking on the no vote
The school district has made the decision to hand-count the votes, wonder who is watching over all these absentee ballots.
Everyone I talk to thinks $24 a year is a great deal. With that kind of indoctination on this issue, it will be a done deal. Next issue? Where the highschool will be located. The sanford donated land will be a huge mistake…in a whole arena of aspects. Sure hope they think this out. Based on past “thinking out†I am not at all hopeful.
Matt..do you have the numbers on how many kids open enroll to the SF district? The reality is that Sioux Falls is growing and if you don’t prioritize education as one of the top needs for a great community you’re a dingus.
Rachel- so you need to reduce yourself to name calling; look at the map- Sioux Falls grows but in areas that are in other school districts; for your information there are at least 6 school districts partially within the city limits
I think the # thrown out there was between 1,100 and 1,400 students are open enrolled in SF from other districts which is about 5% of our student body.
Speaking of counting ballots – Will the school district even need the “Al Franken votes” already stowed in boxes in the trunk of Doug Morrison’s car ?
Matt, I apologize if f you thought i was calling you a dingus. That was unkind of me. I grew up in small town that desperately needed a new school and bond issues were repeatedly shot down. Many of my family members are educators and I worry that education isn’t the priority that it should be in this community. Again, I’m sorry about the dingus remark..sometimes I’m a dingus.
Rachel-That is one of those non-apology apologies we are so used to; you directed your comment to me then said “you’re a dingus”; so yes you did call me that; you also don’t know my thoughts about the importance of education- I believe it is the only thing we really owe any of our children; but I also believe that we have to take care of our own and in a smart way- neither of which is being done with this bond issue; I am glad you admit your self interest