has many expectations. Away with heavy winter clothing. Pleasant weather ahead. The fly in the ointment is the realization that we work until the 26^th of the month just to pay taxes. One of the principal functions for our RCTA is to spread the word and continuously remind readers that too many taxes kills incentive and places an unfair and unjust burden on ordinary working people. If enough realize this, we stand a good chance of changing things for the better. Where do you stand?

After the enormous expenditure of taxpayer’s money (8 newspaper pages) in The Times Union, current reports show no significant improvements in test scores for public school students. Meanwhile, the academics come up with more innocuous courses, more soccer, and more fun ball. The basics are neglected as our taxes rise and questionable hirings continue.

Again as usual, the United Teachers came up with a score of 2.2 million dollars to win the lobbying number one position to influence politicians.

What has happened to the Education Department and Regents dictums to raise learning standards? In the report Educational Commissioner Mills says "There is no excuse for falling back." Commissioner, is this a threat or a promise?

Recently, the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) distributed 40,000 scholarships to K-8 students, nationwide, using a lottery approach. This action, one which is growing, made CSF the largest program of its kind which promotes parental school choice options. Why does private enterprise have to foster competition in order to bring about needed change? Public school educators and politicians are more interested in maintaining the status quo than offering children an opportunity to enhance their education in another private or public school.

Political expediency, a spectacle to behold, has been often demonstrated by your elected representatives chosen to serve on the East Greenbush Board of Education. The saga of the strange behavior of the Board majority continues to unfold. Readers will recall the actions of members James Baldwin, Joann Hart, Linda Jones, and John Sullivan who supported a school redistricting proposal. However, later each one voted to give preferential treatment to a group of students to attend D. P. Sutherland School while denying a request by other students enrolled at Bell Top and Red Mill.

In what appears to be a face-saving act to cover up their incompetence, the Board recently approved a resolution by Baldwin which permits, as of September, the Superintendent of Schools to violate established board policy by making exceptions to the rule. As the late Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here." However, in the East Greenbush Central School District the "buck has been passed," so don’t blame us.

Additionally, the same "see-saw" trustees reversed their earlier decision denying eight children permission to attend Bell Top School. They did not approve a request for 24 children to attend the Red Mill School. The apparent reason given was, "The facility is now overcrowded." Is it fair to have children attending overcrowded schools? Why hasn’t a temporary classroom(s) been provided and added to the building? Other schools in the United States have addressed overcrowding this way.

Fair is fair! Policy is policy! The action of your School Board, as documented, is unfair and is an abusive violation of the recently adopted redistricting mandate. It speaks volumes in favor of legal parental school choice.

A simple question is posed to readers. Am I receiving the best policy value for my children in the East Greenbush Central School District? It is your dollars and taxation rates which exceed the annual inflation rate each year. Are you happy with this Board playing football with your children? You’ll have a chance to make a difference on May 18^th. It’s your money and your children.

Steve Forbes calls this a Flat Tax; and what he means is that we all pay the same percentage of our income. What is wrong with that idea? NOTHING! When you studied arithmetic in school you learned that to divide an amount equally among a group of people you gave each a percentage of the amount. This was FAIR. The government (of the people?) does not want to be fair. If you work hard and make lots of money, or if you happen to possess an extraordinary intellect and can command a large salary the Government expects you to pay more, make that MUCH MORE!

Our Washington based Socialist Government has catered to special interest groups and their cries for more money. Your tax money is distributed to the group that yells the loudest or that can provide the most votes. As a voter and a taxpayer is this the way you want your tax payments spent? The Government is telling us that they know how to better spend your money than you do. Wouldn’t you like to spend more of your own money on your own special interests like your family, your church and the charities of YOUR choice? I do not see anything wrong with a wealthy individual paying the same percentage tax as the pauper. Leaving the higher income people with more money to invest can only enhance the economy. Requiring the pauper to pay his fair share may stimulate him to work a little harder. (Reference: Matthew 25, the parable of the three servants).

We taxpayers are not going to get a percentage tax anytime soon. But, we should discuss its merits and urge our representatives to think about it. What do you think?

Does this sound familiar? If elected I will sponsor bills to (1) legislate morality, (2) appropriate funds for all groups of voters looking for a handout, (3) borrow money for public projects so that you taxpayers will only have to pay the interest. (Our grandchildren will pay off the debt.)

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear a candidate for public office pledge the following: (1) My goal is to introduce as few bills as possible, (2) I will work to repeal bad laws, (3) I will fight to uphold the Constitution, (4) I will vote only for appropriations that are beneficial to all citizens. This candidate would get my vote in a New York minute, whether running for a State, Federal, Local or School Board office.

may be the answer. First a trial separation between our education system and liberal politicians and finally we should put an end to this travesty. The present devastating events in our public schools with pupils becoming mass murderers since the start of the Clinton Administration have graphically illustrated that the wrong people are in control of the system. If our school systems were operated as originally intended, it would be unnecessary to expend billions of dollars to continually sell the public on the notion that our children are receiving a proper education. The records show otherwise. False propaganda used to cover up the truth would not be needed if our academicians knew their job and acted with the best interests of the public and the children in mind. It would reward our taxpayers handsomely to send all pupils to private schools and save us a lot of money.

So much for the environment, wasting time, and depleting our natural resources. It has been reported that an East Greenbush Central School District bus picks up students at both Bruen Court and Lakeview, at about 7:30 am, on Routes 9 and 20. The two streets are less than one-half a traditional city block apart and the stops are on the same side of the highway. A single stop would expedite traffic on a busy road at a busy time and save energy. Providing the ultimate of convenience for students occurs at your expense is questionable. Remember, it’s your money that others spend.

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A Capital District student was just nabbed for the felony count of printing fake $20 bills. The 16 year old may be given youthful offender status. The excuse here is he is an "honor" student. Since when do "honor" students graduate into counterfeiters?

This calls for drastic measures, we must call out the buck-passing department and place the blame on: the computer company; the mean old police for catching him; bad companions; neglectful parents; coaches who wouldn’t let him play; or you guessed it – society. Yes, society must take the blame on this one. We are not compassionate. We really should provide him with a new sports utility vehicle to drive to school. Those drafty old school buses are such an inconvenience. Please pass the buck.

When a tragedy happens in a public school as happened in Littleton, Co., the tendency is for the parents to blame the school, the school to blame the parents, everybody looks ascance at the police, then everybody joins together and blames society and television.

In a piece in the Times Union on 4/22/99 by Jay Gallagher Gannet N.S.., "New York’s public school students are behaving worse than they did five years ago. A poll found 6 out of 10 New York teachers questioned consider profanity, defiance of authority and disrespect to be more frequent and serious problems than they were five years ago. New York State United Teachers projects that 84,000 teachers have been involved in scuffles with students since 1996 and about 8,000 were injured on the job over that period."

"New York State School Board Association spokesman David Ernst says, ‘School boards would be as concerned as the teachers, if not more so, to the degree that students lack discipline, are uncivil or use profanity. We view it as a community problem.’ – ‘And best dealt with by school districts.’

"The major culprit for the breakdown in discipline, according to the survey is a lack of parental support" identified by two thirds of teachers as a problem.

There you have it folks, a prime case of passing the buck. The only buck they want to hold onto is the one on payday.

According to an article published in The Wall Street Journal (4/21/99), "We have quadrupled per student spending over the past 40 years, and we have cut the pupil-teacher ratio in half--only to see student performance stagnate and important areas like literacy and safety get worse"

In a recent discussion with naturalized immigrants, we found that the required course of instruction for citizenship expounded on our American history, our Constitution, the make up of our state and federal government and ordinary geography. In actuality, this course for new Americans is far superior than that which is being taught in our high schools.

Is this one answer to the perplexing question of why we have "honor" students taking remedial courses in college?

Rensselaer County readers know the new STAR (School TAx Reduction) program has generated significant savings for homeowners throughout New York. However, the current law does little to prevent school tax levies from rising right back up to pre-STAR levels within the next few years. In some cases, STAR exemptions could serve as cover for larger-than-usual tax increases or for a tax shift to business property owners, who are not covered by the program.

A proposal by the NY State Assembly Republican Conference, entitled Families First 2000 includes a school tax limitation designed to protect STAR savings without compromising educational quality. Beginning in the 2000-01 school year, the average annual increase in school taxes within a five-year period would be capped at the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is less. This would permit districts to increase taxes faster than inflation in some years while ensuring that taxes throughout the five-year period would increase by no more than 25 percent. Stay tuned.

The average cost to taxpayers for the incarceration of each felon for an average of 14 years is $400,500, not including goods stolen, deaths committed, medical costs to victims, lawyers fees, court costs and jurors time expended away from work.

RCTA
PO Box 145
East Greenbush, NY 12061