The Price of Early Childcare

Here's an article published in the Evansville Courier. I don't usually read the Courier, in fact I never read the Courier. Having worked for the Courier faithfully for 15 years, I was suddenly and for no other reason than ( from the lips of an editor) "We no longer have room in our paper for children," dropped. I wrote a last column which was re-written by the staff to make me look like I was quitting writing. It was dishonest and mean spirited and just plain wrong to try to bring my writing career to an end, and there was really no reason for it. If that's how they treat their faithful writers, then I don't want to read their paper, discuss their paper, be shown articles, use them as a reference, a source or a point in discussion. It's about that simple.

But here's an exception to a rather unimportant rule:

I glean from the article that according to the paper, providing an early childhood place is a rather laughable idea. At least they are consistent.

Paying for education

The Issue: Goal is to keep changes 'tax neutral.' Our View: Without an increase, strategic agenda will be more acceptable.

One of the more intriguing aspects of Superintendent Vincent Bertram's strategic agenda for improving the performance of the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corp. involves money — that is, how to pay for it without riling taxpayers.

Right off the bat, Bertram said as he unveiled his plan last month that his administration proposes to make sweeping changes and to do it "tax neutral."

That's no small challenge, but it is, in our view, the one promise that has kept critics quiet thus far.

It is the one promise that has allowed the public to concentrate on evaluating the proposed academic and facilities changes without nervously guarding their pocketbooks.

Bertram and his fellow school officials are aware of the public's concern about the cost of public education. He said that given the current environment — read that taxpayer concern — the EVSC wants to do this work within the current tax structure.

In such an environment, we are unlikely to see any foolish new and costly projects, such as those some years back to change the facades of high schools. Indeed, new, unattractive facades on Harrison and Central high schools once prompted an editor to opine here that capital projects money must have been burning a hole in the school corporation's pocket — something that a tax-conscious public would not tolerate today.

What it will tolerate, we believe, is paying for programs that improve academic performance and make more efficient use of facilities, especially if that can be done without taking a bigger bite from their household budgets.

It is noteworthy as we enter this discussion that Vanderburgh County residents pay among the lowest school tax rates in the state. Bertram said that in 2005, Vanderburgh was 277th lowest out of 293 school corporations.

Much of what he envisions doing has little to do with new buildings. For example, with early childhood education, he wants to create three new early childhood centers, but they would be located in existing school buildings. Among the funding sources would be a reallocation of federal Title I dollars, grants and a community partners initiative.

Bertram wants to make a major investment in improving technology — such that the school system could better prepare its students to function in a global economy. He is looking at $8 million to $10 million, some of which would come from general school funds and capital projects funds.

Of course, the big one involves building new facilities, mainly a new high school/middle school in northern Vanderburgh County, but also altering other schools that would be switched from K-5 to K-8.

A bit of background: Some years ago, the EVSC approved a generous early retirement package for teachers. The intent was to encourage teachers at the top of the pay scale to retire, to be replaced by new teachers at a much lower pay grade. Teachers grabbed at it, to such an extent that the school system found itself facing unfunded costs. That led to the creation of a pension bond fund, also tax neutral, to be paid from the capital projects fund, as permitted by state law.

As that is paid down now, to be gone in 2014, the EVSC can shift some of those capital funds to new facilities. School officials estimate they would have $2.2 million available in 2008, growing to $10.4 million in 2014 for new facilities.

It may be an oversimplification, but here's one way to look at it. Say you buy a new car and your payments are $500 a month. You pay that for five years, and as your final payment approaches, you have a decision to make: reduce your monthly budget by $500 and continue driving your now used car, or buy another new car and continue paying $500 a month. As to the latter, you are already paying it, so your monthly budget payments don't increase.

Given the challenges facing the EVSC, and the promise of the strategic agenda, it seems a wise decision now to buy some new programs and facilities, especially if it can be done without increasing the payments.