27J mill levy increase painful, necessary - Perspective, Sept. 28, 2011

    You shouldn’t be happy about the prospect of having to pay increased taxes.
    Perhaps the biggest misconception that can be dispelled about 27J’s mill levy increase request on this November’s ballot is the misguided belief that taking on an additional tax burden should be greeted with a smile and some biblical creed to “give with a cheerful heart.”
    Throw that out the window.
    These are hard times, and they aren’t getting better.
    Make no mistake. The school district’s request for an extra 6.3 mills to generate about $4.8 million in additional funding for the district should be as welcome as a root canal or an emergency appendectomy.
    It’s painful.
    But it’s necessary.
    We endorse the 27J mill levy increase because we believe in the value of giving our students every possible chance to succeed. Our school district is egregiously under-funded. We’re tired of our superintendent having to stand up year after year and inform us how, against all logical odds, the school district has managed to continue educating our community’s students in spite of a dearth of taxpayer funding and continued state education cuts.
    According to 27J Superintendent Rod Blunck, Adams School District 14 generates $697 per student per year to invest in the instructional process, Mapleton School District 1 generates $679 per student per year to invest in the instructional process, Westminster School District 50 generates $879 per student, per year to invest in the instructional process, Adams County 5 Star School District generates $881 per student per year to invest in the instructional process, and School District 27J generates $53 per student per year to invest in the instructional process.
    As has become the norm with 27J’s tax increase efforts, public opposition to the proposal has been scarce and scattered. We have learned that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of people in this community who have already decided, or decided a long time ago, that they will not support a 27J tax increase or any tax increase for that matter.
    Many of them have their reasons and they are valid; a senior on a fixed income, a family stung by a layoff that is just trying to hang onto their home, a small-business owner wondering how to stay afloat with more taxes.
    We hear you. We understand.
    What we can’t stomach is 27J’s effort to ensure the children of our community a quality education being lumped in with stock political arguments that are reverberating across our country.
    This isn’t about the Tea Party. This isn’t about tax-and-spend liberals. This isn’t about the dangers of collective bargaining. This isn’t about Washington, D.C.
    This is about Brighton. Since when does the rhetoric and gridlock of our federal political system impact the decisions we make in the best interest of our community? This is a fundamental question of whether we choose to support education in our own community.
    Are we willing to make a sacrifice for the children of our community so they won’t be stuck in crowded classrooms? Are we willing to set aside some varying measure of financial peace of mind to make sure our children can take textbooks home at night?
    If you look within yourself and your budget and find no reasonable way to support this additional tax, whether it be on your home or your own business, then vote no, knowing you made the best possible decision for your family or your business.
    If you plan to vote no to send some message about your disgust with politics, whether it be at a state or federal level, or make some bold statement about your opposition to all taxes, big and small, your message will fall on deaf ears and our children will suffer.
    Vote yes on 3D. Don’t play politics with the education of our children.