Tea Party Heads to School Activists Fight Property-Tax Increases in Bid to Curb Education Spending.

[RamboLiberal]

YORK, Pa.—Trying to plug a $3.8 million budget gap, the York Suburban School District, in the rolling hills of southern Pennsylvania, is seeking to raise property taxes by 1.4%.

No way, says Nick Pandelidis, founder of the York Suburban Citizens for Responsible Government, a tea-party offshoot, of the plan that would boost the tax on a median-priced home of $157,685 by $44 a year to $3,225.

"No more property-tax increases!" the 52-year-old orthopedic surgeon implored as the group met recently at a local hospital's community room. "If you don't starve the system, you won't make it change."

Fresh from victories on the national stage last year, many local tea-party activist groups took their passion for limited government and less spending back to their hometowns, and to showdowns with teacher unions over pay in some cases. Now, amid school-board elections and local budgeting, they are starting to see results—and resistance.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704336504576259543303853376.html

[ejpoeta]

1. i have seen commercials to cap the tax to 2% for nys property taxes.

we got our school budget proposal in the mail yesterday. $3 million for teachers... now mind you, that is prek through 12th grade. My husband said it is less than last years. they are only asking for one new bus when usually they ask for 3. not sure where else they cut back. i hope it passes. they also showed the per student cost is $15k vs the average of $19k. i know from talking with my daughter's kindergarten teacher that they had tried to make kindergarten 1/2 day but the teachers all banded together to stop that. good for them!! with everything kids have to learn in kindergarten, it would be foolish to cut it to 1/2 days. They already go in on the late bus and go home on the early bus... 9-2:30.

[SoCalNative]

3. We only had half-day kintergarten when I was a kid

And this was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. So I don't see a problem with only half-day.

Of course mothers stayed home when I was a kid.

[ejpoeta]

4. kindergarten was effectively what prek is now. Our prek is 2 1/2 hours.

But kindergarten has a lot of things they have to learn and know now. Pretty much what 1st grade once was. So it is a problem. My daughter is learning a lot of things. She is reading, adding, learning coins, learning to write sentences and basic paragraphs. it isn't just learning to socialize and color and cut anymore.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. So if a roof collapses in a school because of lack of funding?