A No Vote

In this past Tuesdays primary I did something that I had never done before. I voted against a school referendum. When it comes to schools I always vote to give them more money. However, this situation was different. Moraine Valley Community College, a school that I attended at one time was asking for voters to approve a $60 a year hike in their property taxes to pay for some improvements. As I said above, as much as it pained me I had to vote no.

Now, I usually am all for schools getting more money. As a matter of fact last year I voted to give the elementary school in my district some more money so they wouldn’t have to dump art and music class. I realize that I don’t have kids but I feel that I am getting something for my money. These are the kids that I am going to be depending on when I get older. I want them to have the best education possible because when I get old I don’t want a bunch of morons walking around to take care of my ass. I want to live in an area where kids are learning and therefore will give back to the community by becoming doctor’s, nurses, or lawyers.

So, in that vein I have always said yes to give money to schools. However, when Moraine asked for more money I was taken aback. Moraine had just spent all this money to build a new gym, then a new football field, their computer lab is state of the art and they have this humongous theatre on campus. Also, they just spent all this money building a new entrance just so they could change their address.

All of this made me think to myself, maybe if you would have spent the money you had a little wiser you wouldn’t be in this pickle. Moraine wants to build a new student center and they want to add more teachers and build on to an existing building so that they can add more classrooms. Those are all fine ideas and I am all for them, but why didn’t the board of trustees spend the money they had on that instead of a new entrance?

So, I thought it over and I came to the conclusion that I could not in good faith give that school more money. I mean it is a college and kids choose to go there. Why not raise the tuition, which is still pretty reasonable, to get the funds? Well, I guess most people disagreed with me because the referendum barely passed.

With all that said, I am not pissed that it passed. Sixty bucks a year is not going to kill me. I don’t want this to come off as some rant that turns me into a cold hearted Republican that has a worldview that extends as far as their own wallet. I am still a liberal Democrat and I always will be. I just want to make sure that if I vote to give a school some money that they spend it wisely. There needs to be some fiscal responsibility on the part of said school. I mean did Moraine really need to build a new football field?

In the future I doubt very much that I will vote against a school referendum. For the most part schools need the money and I truly believe in extra-curricular actives like sports and drama being offered in school. If that takes a little out of my pocketbook, it doesn’t bother me. I am all for kids having a choice. With that said, I am going to remember this. Moraine Valley had better put this new money to good use. If I see that they continue to waste it by building a new golf range or something of the effect then I will be very pissed.