school election

[duffer]

actually one room schoolhouses could come back. it was my fathers job to consolidate them in the late 50, s and 60.s. the cost of fuel, the cost of a single bus, 250.000 all of a sudden a one room school house is affordable again. the insurance for that bus the maintenance does not take long, and especially at schools like the one i went to had roughly 30 busses. 30 times 250.000 adds up to lots of one room school houses. the problem with the earlier schools. they still had wood stoves and most were built at the end of the 1800. when they first closed those schools busses were 3500 bucks gas cost schools roughly 10 cents a gallon. since the 70,s gas inflation alone has killed the cost of bussing, then add the cost of safety compliance of a buss the insurance its not hard to see how one room school houses would work. like mass transportation that was stripped out of this country. its coming back. kids will soon learn at home thru the internet and there will be no reasons for schools, god forbid, because kids need interaction for healthy growth. my father predicted this and it has come true.

[duffer]

i am glad to see input to this post, come on folks its about all of us!~

[JFPowers]

Jim, If you want to compare school costs here is one of many links, and you shouldnt just assume because the word "island" is in there that Beaver compares favorably.

http://www.mackinac.org/depts/epi/fiscal.aspx

In column one choose Beaver Island schools and in column two choose Mackinaw schools. Use subtotals and totals report.

Compare Beaver Island and Mackinaw Island over the last decade, and this link doesn't have the last few years where the divergence has escalated. you are correct, almost the same in 2003, but now close to twice the cost per student than Mackinaw. Mackinaw could charge the taxpayers like here 15.8777 mills, but they decided a few years ago they didnt need that much money so they assess 8 mills. Yes they have greater value to their tax base, I did a calculation based on differing assessed values and I found a comparable level of taxation would be about 11 mills. Mackinaw is still twice the average assessed value of the average state school.

[E. Naranjo]

J. Powers, After doing the comparison you suggested (Beaver Island/Mackinac Island) with the link you gave, the results seem surreal! I hope to gain a better understanding of this translation in the future so that I can remain unbiased. For now it seems difficult to comprehend how this can be. Eric

[jflanagan]

Eric,

Don't forget that in schools this small adding students adds no new significant costs. So, instead of using the per/pupil numbers that are skewed by our low enrollment. Look at total expenditures. Still significantly different but not as shocking. It would take a line by line analysis of both budgets to identify the difference.

Finally, one should also look at a wider selection of Island districts. A quick look at Drummond Island (Detour district) showed very different results.

Jim

[JFPowers]

Good idea Jim, check them all. Check Washington Island also. Beautiful paved roads around the island, 700 year round population, 3 mills levied for the school a budget of 1.1-1.2 million for 55 kids.

http://www.island.k12.wi.us/wordpress/i ... tion-media

We could learn alot from Washington Island across the board.

[John Bolton]

Jim F.,
Small populations need creative solutions to maintain basic infrastructure.
Though we are mostly on the same page concerning the difference in what the Island needed and what it ended up with , I beg to differ on your statement about one room schools in America.

http://www.360-edu.com/commentary/one-r ... FUy_Cx0zIU

I am not advocating a one room solution for the island, however, it is interesting that folks in these rural areas either did not have the "credit card" needed to establish bigger infrastructure, or they decided that what they have, filled the need.
Again, the school, being currently on the forefront of Island issues, is merely a reflection of the overall property tax/ infrastructure issue that sorely needs to be addressed.
Unfortunately, I have no say. as like you, can not vote the issues.

[Campbell60tr34@aol.com]

Bois Blanc Island still has a one room school house and I'll bet the kids can add and subtract when they leave there. Just say'en.

[BI Pirate]

Tuesday is Election Day. Here's my advise for those voters, come early, stay late. With 2/3rds of the island's population running for School Board, the ballot must be about 17 pages long.
Can't say there isn't an interest in politics and voting this year.

[duffer]

one room school houses. my father who's first job in his school district was to consolidate one room school houses predicted they could come back. in the day that they were consolidated the buildings were mostly 100 years old and in need of repair. busses were 3500.00 dollars and gas was 10 cents a gallon. busses now cost on average 250.000 to 300.000 dollars. add 350.00 a gallon gas and you can easily do one room school houses and with the internet no school at all god forbid kids need the interaction to grow. lets just get this vote right and stop the RUMORS. its gonna kill our school!!

[duffer]

i want to thank every one for their input on this subject. its been good to see responses and shows our school has some adjusting to do for the public. THANKS! I HOPE THIS HAS BEEN HELPFUL.