"It's for the children": New toys for schools

A reader writes:

Last evening I watched the Channel 6 news. A lot of the newscast was eaten up by coverage of the big football game between Union and Jenks. It was interesting.

A reporter noted that Union was showing off what the reporter referred to as "$2 million dollar's worth of new toys." She was, of course, talking about Union High's massive football stadium upgrades. Union schools were just voted $1.4 million in extra tax money from Vision for textbooks the district supposedly can't afford. But they can, apparently, afford plenty of very expensive "toys."

On the Jenks side of things, the reporter said Jenks will soon be seeking a $2.2 million bond issue in order to fund stadium upgrades and build a new weight facility. Vision will provide Jenks schools nearly a million dollars in extra tax money. Exactly three days after the vote, Jenks was reported to be seeking another $2.2 million dollars. As I said, the public schools' appetite for money cannot be satisfied.

On a humorous note, we can wave bye-bye to Ken Neal's argument that raising sales taxes paves the road to lower property taxes. Jenks has already shot that down---and it wasted no time in the process.

Back in the '70s at Catoosa, where my mother taught kindergarten, it was typical for the school board to fund improvements to high school sports facilities while neglecting the needs of the elementary school. Lights for the baseball field came ahead of air conditioning for the elementary school, which had to wait for years. These days, the athletic budget still gets top priority, except now the school board will point to their neglect of basic needs, blame the taxpayers, and plead for a tax increase "for the children."