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Past Bond Requests
According to WJRT 12 Lake
Fenton bond passes Tuesday
3-12-2002
Why This Lake Fenton School
Bond Should Be Defeated
Vote NO On March 12, 2001
QSN
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Committee
For Taxpayer Justice Opposing Bond
 Join
Our Efforts To Defeat The $30 Million Bond
Stop Lake Fenton's Bond
Hotline (810)
655-2118
Or Email LF-Bonds@QualitySchoolsNow.org
Since the September 11 attacks we
have suffered a recession. Most families have to make do
with less. Most of us have taken a big hit in the value of
our retirement savings.
Yet in spite of the fact that the public has
told many school districts NO again and again, including Lake
Fenton, they continue to make outrageous requests for more of
our money.
In 1999 the Lake Fenton
school district asked
the public for whopping $39,425,000 twice. We told them
NO
in the spring, and then NO again in the fall. Yet they keep
asking for more money.
We all know there is more than a bit
of pork in such requests. Lake Fenton
has admitted this
with a new request for only $30,000,000
of our hard earned
dollars.
Somehow I think there is still
far too much more
pork.
Then there is the issue of why
school districts schedule millage elections in the
winter. Perhaps they do so because they know many
retirees are out of state?
Lake Fenton does have many good teachers, but
they also have many crappy ones. The school board and
administration are also real winners.
Many school district parents
are afraid to speak out, for fear that their children will be
victimized. To see why, read these documents:
1) WNEM5,
Flint/Saginaw
August
2, 2001 Man
Cyber Rates Schools With New Web Site
2) Flint
Journal's July 30, 2001
3) Riley
Responds To Sharpe's Flint Journal Comments
4) Jock
Supporter Susan Revill Writes
5) A
Parent Comments, But Needs To Protect Their Children From LF
Staff Wrath
6) Are
Charter Schools The Answer?
The fact that so many parents
are afraid to try and fix Lake Fenton
school's problems
for fear that their children will be victimized is an
outrage. I am stunned by the number of parents who
call me opposing the bond, but are afraid to do so
publicly. I have heard the same concerns expressed
by residents who own businesses. They are afraid that
their business will suffer if they publicly oppose the bond.
Both of my daughters have been
victimized. In one case two teachers and one parent were
involved. All three had children in Lake Fenton
schools, with one teacher employed by Lake Fenton
and one by
another district.
Once I went public about my
opposition to the bond I started receiving many crank and
hang-up calls. A number of bond supporters actually had
the nerve to tell me the problem was my children.
It is amazing how the victims bear fault for being victimized
in some people's eyes. This reminds me of the way some
people blame rape victims.
Children are not the only
victims. A retiree who placed signs in his yard opposing
the bond property was vandalized. Many other opponents of
the bond report that signs they placed in their yard are
stolen or destroyed within 24 hours.
For years Grand Blanc schools
have had a reputation for being snobs. I don't know if
their reputation is justified, but I do know from personal
experience that Lake Fenton
has more than a reasonable number
of people - and staff - who are every bit as nasty as anything
I have ever heard about any other community.
Why should the public reward schools who do
such a poor job with more money? Isn't it time that our
public schools learn to live within a budget? Most
certainly the taxpayers who they are asking for more money
must do so.
Charter schools do the same job, no make that
a better job, on just the $6500 state per student allocation.
Our Public schools should to learn live with the same money.
A better use of public resources is to invest public funds in
charter schools. Charter schools do not seek additional
funding and could easily relieve overcrowding at no additional
cost to area property owners.
There are many alternatives to
increasing our taxes.
Many residents who have called
QSN have raised the issue of consolidation with Fenton.
Some have pointed out that consolidation would probably save
at least one million dollars per year as a result of
eliminating the superintendent's position, all of the support
staff, a separate community education position and special
education director, and all the other expenses associated with
maintaining those positions.
Small schools are good for
lower grades. High schools are usually better if they
are larger. The cost per student of funding programs
drops as the number of participants increases. A larger
school can support much more diverse programs than a smaller
one. This is a good reason to consider consolidating Lake Fenton
high school with Fenton.
Financial mismanagement. Lake Fenton
has a rather long history of squandering taxpayer
money. One example of this is the transportation crisis
they faced a number of years ago. They spent money which
should have been spent on buses for other things over several
years. The bus fleet was falling apart. They ended
up privatizing the schools transportation system because they
had misspent the money meant for buses.
Why does the school district
need more money when revenue has increased dramatically as a
result of new construction and resale of homes at higher
prices which in turn led to more tax revenue? Where did
all the money go?
In the interests of answering
these questions I sent Lake Fenton
school a number Freedom of
Information requests asking for their Comprehensive Financial
Report (CAFR). They have consistently refused to deliver
the report in a timely manner. There is likely a reason
they do not want the contents of the report published on the
QSN web site. See the FOIA requests and their responses
by clicking
this link.
If you are against higher taxes, join our
telephone calling tree group. We ask each person who
joins to recruit ten other people who oppose Lake Fenton bond,
and then call those people a day or two before the election.
Last, it is clear school
districts are using their position to brainwash a captive
audience, namely our children, in an effort to increase
funding. It is also clear they not understand the
word NO.
It follows that concerned
taxpayers need to address these problems legislatively.
We need a law which prohibits schools from using children as
pawns in their efforts to increase funding. We also need
a law which stops schools from scheduling votes in the winter
months when retirees are traveling, and also a law which stops
districts from repeating the same bond requests so
often. I think we should only allow bond elections as
part of the major fall elections which occur every two
years. This would ensure maximum voter turnout on these
issues, promoting the intent of the democratic process.
2-12-2002 SLAPP
Suit Brought By Lake
Fenton Teacher Lori Hatfield?
Ronald J. Riley LF-Bonds@QualitySchoolsNow.org
Stop Lake Fenton's Bond Hotline
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