New Haven Independent

Posted by: joshua jones | October 29, 2007 8:24 AM

Schools up 20 milloin more. City budget 400 million. Thats 5%. Then inflation 2.5%. Mil rate goin up by 7.5% next year. Then police and fire overtime. They run out of money already. So how much more for them.

TAXES UP 10% NEXT YEAR, EASY

Posted by: Fedupwithliberals | October 29, 2007 9:23 AM

2019? Don't worry. You will have driven out the entire working middle class from this city by then.

Posted by: charlie | October 29, 2007 10:18 AM

"2019? Don't worry. You will have driven out the entire working middle class from this city by then."

Not likely. Where would they go? Who wants to live in a deathly boring, lifeless suburban wasteland?

Posted by: on whalley | October 29, 2007 11:02 AM

LOL, I figured we'd all be out long before 2019 FEDUP.

Putting being forced to pay for other peoples children's education and that education being controlled and directed by the government aside...
...do people STILL, failure after failure after failure, believe that a shiny new desk under a shiny new roof (solar panel or not) will make for a better education or even a better student? Does a new car make one a better driver? New job make you a better employee? New scope make you a better shot? Are we just ignoring the countless numbers of great men and women educated with a candle and a book in between the 20 hour farming work day? It seems when all we had were candles to read by we were getting better educated students and better citizens. Now we have to provide live in nanny's for every student and they're aspiring to such great heights as drug dealer, celebrity and petty local thug gangster.

Is there any limit to the waste? I ask because the trees are all producing rotten fruit year after year and the farmer is just dumping more and more expensive fertilizer on the problem. The trees are still dying. The fruit is still rotting. You may be planting a few new trees here and there but if the farmer is still an idiot they'll be rotting soon enough.

If nobody wants to dial back the socialist downfall of this country at the very least we can exhibit a bit of common sense and attach the funds to the child and let the parents/child choose their education. More private schools, vouchers, more competition for your child and your money will produce a much healthier fruit than dumping them all in the same already rotting overpriced barrel and hoping to at least get a little apple jack to drink before having to throw the whole thing away.

Boundless. limitless, unfathomable stupidity is killing our kids. Answer? Just do more of it!

Sad.

Posted by: fairhavener | October 29, 2007 3:17 PM

"Who wants to live in a deathly boring, lifeless suburban wasteland?"

It may not be a matter of wanting. It may be a necessity.

Why is it that almost 99% of the time it is in cities (or "wannabe-city" towns) that everyone is so quick to belittle public education? So we should end public education and start handing out vouchers and fire up the religious schools because a town of fools can't get their public schools in order? Please.

Do you think the percentage of people who complain about public schools is the same in Woodbridge as it is in New Haven? Do you think there is the same percentage of parent involvement in New Haven as there is in say Guilford, or Madison, or Orange?

Anyway, it was never about making new schools so children's education would improve. If you believe that, then...

Posted by: on whalley | October 29, 2007 3:30 PM

Not all private schools are religious Fairhavener.

If you want a simple reason why sub-urban schools perform better I'd say it's population density. Fewer people as a whole means fewer jackasses and criminals as a whole. It means smaller communities where if your a screw up of a parent the whole town knows it. There's shame in failure unlike in a city where failure is rewarded with free housing, free meals and 100 excuses of why you're not to blame for failing.

The beauty of vouchers is that the parents who DO care would be able to research and send their kids where they see fit while the parents who DON'T care can just ignore their kids well being and ship them to the closest building.

This is why the poor get poorer and the rich richer. Poor people keep doing what made them poor and rich people keep doing what made them rich. Give a poor parent who honestly cares about his children the chance to send their kids to a better school with a voucher and you've given his whole family a chance to move up the socio-economic ladder. Throw all of these kids in high-density government day care and you beat down the smart kids, reward the dumb or lazy ones and give everyone's parents one more reason they don't need to concern themselves with their children's well being.

As it is now any parent in New Haven who wants better has to either move or find some way to pony up 10-20K a year on a 30K salary to give their kid the shot they deserve while still paying the cost to send a "ghost-man" to government school. At a NON-RELIGIOUS private school.

But it's just soooo exciting here with the not being able to walk home alone or go out at night alone or early in the morning alone or park your car on the street or lock your bike outside or do absolutely anything without the threat of being killed for your wallet or travel anywhere without avoiding seas of trash and refuse in the streets. Sooooo exciting. I can hardly contain myself.

Posted by: fairhavener | October 30, 2007 10:26 AM

ON WHALLEY, you know you are right maybe we should have vouchers. But, not just for schools, for everything we pay taxes for. Maybe we should have vouchers for the police department. How about vouchers for choosing another mayor? We need variety and competition right?

I don't think so. Who do you think benefits from vouchers? I know all private schools are not religious but, I highly doubt your kids are getting into Hopkins or Hamden Hall and you need vouchers to pay for it. Chances are much more likely parents will send their kids to a catholic or other religion run school.

Regardless, you cannot voucher out our tax money. If the schools are broke you need to fix them by PAYING ATTENTION and taking action. And what happens to people who don't have kids? Do they get a voucher to put in the bank?

You can bash Public schools all you want. But, all you prove is how ...blank... the Public is. And for those who think catholic schools are so great, why is it so many have closed down? Man do they need vouchers.

Posted by: on whalley | October 30, 2007 11:01 AM

Now you're talking. Why would our politicians hire private security firms to protect them rather than rely on taxpayer funded public military? I'd love to opt out of police protection. I'd love to refuse to bankroll the cities politicians. I would love for every home without children to get a "refund" every year.

Why is it some horrible idea to let the people spend their own money but it's perfectly fine and acceptable to let some entity take that money from every one of us with threats of force and imprisonment then let them spend it as THEY see fit? When did this utter madness become the accepted norm? Why is your mentality growing and growing despite evidence of failure all around us? Government education, perhaps? Who gains from letting the taxing body educate the population? If you guessed "the taxing body" you've just won a chance to send your kid off to government daycare five days a week.

I'll tell you why private schools close. The same reason any for-profit closes. It can't compete. Costs keep rising, taxes keep rising, we're all FORCED to support government education so those who are able to CHOOSE private education see their available funds shrink and shrink as the government takes more and more. Government makes private schools close. It takes the money the working class and poor were paying for private education from them. The schools lose attendance, lose funds and close shop. It's pretty simple. If they close because the education offered sucks then thats a GOOD thing. Why should anyone send their children off to a poor education? Why should any business stay in business when it doesn't perform? It's okay to bitch and moan about "corporate" welfare but when a sinking school needs a handout we all have to pitch in? Failings happen for a reason. Let the failures die so a better mousetrap can be developed.

The government should have to beg, plead and perform for our money. Not take it then waste it then take more. Pay your taxes or we'll throw you out on the street, take your car and if we feel like it imprison you. How many "homeless" are products of audits? How many arithmetic mistakes are responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties? How many generations have to be deliberately dumbed down before people get a clue?

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/

Posted by: fairhavener | October 30, 2007 3:43 PM

You know you are right. It would be great in a better world where everyone was smart enough to make their own decisions, but the fact is most people are stupid, or uninformed and apathetic. And these characteristics seem to magnify exponentially in certain locations. That is usually where the public schools are a wreck. Those are also the places where people want vouchers. Everywhere else seems to be doing fine.

Now, do you think I want to give my tax dollars away to the same fools who blew it the first time?

Posted by: on whalley | October 31, 2007 8:19 AM

So the apathetic and uniformed are the ones who want school choice? Or are those suffering the failures supported by the apathetic and uninformed shouting for vouchers so their families do not have to suffer alongside the apathetic and uniformed?

You've the stage set right you just don't have the right players up there. The reason the school districts filled to the brim with the uninformed and apathetic sound the loudest for school choice is because the decent minority of parents don't want to send their kids down the same river as all the children of the apathetic and are quite vocal about it.

Any parent who is apathetic will ignore their new school choice and life will go on just as it always had for them and their children. They won't waste anything and will continue to allow the government to waste for them. Those who are NOT apathetic however will find new freedom and new choice and new possibility.

You're close to getting it.

Posted by: Shirley Ugest | October 31, 2007 5:56 PM

Charlie,

Don't be too sure. With the ongoing trend of globalization the plan is that people will go from country to country looking for work and better living conditions.

Posted by: Shirley Ugest | November 7, 2007 9:40 PM

I read online from another newspapers website that Superintendent Mayo is of the opinion that NCLB is placing test scores above the social development of inner city students. In a way he may be right, but I shudder when I think that his statements sound that he is 'throwing in the towel' on closing the achievement gap between districts like his and districts in the outlying suburbs. 1.5 Billion has been spent on facilities. Probably, a billion or more will be spent on future improvements.

I personally think that the citizens of New Haven (or the State) should be satisfied with the continued notion that educating children is an either/or proposition. Yes, they need to be able to get along with co-workers and bosses, but they also need to have intellectual skills if we are to be able to address historic and structural social problems and stereo-types of the inner-city and its people. With the growing trend towards globilization, the competition facing our kids will be stiffer than the competition for employment (or relevancy) Dr. Mayo - or I - have experienced. With the growth of a world economy, there will be less motivation for the best and brightest of other countries to come to the U.S. to seek their American Dream. They will be able to have that where they are.

This countries explosive economic growth after WWII was not based on the overwhelming intellectual superiority of our leaders, engineers, and otherwise intellectual elite. It was based on the concentration of means of production. (Many historians also conclude that to be a major contributor to our military might.) This is now being eroded and - as a nation - we need to find our advantage within something else. The natural response of many is to look towards our system of education to provide that advantage. This is where we intend to get our added value.

Getting along is - of course - important. However, being able to contribute and remain relevant is something entirely different. Dr. Mayo's statements suggest that the latter is not so important, which might explain the philosophy for which he staffs his Board of Ed.

It's time to expect more.