I want to thank Kim Posey and Fox News 31 for interviewing us tonight. There is a lot of confusion over what we are saying and I want to clear the air so that everyone can be upset about the facts and not the conjecture.
1) The survey that was referred to in the story states that 87% of Coloradoans still favor Lotto money going to parks. What they do not say is that education was not one of the alternatives listed on the survey. So it is an apples and oranges discussion, we therefore find their logic mute.
2) Chris Leding with GOCO said parks and conservation projects are important when companies consider coming to Colorado. I disagree and here is why. A company wants and needs 2 things; Low Taxes and Skilled labor. Parks factor very little in that equation, but education is what is going to provide the skilled people needed to make a business run well. Ever increasing Mill Levies and Bonds erode the financial integrity of the community and decrease our appeal to business. Businesses are leaving Colorado as we speak and the parks as nice as they are have not been a factor in retaining them. So her argument is flawed.
3) If parks and open space projects are so vital to land values why does my property value continue to fall when I am surrounded by them?
4) Our Lotto idea is a trigger on existing funds during periods of high unemployment. THIS IS NOT A NEW TAX! When times are good parks get all the money. When times are bad parks are treated like the luxury that they are and would do their part to help the community that they serve. If 87% of the people of Colorado truly want to fund parks with Lotto money, then there should be no problem for GOCO and The Colorado Land Trusts (which currently holds 800 million in funds) to pass a bond or Mill Levy of their own.
To Chris Leding at GOCO, I ask you the following questions;
Are the parks and open spaces more important than children?
If parks and open space projects are so vital to land values why does my property value continue to fall when I am surrounded by them? (I will give you a hint, my school district is suffering and is a far more accurate barometer of economic health than are the parks.)
Has GOCO or the Colorado Land Trust let go of employees?
Has pay been cut?
Has GOCO or he Colorado Land Trust had to return part of its budget to the state?
Have your bonds or levies failed?
Are you opposed to sharing your wealth with Colorado’s children?
If we cannot get the best funded institutions in the state to share their plenty, during times of need, with the worst funded institution in the state, all is lost and your parks will be home to our future homeless, jobless kids. Colorado’s children are funded $1400 less per pupil than the national average, how do you think our parks will compare nationally?
I challenge you to come up with a better idea, our children, who are the future, beg you to come up with a better idea. With all of your wealth and resources surly a better solution should come from you. If you cannot think of a different long term solution, you should join our group.
We are a state of 5 million people living on nearly 110,000 square miles of land, conservation is important, but time can be made up on conservation. We have 1 chance to educate Colorado’s children. Before we deiced to put wants before needs, luxury before duty and parks before education we must answer the toughest question, who will run the parks in 20 years if we do not educate these children today? The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the only time to educate children is today.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Your Hub Article Response 2
This is the follow up to last weeks Your Hub article by Dave Schallert.
His response is first and mine follows it on the same post.
Mr. DiCarlo...so much to address. 1. Don't talk to me about "leaving the safety" of the desktop. Writing this piece exposes me to multiple harms by over-aroused DCSD hacks and others (including union thugs) who believe it is their right to prosper while the folks who fund their paychecks struggle.
2. DCSD is funded w/ MY MONEY! I earned it. Your comparison of for-profit businesses vs. the schools is lame to say the least. Just because DCSD has a guaranteed income stream from a captive Douglas County taxpayers does NOT exempt them from good financial and business practices. Does DCSD actually ask themselves "Gee...if this were MY money, would I spend it this way?" I pay approx. $300 a month in taxes to DCSD..and what do I get? $223 for scented pencils! Don't you think I could have USED the $300 myself? Instead it goes to these morons in DCSD. It isn't DCSD's money it's THE TAXPAYER'S MONEY...and they should treat it as such. Don't you think I'd rather do something else with my $$$ than send it the DCSD Black Hole? Again...it's NOT DCSD'S MONEY...it's OUR money.
3. DCSD proposes furloughs and pay "freezes". What a cop out. These folks work FOR US! We don't work for them. They can always rehire staff later when/if times improve. I have no sympathy for DCSD...as I said, let them feel what we've been feeling for the last 2 years. Get rid of them permanently...there is no such thing as "furloughs" in the private sector. If your job is so unimportant where I work that you can be sent home for a few days a year w/ no pay to save money, then you are let go COMPLETELY. DCSD doesn't begin to know the meaning of "hard choices."
4. DCSD pay "freezes?" What a joke! We'll freeze your inflated salary instead of giving you a raise. OOOhhhh...that's SO bold! How about an across the board 10% salary REDUCTION at DCSD. That covers the entire deficit. Schools aren't a sacred cow. They don't wag the county and they aren't immune from reality. Finally David...what are they going to do when the reduced property assessments hit this year w/ a lookback period of June 2008 to June 2010? I expect they'll see about a 20% reduction in their "revenue" from the unfortunate homeowners in Douglas County. DCSD doesn't get it...and I'm going to be on them until they do.
Dave...in all I said/replied below, I want to make clear one thing: I think what you and your group are doing/trying to do is very positive w/ regards to the DCSD. We just come at it from different perspectives and backgrounds. Layoffs, people losing their jobs, the uncertainty it brings to a family/household are terrible things. I've been through it. That said, I believe DCSD comes up w/ all kinds of ideas to meet a budget shortfall except the obvious...they have too many people working for them and need to cull personnel, no matter how painful for all involved. Period
David DiCarlo's Response 2/7/2010
Hey Dave,
1. This hub character limit makes responses hard. First of all I appreciate your input regardless of perspective differences. As for exposure I can tell you that anyone who would (or could) fall into that category has yet to surface in the circle I have seen and believe me I am on record with some pretty inflammatory thing to both left and right. I agree with the comment on folks struggling and layoffs, my home has recently gone through this and I can attest to the fear and stress this can cause. But keeping the $300 is pennies in a fountain. We all spend far more on taxes we never see at all. I would rather spend on schools and cut the amount I am sending to the poor stewards in D.C.
2. I agree that it is our money, but I stand by my non-profit assessment. I will tell you that the transparency is not a transparent as you may think. Many of the superfluous items such as the pencils have an actual use for educating students with disabilities; I found this out after losing my mind over the same information. The other missing part is that many of these items are in fact reimbursed to the school by either the PTO or parents but unfortunately that part of the math is not yet in the so called “transparency”. Bottom line is it is our money and we do need to be sure that the school is being good stewards of that money. I advocate increase accountability but not more cuts. Civil services that are poorly run are going to kill more of my property value. As with most working people my retirement fund is my home, I need it to be worth every penny. If the DCSD is a black hole it is our duty as the tax payers to fix it. I believe we are all responsible because we only look at things after the crash. No one was interested when things were good.
3. This is again a comparison that cannot evenly be made. We must by law educate children. There is no law guaranteeing employment or quality thereof for you or I. A teacher is a non-negotiable part of the education equation, how do you propose we provide quality education without quality teachers? We have only 1 chance to educate a child and the next generation cannot afford to be as stupid as mine. Generation X has made a career out of bad choices and putting wants before needs. We need to end that culture and build in its stead a culture of responsibility. Responsibility goes hand in hand with education.
4. While I do not agree with the inflated salary scenario, I do agree that pay freezes are over played. I am in that boat myself and raises cannot be guaranteed to anyone, neither can affordable health benefits, mine go up every year. The health of the economy dictates the ability to give a raise. In a recession raises are not going to be possible, however, a pay cut will KILL moral. I have worked in companies where pay was cut and the only thing that is worse than losing a job is to have that employer decide you are worth less today than you were yesterday. The new property evaluations are indeed going to kill the schools budget, yet again. But let’s be honest, we are no talking about an amount that will make my life better or worse. The figures I have seen means about a $15 monthly savings. This amount is not going to get me retired to a beach anytime soon. But when combined with community it will make a difference in the education of our children.
I have spoke to many people who feel they have no stake and in fact that since their children are grown or they have none that they should not have to pay at all. In both scenarios I support their position; however, they do not support my solution for the dilemma. For the retiree who has educated their children and claims to get no benefit from the school system I say keep your property tax, but I get no benefit from Social Security so I will keep that money and send it the police, fire and school systems. They can live off their property tax and all would be great.
For the folks that do not have children, I would issue them an exemption from paying property tax, as soon as they present a certified check for all the funds (adjusted for inflation) that were ever spent publically educating them K-12. In both cases the folks on the other side of the issue believe my position to be unreasonable. Which is how I feel about theirs, although I will tell you after I lay out my solutions, we seem to have a better understand of one another.
Dave, I want to invite you to post on our blog as a counter point. I respect the opinions you have put out and after reading your recent post I realize that it does take courage to share your point of view. Doing what is right is not always doing what is popular. Believe me the land management people think we are trying to lead the Frankenstein villagers into their parks to burn them down for the children. These are not easy time for anyone and we will all get further if we talk about the issues and learn together. In the end this is not a problem that can or will go away any time soon. We have many ideas that we are launching which are outside of the Mill Levy arena. The Mill is a poor band-aid for a deep sickness and we will be working to address the disease not just the symptoms. I again extend a personal invitation to our facebook and blog and welcome your opinions and verbal / written sparring. I will leave you with this thought, education today or welfare tomorrow, rhetoric aside look to your big American cities as this was their choice 20 – 30 years ago.
His response is first and mine follows it on the same post.
Mr. DiCarlo...so much to address. 1. Don't talk to me about "leaving the safety" of the desktop. Writing this piece exposes me to multiple harms by over-aroused DCSD hacks and others (including union thugs) who believe it is their right to prosper while the folks who fund their paychecks struggle.
2. DCSD is funded w/ MY MONEY! I earned it. Your comparison of for-profit businesses vs. the schools is lame to say the least. Just because DCSD has a guaranteed income stream from a captive Douglas County taxpayers does NOT exempt them from good financial and business practices. Does DCSD actually ask themselves "Gee...if this were MY money, would I spend it this way?" I pay approx. $300 a month in taxes to DCSD..and what do I get? $223 for scented pencils! Don't you think I could have USED the $300 myself? Instead it goes to these morons in DCSD. It isn't DCSD's money it's THE TAXPAYER'S MONEY...and they should treat it as such. Don't you think I'd rather do something else with my $$$ than send it the DCSD Black Hole? Again...it's NOT DCSD'S MONEY...it's OUR money.
3. DCSD proposes furloughs and pay "freezes". What a cop out. These folks work FOR US! We don't work for them. They can always rehire staff later when/if times improve. I have no sympathy for DCSD...as I said, let them feel what we've been feeling for the last 2 years. Get rid of them permanently...there is no such thing as "furloughs" in the private sector. If your job is so unimportant where I work that you can be sent home for a few days a year w/ no pay to save money, then you are let go COMPLETELY. DCSD doesn't begin to know the meaning of "hard choices."
4. DCSD pay "freezes?" What a joke! We'll freeze your inflated salary instead of giving you a raise. OOOhhhh...that's SO bold! How about an across the board 10% salary REDUCTION at DCSD. That covers the entire deficit. Schools aren't a sacred cow. They don't wag the county and they aren't immune from reality. Finally David...what are they going to do when the reduced property assessments hit this year w/ a lookback period of June 2008 to June 2010? I expect they'll see about a 20% reduction in their "revenue" from the unfortunate homeowners in Douglas County. DCSD doesn't get it...and I'm going to be on them until they do.
Dave...in all I said/replied below, I want to make clear one thing: I think what you and your group are doing/trying to do is very positive w/ regards to the DCSD. We just come at it from different perspectives and backgrounds. Layoffs, people losing their jobs, the uncertainty it brings to a family/household are terrible things. I've been through it. That said, I believe DCSD comes up w/ all kinds of ideas to meet a budget shortfall except the obvious...they have too many people working for them and need to cull personnel, no matter how painful for all involved. Period
David DiCarlo's Response 2/7/2010
Hey Dave,
1. This hub character limit makes responses hard. First of all I appreciate your input regardless of perspective differences. As for exposure I can tell you that anyone who would (or could) fall into that category has yet to surface in the circle I have seen and believe me I am on record with some pretty inflammatory thing to both left and right. I agree with the comment on folks struggling and layoffs, my home has recently gone through this and I can attest to the fear and stress this can cause. But keeping the $300 is pennies in a fountain. We all spend far more on taxes we never see at all. I would rather spend on schools and cut the amount I am sending to the poor stewards in D.C.
2. I agree that it is our money, but I stand by my non-profit assessment. I will tell you that the transparency is not a transparent as you may think. Many of the superfluous items such as the pencils have an actual use for educating students with disabilities; I found this out after losing my mind over the same information. The other missing part is that many of these items are in fact reimbursed to the school by either the PTO or parents but unfortunately that part of the math is not yet in the so called “transparency”. Bottom line is it is our money and we do need to be sure that the school is being good stewards of that money. I advocate increase accountability but not more cuts. Civil services that are poorly run are going to kill more of my property value. As with most working people my retirement fund is my home, I need it to be worth every penny. If the DCSD is a black hole it is our duty as the tax payers to fix it. I believe we are all responsible because we only look at things after the crash. No one was interested when things were good.
3. This is again a comparison that cannot evenly be made. We must by law educate children. There is no law guaranteeing employment or quality thereof for you or I. A teacher is a non-negotiable part of the education equation, how do you propose we provide quality education without quality teachers? We have only 1 chance to educate a child and the next generation cannot afford to be as stupid as mine. Generation X has made a career out of bad choices and putting wants before needs. We need to end that culture and build in its stead a culture of responsibility. Responsibility goes hand in hand with education.
4. While I do not agree with the inflated salary scenario, I do agree that pay freezes are over played. I am in that boat myself and raises cannot be guaranteed to anyone, neither can affordable health benefits, mine go up every year. The health of the economy dictates the ability to give a raise. In a recession raises are not going to be possible, however, a pay cut will KILL moral. I have worked in companies where pay was cut and the only thing that is worse than losing a job is to have that employer decide you are worth less today than you were yesterday. The new property evaluations are indeed going to kill the schools budget, yet again. But let’s be honest, we are no talking about an amount that will make my life better or worse. The figures I have seen means about a $15 monthly savings. This amount is not going to get me retired to a beach anytime soon. But when combined with community it will make a difference in the education of our children.
I have spoke to many people who feel they have no stake and in fact that since their children are grown or they have none that they should not have to pay at all. In both scenarios I support their position; however, they do not support my solution for the dilemma. For the retiree who has educated their children and claims to get no benefit from the school system I say keep your property tax, but I get no benefit from Social Security so I will keep that money and send it the police, fire and school systems. They can live off their property tax and all would be great.
For the folks that do not have children, I would issue them an exemption from paying property tax, as soon as they present a certified check for all the funds (adjusted for inflation) that were ever spent publically educating them K-12. In both cases the folks on the other side of the issue believe my position to be unreasonable. Which is how I feel about theirs, although I will tell you after I lay out my solutions, we seem to have a better understand of one another.
Dave, I want to invite you to post on our blog as a counter point. I respect the opinions you have put out and after reading your recent post I realize that it does take courage to share your point of view. Doing what is right is not always doing what is popular. Believe me the land management people think we are trying to lead the Frankenstein villagers into their parks to burn them down for the children. These are not easy time for anyone and we will all get further if we talk about the issues and learn together. In the end this is not a problem that can or will go away any time soon. We have many ideas that we are launching which are outside of the Mill Levy arena. The Mill is a poor band-aid for a deep sickness and we will be working to address the disease not just the symptoms. I again extend a personal invitation to our facebook and blog and welcome your opinions and verbal / written sparring. I will leave you with this thought, education today or welfare tomorrow, rhetoric aside look to your big American cities as this was their choice 20 – 30 years ago.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Response to the Your Hub Article
Here is the link to the article:
http://denver.yourhub.com/HighlandsRanch/Stories/Opinion/Local-Happenings/Story~739487.aspx
My response was too long to post there so i am posting it here. Please read the article and understand this is the type of misconception we must overcome in this battle.
Dave's response:
All I can say is wow. As a parent and voter in Douglas County I found your article to be current, on task, thoughtful, informative and yet completely wrong. You are doing a great injustice by making a comparison that is in fact impossible. You are juxtaposing the “for profit businesses” with “not for profit school system”. This is an unbalanced equation with no common denominator. Children have no choice but to go to school, however, as an employee or person of business I always have the choice in what I am doing. If I do not make enough, I look for a new job. If my business is not successful enough I get more innovative. In business, my actions dictate my revenue stream. In education the revenue steam is outside of the employee’s sphere of control, innovation is locked up in the desk drawer of the state or federal government as mandates and “one size fits all programs” rain down like volcanic ash.
We are, duty bound to the endeavor of providing the best education possible for children. Before we berate the Douglas County School District we need to look at some facts. We are the eighth largest county by population and have the highest median incomes in the state. Yet we are in the bottom of 180 school districts in a state that funds education at $1400 less per pupil than the national average. Even with this yoke this county has consistently produced the highest test scores in the state. The funding formula is a living exercise in Robin Hood economics. Make more; take more, with no consideration for the fact that if we earn more it stands to reason that we have a higher cost of living. A teacher working here must be able to afford to live here. We have good teachers, because we pay well. Sounds like capitalism at its finest. I always shake my head when we as a people send a mixed message about education. As a society we engage in a five decade long struggle against socialism? We toppled that belief and disproved its false gods, yet we hold education in limbo between the failures of socialism and the faults of capitalism. The fault lives in the community, if you engage with the public and ask questions you will see it. Education lacks the “what’s in it for me” perspective. We have lost sight of the balance between wants and needs and to steal (slightly) from Benjamin Franklin, a society that sacrifices needs for wants deserves neither and shall lose both. Do we in sincerity believe that teachers have no economic aspirations that they are of a socialistic nature and are looking to be dependent upon governmental programs for their needs? No, they want opportunity and room to advance and grow. It was said at a school board meeting that teachers don’t go into to teaching to become rich. This may be a fair statement, but they don’t do it to be poor either. As a state we have created conditions where this is now the choice. This is a state problem and but it is our responsibility to take the fight there.
Douglas County is treated as if property value is always on the upswing and no one ever loses a job. The media reinforces this stereo type and pours glasses filled with the Kool-Aid for the public to drink down. Suddenly, almost magically, like an Oliver Stone movie, facts seem less important. Citizens line up across the pit and scream about how we got here, recriminations fester and suddenly the enemy lives on your block or next door, based on whose campaign signs they display in their yard. My group, The Wickerdale Walkers, has actual ideas and plans on how to do fix the mess; we are trying hard to be part of the solution.
I must ask every citizen reading this, have you attended a meeting of the school board, SAC, DAC or PTO? Do you have firsthand knowledge of what these cuts will do to our county (our property values)? Do you realize that the preliminary numbers for next year’s state education cuts gives Douglas County 13% of the total? To author such an article with no sort of remedy is in fact the worst kind of action we can engage in. This article speaks to administrative waste in one sentence then blames the union in the next. Is the problem management or is it labor? If this is just the start of an anti-Mill movement I applaud the effort, but it is, alas, about 15 years too late. The time to fix today was yesterday, we missed it. The time to fix tomorrow is now; if we do not act in long term meaningful ways we will be in the same leaky boat drinking from the same sieve 15 years from now. This means we need a levy to stop the bleeding while we actively pursue different avenues of education funding, such as Lotto, existing bond re-direction, co-op buying as a state and a host of other ideas. The enemy is not your teachers, administrators, parents, community or school board; right now it is the state and the poor way that the capitol has handled finances. That is where our energy must go. We must move above the fray and keep the fight where it belongs
The time for stale election year rhetoric has passed and I invite everyone to get off the couch and move in closer to the issues. Leave the safety of your laptops and show the courage you all have. If we are only to be about “tilting at windmills” we will soon learn that this is a real dragon and idiom alone cannot slay it. If we are not working on solving the problem, we are the problem. Visit us on facebook as the “Wickerdale Walkers” and get plugged in to solutions in the making.
http://denver.yourhub.com/HighlandsRanch/Stories/Opinion/Local-Happenings/Story~739487.aspx
My response was too long to post there so i am posting it here. Please read the article and understand this is the type of misconception we must overcome in this battle.
Dave's response:
All I can say is wow. As a parent and voter in Douglas County I found your article to be current, on task, thoughtful, informative and yet completely wrong. You are doing a great injustice by making a comparison that is in fact impossible. You are juxtaposing the “for profit businesses” with “not for profit school system”. This is an unbalanced equation with no common denominator. Children have no choice but to go to school, however, as an employee or person of business I always have the choice in what I am doing. If I do not make enough, I look for a new job. If my business is not successful enough I get more innovative. In business, my actions dictate my revenue stream. In education the revenue steam is outside of the employee’s sphere of control, innovation is locked up in the desk drawer of the state or federal government as mandates and “one size fits all programs” rain down like volcanic ash.
We are, duty bound to the endeavor of providing the best education possible for children. Before we berate the Douglas County School District we need to look at some facts. We are the eighth largest county by population and have the highest median incomes in the state. Yet we are in the bottom of 180 school districts in a state that funds education at $1400 less per pupil than the national average. Even with this yoke this county has consistently produced the highest test scores in the state. The funding formula is a living exercise in Robin Hood economics. Make more; take more, with no consideration for the fact that if we earn more it stands to reason that we have a higher cost of living. A teacher working here must be able to afford to live here. We have good teachers, because we pay well. Sounds like capitalism at its finest. I always shake my head when we as a people send a mixed message about education. As a society we engage in a five decade long struggle against socialism? We toppled that belief and disproved its false gods, yet we hold education in limbo between the failures of socialism and the faults of capitalism. The fault lives in the community, if you engage with the public and ask questions you will see it. Education lacks the “what’s in it for me” perspective. We have lost sight of the balance between wants and needs and to steal (slightly) from Benjamin Franklin, a society that sacrifices needs for wants deserves neither and shall lose both. Do we in sincerity believe that teachers have no economic aspirations that they are of a socialistic nature and are looking to be dependent upon governmental programs for their needs? No, they want opportunity and room to advance and grow. It was said at a school board meeting that teachers don’t go into to teaching to become rich. This may be a fair statement, but they don’t do it to be poor either. As a state we have created conditions where this is now the choice. This is a state problem and but it is our responsibility to take the fight there.
Douglas County is treated as if property value is always on the upswing and no one ever loses a job. The media reinforces this stereo type and pours glasses filled with the Kool-Aid for the public to drink down. Suddenly, almost magically, like an Oliver Stone movie, facts seem less important. Citizens line up across the pit and scream about how we got here, recriminations fester and suddenly the enemy lives on your block or next door, based on whose campaign signs they display in their yard. My group, The Wickerdale Walkers, has actual ideas and plans on how to do fix the mess; we are trying hard to be part of the solution.
I must ask every citizen reading this, have you attended a meeting of the school board, SAC, DAC or PTO? Do you have firsthand knowledge of what these cuts will do to our county (our property values)? Do you realize that the preliminary numbers for next year’s state education cuts gives Douglas County 13% of the total? To author such an article with no sort of remedy is in fact the worst kind of action we can engage in. This article speaks to administrative waste in one sentence then blames the union in the next. Is the problem management or is it labor? If this is just the start of an anti-Mill movement I applaud the effort, but it is, alas, about 15 years too late. The time to fix today was yesterday, we missed it. The time to fix tomorrow is now; if we do not act in long term meaningful ways we will be in the same leaky boat drinking from the same sieve 15 years from now. This means we need a levy to stop the bleeding while we actively pursue different avenues of education funding, such as Lotto, existing bond re-direction, co-op buying as a state and a host of other ideas. The enemy is not your teachers, administrators, parents, community or school board; right now it is the state and the poor way that the capitol has handled finances. That is where our energy must go. We must move above the fray and keep the fight where it belongs
The time for stale election year rhetoric has passed and I invite everyone to get off the couch and move in closer to the issues. Leave the safety of your laptops and show the courage you all have. If we are only to be about “tilting at windmills” we will soon learn that this is a real dragon and idiom alone cannot slay it. If we are not working on solving the problem, we are the problem. Visit us on facebook as the “Wickerdale Walkers” and get plugged in to solutions in the making.
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