Deadline for election letters
All Letters to the Editor pertaining to the Tuesday, April 7 spring election are due by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25. Each letter will be published in the next available edition of the Times. All election-related Letters to the Editor must adhere to the Times guidelines of 400 words and one letter per person every 28 days. As always, The Times reserves the right to reject any letter.
From Steve Mayer
Monroe
To the Editor:
I’ve been on the school board for almost a year now, and I must say it has been a learning experience. I want tot relay some of the things I have learned. The way schools are funded in this state is very convoluted. Half of your property tax bill should not go to funding schools. The state legislature’s actions continue to push the school tax burden onto the local property tax base. Government continues to mandate programs without proper funding and once again hitting our local property tax. Revenue limits are a great way to keep schools running efficiently. The unfortunate thing is the revenue limits have not kept up with inflation for the past 17 years. I doubt any of us would continue to work at our job that long if our wage increase lacked that long.
MSD has been doing some great things as of late. Much has been said about the DPI test scores increases and we should be proud of the rate of increase districtwide. The thing that stood out to me was the scores MSD earned in dealing with at-risk and special needs students. This district does an amazing job! The downside is these students do increase the cost of education. Area districts sometimes even direct these students to Monroe. Every child deserves a good education, and we are required to provide this to every student in our district.
Our district has had a major trust issue since the high school referendum, understandably so! We have new leadership and largely a new board. We are working to rebuild that trust. That building is nearly complete and we must move on. As a person that did not agree with the project location, I must say it is going to be a facility Monroe can be proud of. The trades areas will be some of the best in the state! We have made it our mission to make sure the citizens receive all the facts needed to make a good decision in the voter booth.
I am not going to tell anyone how to vote because everyone’s circumstances are different. Ten years ago, the community decided to provide additional operational funds for the Monroe schools, and renewed those funds in 2020. In 2024, those funds were voted down. If you can, please vote “yes” to restore the needed funding.
