The local socialist weekly headline screams,
Kuna High struggles with ‘pay-to-play’ fee.
Having the kids or their parents pay the costs of their after school playground activities is apparently a shocking development.
I have to admit that I was a bit surprised when they lost the election they rigged to get more tax money out of a declining tax base. The quiet little election they held brought a very strong negative response from those who would keep the money they earned. Now the administrators have to actually think to budget, rather than just adding new line items as they occur to them.
Of course reducing administrative costs is not on the table. The decision makers’ superior salaries are warranted, deserved, earned and necessary to attract people of their caliber. To a man, they would and could easily be earning much more elsewhere if it weren’t for their dedication to the welfare of this nation’s youth. Each and every paper-pushing position is critical to the extremely high-quality indoctrination education forced on delivered to the developing minds of our world.
As I observe the FOR SALE signs on front lawns, outgoing moving vans outnumbering incoming, job losses and many other signs of decreasing wealth in the neighborhood, I am pleased that a voting majority finally said, “NO” to unlimited budgets for the government system claiming the undivided attention of everyone between the ages of 5 and 18.
It is really a very good thing to send the message that amusements have to be paid for – and not always by someone else. Though none of their teachers want to tell them, the kids have to find out somewhere that tradeoffs are a part of life – that your folks and your neighbors have many things they must and want to afford, not necessarily including everything it takes for you to play football in a stadium.
Independent soccer, softball, gymnastics and boxing clubs are much better models. Church leagues, acting clubs, shooting clubs and community bands bring extra-curricular activities to all ages without costing non-participants a dime. Even back-lot baseball is superior to dressing them all up in state-of-the-art costumes and setting them to gambol on idealized playing fields using money forcibly extracted from unknown strangers’ household budgets.
So while everyone else in the area struggles with making ends meet and selecting the balance of wants and needs that they can afford, it is a sign of good health that the high school is finally having to wrestle with a limited budget. May the good news keep on coming.