LEVIES: ‘No’ for performance

38%!

That’s the math proficiency score of students at Coeur d’Alene High School, according to PublicSchoolReview.com. In 2012 it was about 85%.

I looked high and low on the school system’s website (cdaschools.org) for meaningful proficiency information about their students. I couldn’t find any year-over-year information on how the schools were making a quantifiable difference with their graduates. If the numbers were good, I’d bet “dollars-to-doughnuts” they’d be prominently displayed.

Is it any wonder why parents who can afford to keep their kids out of the public system can and do?

The sad reality is that unions and bloated bureaucracies are creating high-paying, adult-day care centers throughout our nation, while our young suffer. It appears our county is not immune. The level of detachment from the people behind this levy is staggering. It’s the same old Siren Call, “it’s for the kids,” but in reality it’s not. Instead, it’s pricing longtime residents out of their homes with no quantifiable return.

Perhaps it’s time the homeowners of this county send a message that it’s time the people hired to do the job of actually educating our kids produce meaningful results or they leave. If I could see high proficiency scores, the levy could make sense.

The real tragedy is that doing the same thing over (i.e., spending more money) while hoping for a different outcome is THE DEFINITION of insanity. What does that say about the people supporting these levies? Vote No.

BRUCE MATTARE

Coeur d’Alene