NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — To borrow from financier Malcolm Forbes: “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”
First, I applaud all those who voted in the recent Springdale millage vote, about 20 percent of registered voters.
Could there have been more information detailing by percentages where exactly the money derived from the proposed 2.4 mill increase would be allocated? The answer is yes. We did find out through the newspaper and television that $48 per year tax on an assessed $100,000 property tax would be the amount each of us would be required to pay. With that in mind, let’s honestly look at all of the facts pertaining to why Springdale should have voted to pass a millage for another middle school and junior high school.
As a community, we have to be realistic on what the longer term impact of this vote may bring to our city. By investing in education, we not only provide top tier academics and opportunities for the children who are the future of any economy, but we also retain the best teachers to follow through with the instruction. It does not matter if you are in Beverly Hills, Calif., or Springdale, Ark., this is fact.
Overcrowded classrooms are not what people want to see when choosing a city in which to live, or for that matter currently living in a particular school district. Neither are portable buildings which are a temporary fix to a definite problem. What is needed is good student-teacher ratio along with what the educational environment and opportunities look like. To be most effective, teachers must have the ability within a proper learning environment, to focus instruction for a certain number of students. As a student progresses each year this becomes even more obvious from the students perspective.
The percentage of Springdale students on free and reduced lunch programs is currently 62 percent. If we do not have adequate educational facilities to attract a broad range of families to Springdale, we risk that number growing. Our test scores will reflect this as well. Some of our schools are ranked in the top 1 percent in Arkansas. We want to keep the ones that have achieved high rankings and add more of our schools to this list each year.
A healthy city is one which is demographically balanced within its population base. With this range of demographics, a city can attract new people moving in as well as new business. This helps solidify an educational platform that is needed to educate each child.
When you have neighboring cities that are competing daily for new families to move in, there are several compelling reasons to vote for our millage. For every child enrolled in public school in Arkansas, the state provides $6,000 dollars. This is how a schools operational budget is established, but this typically is not enough. It is up to us, citizens in our community, to provide additional help to make our city be the best it can be in educating our children. It should be something in which we take pride and view very seriously. If we do not take it seriously, we lose out on much more than just educational opportunities for children. We lose on new business investment opportunities, future infrastructure development, appraised values on business and homes, and progressive growth for Springdale in general.
Paying $48 per each year of the millage for every $100,000 seems reasonable for guaranteeing the future of our school system, as well as Springdale’s economy. We also may be fortunate enough to partake in that $16 million of allocated partnership funding from the state we heard about and that by the way we have already been taxed on. It would really be sad to see that go by the wayside.
The merits above, alone should be enough incentive to pass the Springdale millage vote. Athletic facilities, while not mentioned, are a very important part of a strong educational platform within any school district and should be fully supported.
Now, concerning a recent opinion column by Bob Caudle:
When one has the audacity to blatantly state that they really don’t care about kids — Well, obviously I will not change your opinion, but I do find it to be very selfish and lacking pride in your community. Mostly, it is destructive in finding a plausible solution for the future of Springdale schools.
BENNY BREAZEALE IS A PARENT OF TWO SPRINGDALE STUDENTS AND A PROUD RESIDENT OF THE COMMUNITY.