West Bend School Board shaves tax increase

ah thats better, not! That school board in WEst Bend is a joke, especially miss Herdrich. In these hard times now you want to raise their taxes 9%.
Why dont you ask the people who have to pay it instead your students. But you dont care, like your president, he doesnt care about the average person trying to make it either. Stupidity!!!!!!!!

I share your anger and frustration Karen.
What makes these school board idiots think that because they DON'T have the money WE DO?
I repeat. The same economic conditions that are effecting them are hitting all of us. DUH!

We personally are having to MAKE DO with less. DUHHHH!

West Bend public schools have been run on shoestrings for decades. We expect them to provide outstanding results regardless of increasing enrollment and decreasing funding. Serious building problems including mold, asbestos, and other health concerns are known to exist.

The residents have fought attempts to fund basic facility improvements for years, even in good economic times. It's beyond economics, it's a deep seated mindset of cheapness.

Today's economy demands that we reallocate tax funds. Instead of reducing overall funding for our public schools, we should look at:

Teachers compensation. They're generally paid better, and receive better health and retirement benefits, than public sector employees. What other sector offers close 100% of your salary at retirement?

Park & Rec staff reduction. Reduce mowing frequency and eliminate summer programs at parks (free babysitting that's subsidized by the city!)

Free street trees program is nice, but it's a luxury.

Library staffing, hours (Google, anyone?)

Moraine Park funding and space utilization. This school was built and enlarged primarily to train blue collar workers for local manufacturing. Those jobs and companies are now gone, or severely limited. Is the Applied Manufacturing Technology wing used by anyone but the janitors?

MPTC's enrollment may be up due to West Bend's high rate of unemployment. Those adults have other options, including other tech school campuses.

Local grade school kids don't have a choice.

I'm a taxpayer. I've used all these services. We need to reprioritize everything paid for by our taxes, and eliminate duplicated or luxury services.