Came across this in a transportation industry newsletter of an Indiana school district beginning to charge for bus service.
CIESC sounds like a collective formed to deal with education budget cuts, their "about" is very vague. My first cynical assumption was it was private sector. Hell, it could be. But my point is: I'm sure enough people voted in the politicians that promised to cut taxes on wasteful gov't spending. Now they have to pay $475 for one child to ride the school bus. Each additional child at the reduced rate of $405. So your average family with two kids is paying almost $900 for busing. If they can't afford it, then they come up with another solution. Add to that fees for sports, supplies, etc. and that big tax cut is probably costing them twice out of pocket than what the tax cut was worth -- and that's just for education.
And what will they blame it on? Inefficient government and wasteful spending.
Where I'm at in Oregon, it's not that bad yet. We just pay for school supplies, sports, music and art (if available, teachers are volunteers), field trips, plus other assorted fees and requested donations. Every weekend is a car wash or bake sale to pay for something. I pay $75 for each sport for each child in Middle School. In high school it bumps up to $200 each. And there's talk of suspending the mid schools sports programs altogether.
It doesn't seem all that long ago – way back in the 80s – but I didn't have to bring soap and tissues and glue to class. I didn't have to pay to play baseball or run track.
Funny, I don't have more in my pocket to spend. Seems like less. But by God, I sure am glad those tax cuts are in place so the job creators can be out there creating jobs.
Good times.