Column: MCCSC needs more funding because Indiana is failing to provide for schools
The headline in the Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, Herald-Times bruits “MCCSC wants to raise taxes again” is simply a disgrace! It ignores the real source of the problem: the failure of our supermajority of Republican state legislators to provide properly for our state’s public schools.
The MCCSC must continue to raise taxes to maintain a quality educational experience because our legislators continue to reduce the funding provided to support and maintain the constitutional requirement of a strong public education system.
The leadership of the MCCSC and the Board of Trustees are doing what they are hired and elected to do to maintain the highest quality learning and educational experience possible. The future citizens of this community and region deserve the best opportunity for their children, and the MCCSC must do what the state of Indiana’s elected leaders have consistently failed to do.
The need to raise taxes is a direct result of failed state leadership. Over the past 20 years the local educators have had to do more with less and making sure that all the future Hoosier citizens have a quality education takes a lot of money.
Having a quality public school system is one of the pillars of a strong and vibrant community, and it needs to be supported by all the taxpayers whether or not they have children currently in the system.
Education is a public service that is at the foundation of a strong and engaged population. The H-T needs to reexamine its responsibility for helping to make this happen. Leading with such a headline does a disservice to the entire community and certainly raises a red flag to future corporate decisions to locate in the county.
The H-T needs to publish another piece with more of an explanation of why local taxpayers are having to bear the burden of supporting a responsibility that is built into the Indiana Constitution. The public has a right to understand why this requires a tax increase, and this front page piece didn’t really contribute to building a knowledge base that informs the general public.
Planning for the future needs of this community and its citizens requires leadership with a vision for the future. The MCCSC leadership and Board of Trustees are demonstrating that they have a future plan that addresses the need for earlier educational experiences. and also for making sure that there is a clean environment for the citizens to live and work.
The headline used by the H-T implies that there is something wrong going on within MCCSC and for that inference the editor should apologize. The need to raise taxes is the bane of every public service whether it be education, health and safety, environmental concerns, roads and bridges, sidewalks, and water and energy.
The public has come to expect a great deal from all levels of government, and we citizens have to understand that these public services require financial support to insure that competent individuals are in place to carry out their duties and obligations. We can complain about the efficiency of government services, but the private sector would need to show a profit and therefore establish an additional fee that would prohibit many citizens from taking advantage of government services.
Let’s challenge the H-T as a community resource to stand up and support the needed revenue to continue to make Bloomington and Monroe County a rewarding place to live. We need to continue to build the strongest educational experience possible and the citizens of Monroe County deserve the best.
Phil and Joan Harris are are both lifelong educators and supporters of public education. They are residents of Monroe County.
Editor's note: The headline our design center put on the article and that our page proofer approved was not the headline we would have preferred. The reporter spent weeks tracking down information about how changes to state law had affected the revenue MCCSC will get from the referendum that was passed last year. I understand wanting more and better reporting on our local schools, but we are without an education reporter after last year's staff reductions at our paper. We're raising money to fund local reporting and have applied to a competitive program that would aid our community in bringing this position back to the H-T.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Columnist argues MCCSC needs more funds to plan for future
