Sensible decision
Kudos go to all Hillsboro area residents and school district employees who attended the recent public meetings and even filled out the worksheet.
But first, a little background: Last week the Durham-Hillsboro-Lehigh school district held a series of public meetings tackling the district's financial woes. Specifically, school officials estimate that come this fall, USD 410 could be lacking upward of $300,000 for its 2003-04 budget.
That's money the district needs to find somewhere, whether by raising fees or cutting spending.
The school board must make these unenviable decisions, and those involving teacher cuts need to be made before May 1.
So the district decided to find out what the public thinks — what Joe Average thinks would be the best solution.
And the most popular option was this: increase the LOB budget.
That's somewhat surprising, considering that raising the LOB means raising your property taxes.
But in other ways, it's not so surprising. Hillsboro residents have always been dedicated to what they see as an outstanding school system. They may be ready to dig a little deeper into the pocketbook to guarantee a quality education for their children.
Besides, the increase wouldn't be astronomical. For a house appraised at $100,000, property taxes could go up as little as $15.18 a year. That's not much of a problem. Even if the LOB were maxed out at 25 percent, and the mill levy increased by 5.75, that same house would pay nearly $66 a year.
If you own a $100,000 home, you can probably afford to pay $60 extra bucks a year.
Of course, nobody likes to have their taxes raised. No one jumps for joy when their bill is higher than before.
And USD 410 should still eye every option for cutting spending. It has to.
But practically speaking, raising the LOB — even just a little bit — is the biggest way to make a dent in this $300,000 mess. It makes sense, and it's the right way to go.
— JENNIFER WILSON
