Local Taxpayers Lose $10,000 per year due to lower property values

One thing the conservatives are correct on is the slow, dismantling and closing of our public schools, to pay for automatic salary and step increases, pensions and healthcare for union teachers in our Soviet-style monopolistic school systems.  The very bad economy and the lack of government money has exposed the illogical public school system which has grown into a monster, which is eating NY State taxpayers alive. What is the evidence of this?  As Governor Cuomo openly admits, young adults are leaving NY State in droves due to lack of job opportunities.  Do you want more evidence?  How about property tax values plummeting in many upstate areas?  Locally, property values have gone down as much as 5 percent per year.  What is 5 percent of a $200,000 house?  Thats's right.  A loss of $10,000 per year by taxpayers to finance a bloated public school system, which is paying good teachers more than we can afford.  The time for the conservative idea of school vouchers, school choice, and school competition among public, private and parochial schools, has come.

School Vote Should be November 5th NOT December 10th.

Ulster County's Election Commissioners have verified that school budget votes could be handled on Election Day in November. Therefore, why not have this important building vote when everyone comes out to vote in November? This is the same subtle voter suppression technique that is used for the School Budget and school board votes held in May instead of November.  Let's call a spade a spade.  If the KHS renovation/expansion Vote is held on Election Day, many more people will vote and express their opinion and the project would probably be voted down.  If the KHS renovation/expansion Vote is held on December 10th, during the Christmas shopping season, the vote total will be way down and the building project could possibly pass.  Is this anyway to run a democracy?  I  don't think so.  The Kingston School Board and administration should be ashamed of themselves.  This is pure bold arrogance.

Caged Animals

When a leading intellectual such as Alan Chartock, who knows the score, tells us there is nothing that we can do to change the leadership in the NYS Assembly, then our democracy and republic are in deep trouble.  We citizens have been corraled.  We are like "caged animals".  How can we continue to teach with a straight face, our young high schoolers about Civics and "Go out and Vote", when Alan Chartock knows, Gov.Cuomo knows and we know that we "caged animals", we citizens in NY State can do "nothing" about this rotten state government that we have.  I say that we organize and put heat on our individual assemblymen.  SUGGESTION.  Ask Assemblyman Cahill, "Why do you continue supporting Shelly Silver as Speaker of the Assembly?"  Let's publish the answer in the Freeman.