Henry - I can honestly say, I've never been more glad to see you in my entire life!! :thumb:

I think there's a lot of misconceptions all the way around. Maybe we'd be better off if we could all be in a super-sized version of Wife Swap.

LOrd,don't supersize that...LOL!!!

Sorry but that web site is a complete waste and like John Williamson (Ft. Thomas superintendent) "I think it is a mess".

 

Fort Thomas is a small bedroom community of private homes. There is zero industry. Small busnesses yes but not one large corporate entity, lets say like Newport has Newport on the Levey. Major bucks. Therefore Fort Thomas is made up of mostly homes and small businesses. Convenients, florist, etc. Therefore my tax bill , which came while I was at the High School doing some extra spurcing up, was comprised of 2/3 to the school and 1/3 to the city.

 

Now, I'm at the school painting and others are planting and the state won't give us money to AC our 1920's building unless we raise a certain amount and then they MAY match that. Give me a break. I've been to other schools and I know whatchya got. And every time I pull into those "parking lots" and up to that "beautiful new school" I think about where my "tax Money" (SEEK) is going.

 

Finally somethings are happening in Fort Thomas and it is long over due.

 

The Fort uses what they have - great property values. It doesn't matter HOW you have the funds. Counties like Owsley and Wolfe do not have those funds and have very little way of coming up with them. They can volunteer to paint the school until its the Sistine Chapel but its not buying books/lab equipment/etc.

 

So, what do we do with them? Cast them aside? Wish them luck? Even if you blame them for their current situation, are you saying those kids coming through the system do not deserve good microscopes?

 

The system may need tweeking. I'm sure it does. However, the RIGHT thing to do for neighborhoods like yours and mine is to help out. Its no different than putting money in the collection plate at church and having that money go elsewhere.

And therein lies our problem.

 

We're not discussing problems. We're discussing solutions.

 

What is it? You've already said that FT T money going to schools that don't "care as much" is not right.

 

What do you tell the fine folks of Owsley County?

Henry - I can honestly say, I've never been more glad to see you in my entire life!! :thumb:

 

Sorry big guy, I haven't been to General lately, it's football season and I usually just don't leave that topic, but LN is out of town and I was bored and so I moseied over to General and man did my blood begin to boil.

 

I understand that everyone in the state has this HUGE misconception that Ft. Thomas has the money to take care of itself, trust me on this one. I may know more about what the state thinks of Ft. T than most. It isn't true. Get over it. If you visit our facilities you will find out. Our old school dates back to the '20's, the "new school" dates back to '60's, ( a quick fix because the original burned down and we are still using the building), and yes a new Middle school in 2004 to help accomadate the three middle schools that date back to the '20's. Until 2004 only the New Middle school had AC, now part of the New/Remodled Old has AC.

 

Fort Thomas does what we do because we have an amazing community. But don't criticize us for just thinking everything is handed to us. That is far from the truth. If anything we are penelized for supporting our schools.

What is it? You've already said that FT T money going to schools that don't "care as much" is not right.

You think it is? :eek:

Fort Thomas does what we do because we have an amazing community. But don't criticize us for just thinking everything is handed to us. That is far from the truth. If anything we are penelized for supporting our schools.

That's what I tried to say...as I tripped all over my keyboard.

Fort Thomas does what we do because we have an amazing community. But don't criticize us for just thinking everything is handed to us. That is far from the truth. If anything we are penelized for supporting our schools.

 

 

Outstanding community. Outstanding support. I won't go down the "we're penalized" road though.

 

I fall into the camp that says if we make the entire state better, we all win. That was not happening before. It takes your dollars and my dollars (and we should count our blessings) to make that happen.

You think it is? :eek:

 

 

BF - you still have not answered what the best solution is for schools like Owsley County.

 

You either don't care or you don't know. I'm going to hope its the latter.

Outstanding community. Outstanding support. I won't go down the "we're penalized" road though.

 

I fall into the camp that says if we make the entire state better, we all win. That was not happening before. It takes your dollars and my dollars (and we should count our blessings) to make that happen.

 

WOW. Can't say what I want to say but to heck with achievers, lets just bring everyone down to mediocre. What happened to over achievers, middle and under achievers? We'll just dumb down everyone because they are learning faster than we want them to.

Outstanding community. Outstanding support. I won't go down the "we're penalized" road though.

 

I fall into the camp that says if we make the entire state better, we all win. That was not happening before. It takes your dollars and my dollars (and we should count our blessings) to make that happen.

 

I understand what your saying, I don't want to see any student in KY fall behind. However, don't penelize the school's that are succeeding by cutting their funds.

You either don't care or you don't know. I'm going to hope its the latter.

I never claimed to have the answers for any specific county or the the state in general. Neither do you. Does that mean we cannnot have a discussion on the issue? I think not.

 

As Henry said, don't penalize those that are doing it right.

These comments show the problem of the SEEK funding formula and knowing the comments that were going to make I will ask this question. Why are the districts that receive the lowest SEEK amount the best test result CATS schools?

 

And for the rural areas that do not have a good tax base I ask this: How is it fair for a two story home in a subdivision in Ft. Thomas to be valued on the tax rolls at virtually what it is actually worth for taxation purposes yet the poor, rural area of a couple hundred acres is capped at $200 per acre for taxation purposes. Note to posters, next time you drive to Lexington and pass every horse farm ask yourself would you be willing to pony up $200 per acre for that land?

 

It is an absolute crime the vast majority of this state pays taxes based on true property valuations and the rest receive significant tax shelter.

Some how we went from CATS to SEEK...................

Because there is no "cost of living" adjustment in the SEEK school funding formula, school districts in high cost areas cannot provide the same educational programs and facilities for their students that school districts in low cost areas can with the same amount of money. This causes inequities in Kentucky school funding.