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To the editor: To be consolidated or not to be consolidated, that
is the (current) question.
As a parent, a taxpayer, a teacher and a school board member, I,
like many of you, am contemplating the answer to this question. I
have not yet arrived at my personal answer. My desire with this
letter is not to suggest an answer. Instead, my desire is to
encourage a focus for the debate.
The debate, I fear, will be focused primarily on the topic of
savings for the taxpayers. And, I can certainly appreciate that
focus. I, like you, grit my teeth every time I write out my check
for my property taxes. No one would like to have his taxes lowered
more than me. But let me implore all of you who read this, please do
not let the property tax rates be your primary focus as you consider
this issue. In fact, the consultants who wrote the recent
consolidation report have already told us that there will be very
little, if any, property tax savings for three of the elementary
districts and an increase in property tax for taxpayers who live in
the West Lincoln-Broadwell district if consolidation occurs.
[to top of second column in this letter]
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2007/Jul/16/images/ads/current/asse%20lda%20070607.jpg) |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2007/Jul/16/images/ads/current/logancountyfair%20lda%20071307.jpg) So my desire, my sincere request to each of you, is that as you
try to answer this question for yourself, that you instead have this
as your primary focus: Will consolidation provide a better education
for our children or will it not? Let this question be the primary
focus of your discussion, direct your actions, guide your comments
and maybe someday, your vote.
If we each take this focus, then each of us can look the children
of these five school districts in the eye today and in the future
and say this: "We truly thought about your future first and our
pocketbooks second." Isn't that what we want to be able to say to
each child educated in our local schools? If, at the end of the
debate, we can honestly make this statement, we will have done our
children, our schools and our communities a great service. Let the
debate begin.
Rick L. Hobler
Lincoln
[Posted
July
16, 2007]
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