WEALTHY MEQUON SCHOOLS BEG FOR $

OLD SCHOOL DAYS

MEQUON REACHES OUT TO ALUMS JUST IN TIME FOR REFERENDUM

Thank goodness the junk mail settings at milwaukeeworld.com do not filter out messages from The Mequon-Thiensville School District School Board, otherwise I would not have received a recent alumni newsletter, my first ever, from Homestead High School, where I was a graduate of the class of 1971.

According to Dennis Krause, the Community Resource Director of what is certainly among the state’s wealthiest school districts, the newsletter “is another step in building an alumni community based on information from the most recent Homestead Alumni Directory.”

It is also an excellent way for the school district to remind former Highlanders that there is a referendum on the ballot in Mequon and Thiensville on February 21^st.

In the referendum, the prosperous burghers of Mequon-Thiensville will be asked to

“exceed the state’s revenue limits by $7.5 million over the next three years. District officials estimate a shortfall of $6.5 million over the next three years if the referendum does not pass. That would lead to severe budget cuts.”

Among the cuts – loss of teachers, loss of building maintenance funds (which will always cost more if deferred) and other draconian measures.

It just doesn’t seem fair that the wealthiest among us should have to suffer just because the poor and middle classes are having a hard time paying their taxes! Why send your kid to a good school district, if the district can’t spend its money to provide a good school?

Dennis Krause, the community resource director, has lived in Thiensville for 15 years, and many remember him from his days on the television news. His position is paid for by private funds.

For more information on the referendum, go to http://www.mtsd.k12.wi.us/MTSD/District/board-information/referendum/default.html

Michael Horne