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Yes, we taxpayers did build that
(by Dave Lange - September 14, 2012)
Yes, we taxpayers did build that
For the nine years that our sons attended St. Joan of Arc School in Chagrin Falls, I took for granted that a Kenston School District bus would pick them up at the end of our Bainbridge driveway in the mornings and drop them off in the same spot each afternoon.
Now that government programs and the taxes supporting them have become so embedded in the national consciousness, I suppose I should feel guilty about the free ride.
Back when I attended Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron more than a few years ago, nobody expected the government to pick up the tab for my transportation to and from a private institution. One of the neighborhood fathers would drive us a mile and a half each morning to the nearest stop on a special route run by the public-transit system. We’d each plunk a couple dimes in the collection box and settle in for a 40-minute ride through various city neighborhoods to get to school on time. In the afternoons, we’d take the trip in reverse, except that the last mile and a half was covered on foot.
When I had after-school activities, which occurred frequently, I’d catch a public bus a few blocks away in the inner-city neighborhood and transfer to another one in downtown Akron to get back home.
Somewhere between my school days and our sons’ school days, the government decided that the taxpayers, instead of individuals, should foot the bill for private-school busing. And so it goes with many public expenditures that citizens are kicking and screaming about these days.
The West Geauga School Board is the latest one locally to decide that it no longer will send its buses to a number of private schools, including Hawken in Chester, University School in Hunting Valley and St. Francis of Assisi in Gates Mills.
Politicians in Columbus, who are quite adept at throwing local taxpayers’ money around at the same time that they cut state funding for education, require public school districts to provide transportation for children who attend private schools within a 30-minute drive. But the state law allows the option of reimbursing parents about $200 per year to provide their own transportation, which is still tax money but a lot cheaper than running school buses every which way.
West Geauga will continue to dedicate four buses to St. Anselm School, which is located in the heart of the district and is attended by a couple hundred local children, but officials decided that it’s impractical to provide transportation to more distant schools.
Some people argue that the parents of private-school children pay the same taxes as do parents who send their children to the public schools, which is true. But while providing children with an opportunity for public education is compulsory in the United States, private education is optional as an individual choice.
Although my children no longer attend school, I’m still paying taxes to help keep those school buses running for the sake of public education.
At some point, those of us who would rather pay fewer taxes ought to question how much of them go to support free enterprise. And I’m not just talking about private education.
Yes, we, the taxpayers, did build those roads and bridges.
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