School Beat: Mark writes School Board: Re 4K

(Ed.note. Mark Schnepper will be unable to attend the hearing tonight at 5:30PM re 4K. Below are his comments to the Evansville School Board.)

When 4K was proposed it was stated that it must not result in a tax increase due to the high taxes in Evansville. Under the current proposal, this program indeed would result in a tax increase in year one or it would result in cuts to other programs. I think it is unfair to move forward with 4K after it was promoted as a program that would be property tax neutral.
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f there will be no property tax increase to support this program it will mean a cut to other programs. If you move forward with this program without a tax increase by cutting another program, I would like the board to come to a consensus on what program will be cut before you make future cuts to other programs a reality by voting to implement 4k. It is not wise in my opinion to support this program at the expense of another program without identifying what program(s) will be impacted prior to approving the new program.

The 4k program will cost approximately $2000 per student enrolled. I think it is not financially responsible to spend $2000 of taxpayer money on students that are already in a full day preschool program. This money will be spent in addition to the approximately $6500 parents already are spending for 4 year old daycare (likely more in future years). What additional benefit are these students receiving for the additional $2000 of taxpayer money that is spent on students that will be in the same setting for 4k that they are already in the rest of the week anyway? It is my understanding, that this program is supposed to "level the playing field" for the children that don't have the opportunity to attend preschool. It would be much more responsible in my opinion to focus on the children that have a financial need, rather than spending money on every 4 year old child whether they need assistance or not. Please keep in mind that we all pay state taxes and "gaming" the system to obtain more state money does come at a price to all who pay taxes in this state.