Some Thoughts About Politics

As you know I am involved with several different boards. I have seen how politics work on a lot of different levels. As I see it there are so many things wrong with how things are done. There seems to be less opportunities for there to be any real opposition, or even being able to ask questions within organizations or political parties. If you don't tow the party line and agree with leadership, there are those who will do all they can to force you aside. What happened to the idea of compromise. I know there are some things like your personal values, that can have an influence on how you vote that you shouldn't compromise on. 

I really see this in national and state politics. They are either hard right or hard left with no middle ground. Nobody is willing to cross party leadership for fear of repercussion. For example I was told by a Washington D.C.  Lobbyist if the House of Representatives republican leadership would allow a vote on the Senate immigration bill that it would pass. But since leadership doesn't like the senate bill, they will not bring it up for a vote. So a very few are controlling all of government on this important issue. Congressman Simpson is a man who stands up and is willing to make the right votes that at times goes against leadership. But by his willingness to compromise and get something done, he has a serious hard right challenger, that basically vows to fallow the hard right agenda.  

In state politics much like at the national level there are two factions in the Republican Party fighting for control. I support Republican ideas, but I don't support what seems to be rubber stamping of the leadership agenda. This was very obvious during all the discussion about the education bills. Tom Luna wanted to dramatically change education and all he had to do was get the Governor on his side. And once that happened every Republican followed in line without serious questions being asked. Once the public was able to weigh in on these laws, they were all soundly defeated. With a super majority of Republicans in the state they don't question some of the bills that come to them like they should. They just don't worry about what the public thinks at times. There used to be more moderate state Republicans. But with redistricting and leadership being able to close the primaries a lot of the moderates were weeded out of the party. So now the hard right Republicans are getting more bold. This can be clearly seen by those wanting to have all candidates vetted by party leadership to be able to get on the ballot to run. I don't think these ideas would have been considered at all if the Republican Party hadn't moved so far to the right. 

I am worried about the direction our country is headed. Is it possible for things to change for the better? I'm sure it is, but it will take time, and we the voters need to make our voices be heard where possible. I know if we are willing to do what we can, we can make a difference. I recently wrote an editorial mostly about how much I didn't like what Mr. Smith, Congressman Simpsons challenger, was saying about Mr. Simpson. Through my political connections, my editorial was sent to Mr. Simpson. A few weeks after this was done I was in a state dairy board meeting and Mr. Simpson spoke to our group for about an hour, and he personally thanked me for my editorial. In our area most all state elections are decided in the primaries. We need to know what positions the candidates have and support who we think is best. When the legislature is contemplating legislation that effects us, we need to let them know what we think. 

If the public would have been more in tune with what was going on in our last national election, and not so much about all the promises of how much they were going to get for free, maybe we would have had a different outcome and wouldn't be in the mess we are in now. Lets all hope and pray that eventually our country can get back on the right track. Lets just not sit back and assume that either its hopeless or not worth the effort to be involved. 

Sorry for all the rambling, I guess I needed to vent. I originally wrote more about the national dairy board I'm on, but decided not to include my thoughts about that. Thanks, Brian  

School Board Meeting November 14th, 2013

I was attending a church program that my daughter was involved in so I was late for the meeting and missed the recognition of the cross country teams. They had a good year. The Veterans Day activities were also talked about. The board approved the Audit report from last month. This is when I made it to the meeting. 

There was a report from the Strategic Planning Committee. They are working hard to come up with recommendations to present the board by the end of the year. They are working on four main goals. Finance being the main goal. We need to maintain sound fiscal practices. Our middle school bond expires next June. The annual bond has been about $250,000 each year. It is hoped that we can address the needs of the district by proposing a supplemental levy for the same amount. That way taxes wouldn't go up. 

Some specific needs they have been discussing. 

Curriculum. With the new Idaho Core Standards we will need to purchase new and updated curriculum. Curriculum is very expensive and without additional funds it will be hard to buy what's needed.

Technology. This also goes with the new core standards. The students will be required to do a lot more testing  and school work on computers. To be able to adequately do the testing and work with the new curriculum we will need to have two computer labs in each building and have one to one devices for the high school. With our budget shortfalls it has been hard to maintain computer labs.   

With all the new computers and other technology needs, it is anticipated we will need to hire a second IT staff member.

Facilities. They are looking at the needs for each school. There is a need for heating and cooling upgrades at the elementary. Windows need replaced at the middle school, and flooring at the high school. There are other needs that they are still discussing. I appreciate the work they are doing, and I think when they are done, we can make the case for why we really need to have a supplemental levy. 

The Education Foundation reported on their activities. They have provided grants to teachers for $3325.00 so far this year. They have put out a breakdown of where these grants have gone, so I won't detail it here. They have also helped arrange and provide attendance rewards for the students, which has improved our overall attendance, which in turn brings more funds to the district. They have been a great asset to our district. 

Mr. Tubbs then provided us with a budget update. This was to show how our funding is matching up with our expenses so far this year. Overall it looks like the administration is doing a good job balancing these accounts. 

We then had a detailed report about the soccer program. After completing the two year trial period it is now time to decide if we want it to continue. One of my main concerns at the beginning was how soccer might effect the other sports participation. With the success of the volleyball and cross country  teams, it appears soccer had minimal effect. They won two games this year and had good participation. They are working on player development in the off season by encouraging students to join winter clubs, camps and other ideas. They have had good fundraising activities and other outside and parental support. To continue the program the main expense will be for the coaches stipends. It was estimated for it to continue like any other sports program in the district it would cost around $3000 to $3500. I thought with the added benefit to these students, that soccer was well worth supporting. After some more discussion we decided to vote for the continuation of the soccer program.

We then went through several policy updates. Because of multiple conflicts with the date of next months meeting, we voted to move it up to Tuesday December 10th. As always if you have any questions or concerns let me know. Thanks, Brian