Pre-K 4 SA debate heating up

I am opposed to the Pre-K SA sales tax increase. Please allow me to explain why. 1. The City's fact sheet for this initiative states there are 5,700 children living in our area who are eligible for state funded Pre-K but not enrolled. I believe it makes more sense to fix that problem than to start a new program and might help more children. 2. Local news reports the City based its estimate of the annual cost of $7.81 on purchases of about $1,700 per year. On my last superstore grocery bill of $238, I had $57 worth of taxable items. I visit the store two times per month to buy necessities. This adds up to nearly $1,400 a year and does NOT include luxury items such as eating out and big-ticket purchases. I'm quite certain I would exceed the estimated $7.81 per year. 3. This proposal would raise about $248 million over its eight year lifespan. Based on the estimate of helping 22,400 children, that works out to a very high cost-per-child of roughly $11,700. That is for one year of half-day education. 4. The local news said the initiative creates four megacenters and requires the creation of a school-district-like administration. These facts can be seen in the fact sheet. I fear that a large portion of our tax dollars are going to create infrastructure rather than being spent directly on the children. 5. I believe this proposal sets a precedent for funding programs with sales tax revenues. We already pay some of the highest taxes in the state. In 1993 I paid $833 a month on a fixed rate home loan. That same loan in 2012 costs $1,033. The $200 difference is largely due to tax increases. Tax increases do add up over time. Now our Mayor and City Council want to levy yet another tax. At a time when families are being forced to tighten their budgets, the City seems unwilling to follow suit. In a time of $8,000 trashcans, $300K charging stations, $500K holiday lights with $500K do-overs, and $15M street lighting it is time taxpayers said "Enough"!

Castro thinks he is doing something good for the community. Guess he thinks this will add points for his dream of being president of the U.S. NO! NO! NO! We will not let him and pals to drag our City of S.A. through the mud!

Vote "NO", educating our voters is crucial to this. This is just another freebie for Castro's entitlement voter block. Bigger government & spending is already out of control w/ this big government mayor. His constituents need to learn a skill or job instead of relying on others hard earned moneys. What a bunch of free loaders.

We have (too many) school districts that are in charge of running schools. The city has no business and no authority to get into the school business. But then that is not what this is about. This is about taxpayer funded baby sitters which is a long sought after goal of liberals.

This is just another perk for the freeloaders, I vote no.

I don't agree with 4 year olds going to preschool. It's just another "brick in the wall" so to speak. Another way for the government to get to our children before the kids are old enough to understand what's going on. Parents who work have day care or as I like to call them "baby farms" to raise their kids, they don't need the government. It will be just another babysitting place and it will be taken advantage of just like the free breakfast and lunch programs. Why feed your kids when they can go to school and get fed for free? The government wants to do away with parenting. I got a feeling that even if it doesn't pass, they will get away with doing it anyway. Look how many people were against the name change on the road and the Holiday lights on the riverwalk...yet they did as they want. Only thing to do is vote them all out of office.

investe in thee futures. it is thee righte thinge to do!

NEISD has recieved their package of documentation detailing the ONGOING criminal conspiracy by city "leaders" to hide three decades of fraud and theft. NISD and other districts will recieve their packages next week. Contact your PTA, district, school board, superintendent, etc. for proof tht Castro, Sculley, city attorney Bernard, the Council are hiding the theft and misuse of tens of millions of OUR dollars, that they violate the Open Meetings Act and that they lied to federal investigators in HUD case hl-10-0465 to hide the crimes. . .....Collister has the package of documents as well......

Taxpayers have the right to ask Castro to provide an accounting of the tens of millions of OUR dollars that were stolen/misused for the past three decades BEFORE we have a tax increase shoved down our throats.....The Express News helps the City hide long-term criminal activity but the FACTS are comming to light........... Henry Cisneros had his HUD scandal and now “Obama For America” campaign co-chairman/Mayor Julian Castro and City Attorney Bernard ( brother of White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard) have theirs – It’s “déjà vous all over again” (Yogi Berra) ..... Bernard, Castro (and other City “leaders”) have been reported to the FBI, the DOJ, HUD, AACOG, TDHCA, the AG , etc. for his part in a criminal conspiracy to hide three decades of public/police corruption and the theft/misuse of tens of millions of City/State/Federal dollars , massive HUD fraud and the submission of false statements to federal investigators - case # hl-10-0465. ................. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9VL1nPBeak

I believe in a good Pre-K program but not babysitting daycares with fat teens sitting on the floors giving the toddlers Doritoes like I've seen at places like La Petite. There is a difference in a good school (even preschool) and a bad one. Too many schools are just getting kids fat and lazy, but the govt. is probably just trying to keep young people from roaming the streets being hoodlums. But it's either you put them in school young or in prisons when they're old. The school systems have to improve though, and probably the teachers won't improve until things like Cameras in Classrooms with almost daily reviews gets implemented, like Bill Gates suggests and some schools do in other countries.