Comments on: How to Save on Primary Education http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html personal finance blog with anecdotes, advice and commentary. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:30:41 +0000 hourly 1 By: saladdin http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303397 saladdin Sat, 09 May 2009 23:49:31 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303397 don't forget property taxes are based on values of the house. if your neighbors tax rate went up (and yours down) wouldn't he just dump the house and find something cheaper? what about people with 5 kids just renting? they would not pay any property tax(owner does) and you will still end up paying more. saladdin don’t forget property taxes are based on values of the house. if your neighbors tax rate went up (and yours down) wouldn’t he just dump the house and find something cheaper?

what about people with 5 kids just renting? they would not pay any property tax(owner does) and you will still end up paying more.

saladdin

]]> By: Jim http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303386 Jim Sat, 09 May 2009 20:17:31 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303386 Your idea sounds great in principle but consider how much it would cost to manage that sort of program. You'd need to change the way taxes are collected to account for children, you need people to keep track of your family size/address/personal details, and you'd need people to enforce it. I would argue that the increase in your taxes overall, just for this added infrastructure, would cut deep into the savings you'd get. Government is notoriously inefficient, no sense trying to make it MORE inefficient. :) Your idea sounds great in principle but consider how much it would cost to manage that sort of program. You’d need to change the way taxes are collected to account for children, you need people to keep track of your family size/address/personal details, and you’d need people to enforce it. I would argue that the increase in your taxes overall, just for this added infrastructure, would cut deep into the savings you’d get. Government is notoriously inefficient, no sense trying to make it MORE inefficient. :)

]]> By: Rob O. http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303383 Rob O. Sat, 09 May 2009 18:12:03 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303383 I see the logic in, and am fine with, helping to fund civic services that I may not use, but I believe that if school taxes were handled a bit more proportionately, it'd be better for all. It hardly seems fair that I pay practically the same taxes as my neighbor when I have one child that's 3 years away from being school age and they have four children all in public school. My neighbor should shoulder a more proportionate share of the taxation load since he's using a far greater chunk of those civic resources. Perhaps if it was understood that your taxes will increase when you have a (each?) child, you might be more mindful about having that child and whether that's something you're truly financially prepared for. Lots of people have multiple kids with nary a thought to the considerable but somewhat intangible costs associated with doing so. I'm not trying to mandate whether people should have children - not at all - but I would like for people choosing to do so to apply plenty of forethought. I see the logic in, and am fine with, helping to fund civic services that I may not use, but I believe that if school taxes were handled a bit more proportionately, it’d be better for all.

It hardly seems fair that I pay practically the same taxes as my neighbor when I have one child that’s 3 years away from being school age and they have four children all in public school. My neighbor should shoulder a more proportionate share of the taxation load since he’s using a far greater chunk of those civic resources.

Perhaps if it was understood that your taxes will increase when you have a (each?) child, you might be more mindful about having that child and whether that’s something you’re truly financially prepared for.

Lots of people have multiple kids with nary a thought to the considerable but somewhat intangible costs associated with doing so. I’m not trying to mandate whether people should have children – not at all – but I would like for people choosing to do so to apply plenty of forethought.

]]> By: Jim http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303377 Jim Sat, 09 May 2009 16:38:54 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303377 With insurance, the safer subsidize the riskier... unfortunately, you don't know which one you are. :) With insurance, the safer subsidize the riskier… unfortunately, you don’t know which one you are. :)

]]> By: saladdin http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303374 saladdin Sat, 09 May 2009 15:52:30 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303374 exactly. i just don't like the idea of everyone paying taxes on the ratio of use/no use. i can just see it costing $20 to get into a park or a $500 bill for having a cop take a report when someone rear-ends you. i look at it kinda like insurance, i pay for this stuff (by citizens pooling money)whether i use it or not and have no qualms about it. saladdin exactly. i just don’t like the idea of everyone paying taxes on the ratio of use/no use. i can just see it costing $20 to get into a park or a $500 bill for having a cop take a report when someone rear-ends you. i look at it kinda like insurance, i pay for this stuff (by citizens pooling money)whether i use it or not and have no qualms about it.

saladdin

]]> By: Jim http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303373 Jim Sat, 09 May 2009 15:18:30 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303373 Do I use law enforcement? Not directly, but I'm glad they exist. :) Do I use law enforcement? Not directly, but I’m glad they exist. :)

]]> By: saladdin http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303372 saladdin Sat, 09 May 2009 15:12:08 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303372 we all pay for libraries we don't use, roads we don't drive on, parks we don't visit. so i don't see your point. this is the way our system works and it works pretty good, flawed but good. saladdin we all pay for libraries we don’t use, roads we don’t drive on, parks we don’t visit. so i don’t see your point. this is the way our system works and it works pretty good, flawed but good.

saladdin

]]> By: Patrick http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303365 Patrick Sat, 09 May 2009 10:44:04 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303365 It irritates me that even if you don't like the local public school, you still have to pay to fund it. Going to private school is basically double-paying for school for our children. If we were given an allowance to spend on whatever school we wanted to go to, whether it be public or private school, private schools would be in massive demand. It irritates me that even if you don’t like the local public school, you still have to pay to fund it. Going to private school is basically double-paying for school for our children. If we were given an allowance to spend on whatever school we wanted to go to, whether it be public or private school, private schools would be in massive demand.

]]> By: saladdin http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303359 saladdin Sat, 09 May 2009 07:49:39 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303359 i agree. there are 2 points here, don't confuse the two. i have no kids, pay property taxes and have no bad feelings for doing so. just like i don't mind paying taxes that are pooled for parks i rarely visit, roads i never drive on and firemen i never want to use. saladdin i agree. there are 2 points here, don’t confuse the two. i have no kids, pay property taxes and have no bad feelings for doing so. just like i don’t mind paying taxes that are pooled for parks i rarely visit, roads i never drive on and firemen i never want to use.

saladdin

]]> By: saladdin http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303358 saladdin Sat, 09 May 2009 07:44:51 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303358 what about single people with no kids? saladdin what about single people with no kids?

saladdin

]]> By: saladdin http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303357 saladdin Sat, 09 May 2009 07:43:35 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303357 true if money is your only motivation. as much as people talk bad about public schools can the average person really know enough to teach their kid? saladdin true if money is your only motivation. as much as people talk bad about public schools can the average person really know enough to teach their kid?

saladdin

]]> By: Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303337 Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated Sat, 09 May 2009 02:48:06 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303337 Oops...thought this was one of Jim's. Oops…thought this was one of Jim’s.

]]> By: Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303336 Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated Sat, 09 May 2009 02:46:58 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303336 Jim: It's good to know you were able to find the school that suited your needs. My son had speech delay due to a long series of ear infections. We wound up taking him to a speech therapist for a good while, but when he went to public school, he was still well behind his peers. It was suggested to us that we hold him back, but that was an unacceptable outcome in my mind. We elected to make some significant changes so that we could be around more and the school put him in a special program doing a lot of phonics and computer games to catch up. On the standardized tests, he went from the bottom quartile to the top quartile over the course of three years. There were many hours outside of school that were used to get him up to speed and it all worked out. The point I want to make is that the school is a big part of the equation, but it's note the entire equation. Taking time to supplement and fill gaps is critical to a child's educational experience. I think of Malcolm Gladwell and his story of rice paddies. There's a good deal of truth in that chapter. Jim:

It’s good to know you were able to find the school that suited your needs. My son had speech delay due to a long series of ear infections. We wound up taking him to a speech therapist for a good while, but when he went to public school, he was still well behind his peers. It was suggested to us that we hold him back, but that was an unacceptable outcome in my mind. We elected to make some significant changes so that we could be around more and the school put him in a special program doing a lot of phonics and computer games to catch up. On the standardized tests, he went from the bottom quartile to the top quartile over the course of three years.

There were many hours outside of school that were used to get him up to speed and it all worked out. The point I want to make is that the school is a big part of the equation, but it’s note the entire equation. Taking time to supplement and fill gaps is critical to a child’s educational experience. I think of Malcolm Gladwell and his story of rice paddies. There’s a good deal of truth in that chapter.

]]> By: Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303335 Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated Sat, 09 May 2009 02:34:14 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303335 We're talking about education and we live in a society that both values and REQUIRES education in order to function. I would encourage you to take an economics course and research the link between education and economic growth. When you've finished that, it should be clear that your point carries no weight. Now, if you want to talk about how well the system utilizes its funding, etc., then we can have a very lively discussion, but arguing against shared financial responsibility for a fundamental societal requirement is a non-starter. We’re talking about education and we live in a society that both values and REQUIRES education in order to function. I would encourage you to take an economics course and research the link between education and economic growth. When you’ve finished that, it should be clear that your point carries no weight.

Now, if you want to talk about how well the system utilizes its funding, etc., then we can have a very lively discussion, but arguing against shared financial responsibility for a fundamental societal requirement is a non-starter.

]]> By: Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/how-to-save-on-primary-education.html/comment-page-1#comment-303333 Michael Harr @ Wealth...Uncomplicated Sat, 09 May 2009 02:20:45 +0000 http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/?p=4573#comment-303333 While I understand your frustration in paying for a public resource that you don't use, the alternative is a DISASTER. Should all who do not have children in school be opted out of the system, education becomes a very expensive proposition. Considering the median household income is around $50k and dropping, the current cost of education would be near impossible for most families. In addition, having more than one child would certainly be problematic financially. Not to mention the consequential reduction in population which would cause a litany of other problems. While it's annoying to pay for services not rendered, we can all agree that education is an imperative to any developed civilization. Imagine a world where so many couldn't afford an education and suddenly the country collapses. It's really as simple as that. If it makes you feel better, just think of it as contributing to the greater good and protecting your self interests--property values, investments, etc. Without affordable education, we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are today--economically speaking. While I understand your frustration in paying for a public resource that you don’t use, the alternative is a DISASTER. Should all who do not have children in school be opted out of the system, education becomes a very expensive proposition. Considering the median household income is around $50k and dropping, the current cost of education would be near impossible for most families. In addition, having more than one child would certainly be problematic financially. Not to mention the consequential reduction in population which would cause a litany of other problems.

While it’s annoying to pay for services not rendered, we can all agree that education is an imperative to any developed civilization. Imagine a world where so many couldn’t afford an education and suddenly the country collapses. It’s really as simple as that. If it makes you feel better, just think of it as contributing to the greater good and protecting your self interests–property values, investments, etc. Without affordable education, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today–economically speaking.

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