ok so as we near the election I have to say a few things. Everyone is allowed their opinions- and I would love to listen to anyone who disagrees with me as long as they are not attacking me- which I find is impossible in the teachers lounge. Thats another story though. I am not going to talk about either one of the candidates because 1. i cant vote and 2. I dont like either of them. BUt what I do want to talk about it the 3 questions that are going to be on the ballot for MA this Nov. 4. So if you are living in MA and are going to vote and havent thought very much about them yet- I ask you to do some research so that you will at least make an intellgent vote and not be surprised last mintue when you go to cast your presidential vote because they are very important. THe first question is what is most important- this is because I am a teacher in a subject that is not tested on MCAS which means could be cut if there was not enough funding. The threat is there- we already had a freeze put on our budget for this year. I being what I thought was a smart budgeter had only spend half of my budget for the year thinking I would spend the other half after january so that i could asses what we needed. Now that the budget is frozen i have lost everything that I had left and now am left with no more supplies for the rest of the year. So now lets talk about question 1:
Question 1 on the MA ballot is to get rid of state income tax. I hope that you will all do your own research to find what will happen if this takes place and vote NO on this question. This will be devastating to already hurting school systems. The Schools here in Lee will lose a minimum of $2 million. Check out your own towns lose at www.votenoquestion1.com. You may think this is going to solve problems and give us tax breaks by getting rid of the income tax but taxes are just going to show up else where. State services have to be funded somehow. You may say well NH has no income tax and they seem to be making out fine. Well they also have the 3 highest property tax in the USA. The only states that have no income tax and dont have higher taxes else where are states like wyoming and alaska that have minerals that are taxed for revenue. So its very scary sitting here as an art teacher thinking about the amount of money this school and other schools around the state will loose if this gets passed.
VOTE NO
Question 2- these last 2 questions I wont spend much time on. I feel like they are easy answers although I am sure some will disagree. Question 2 is to decriminalize the possession of marijuana. This is just a terrible idea- As a teacher of high schoolers I feel like this will just be a downward spiral and send the wrong message for the youth of today. Maybe I think that because I am very against the use of it- to some people I am sure its not a big deal. People for it say that this will help first time users from getting criminal records and losing student loans for just one mistake. I have sat here time and time again listening to students who have been caught and most not just once but over and over again and they get off free with no criminal record so the already set rules for offenses are lenient enough. Honestly I feel like its just stupid. Sorry to offend.
Question 3 is to make dog racing in MA illegal. Please vote yes. There are many more gambling vices out there that dont hurt and kill dogs.
that is all. Please if you disagree with anything I have said I would love to hear- I like debating.