By Dr. Vicki King, Superintendent, Salem School District – A Special To KCE
As the superintendent for the Salem School District, I believe that honesty and transparency serve as the foundation of trust between a school district and its community. Recently, a headline about our upcoming referendum created some confusion and concern. I am committed to transparency, accountability, and the truth; and I want to make sure our community knows that the error made by the new source is not something we are going to ignore.
The headline in question misstated the amount we are seeking through the referendum, listing it as $1 million instead of $2 million. This amount with the work the Board and I have done to cut costs, will ensure our community’s tax dollars remain as consistent as possible and allow us to maintain current programs should the referendum pass. While the body of the article was accurate, the headline—the most visible and impactful part—did not reflect the full truth. This error, though unintentional, may have caused unnecessary doubt. Once we learned about the error from a conscientious Salem community member, we immediately reached out to have it corrected, and I requested it be reprinted in full. The newsource has since apologized for their mistake and their inability to run a full reprint.
Salem’s School Board and I have diligently looked into a wide range of ways to further cut costs, but like our taxpayers, inflation rates have risen beyond what our state funding has been providing. Salem- and other districts in communities like ours, have been literally “locked” into the lowest state funding support bracket since 1993. Until state funding can offset the increase in these rising costs, the majority of districts across the state will require continued support from their communities to help us make ends meet.
The Salem School Board and I work continuously to balance the academic needs of our students while also examining every option to reduce costs and streamline operations for our taxpayers. These options also include seeking opportunities to partner with other districts willing to share leadership positions and other resources. We are also actively engaging with community leaders and business owners who are facing the same financial challenges. Thus far, these conversations have left me humbled.
I am incredibly thankful Kevin allowed me the space to make sure our community members have the information they need to make an informed decision – especially because this issue affects the livelihoods of both our students and our taxpayers.
If you have questions about the referendum, I encourage you to reach out. Call me, email me, or visit in person. Listed on our website are over a dozen opportunities we have scheduled to talk with our community about this very topic. We have scheduled two of these conversations at Salem, but we want to make these more accessible so the vast majority will be held at local businesses in the mornings, after business hours, and on the weekends. I want our community to be able to ask about what we are doing with their taxpayer dollars. I want to give them a window into how we are spending the state funds we receive and their taxpayer dollars because they deserve to know.
8 Responses
Funding schools should be a no-brainer. People are dumb enough as it is— making sure the kids in our community are well-educated should always be a priority.
Ya. As kusd wants 23 million. That isn’t a no brainer. You cant mod manage funds and the just ask for more and say it’s a no brainer while raising property taxes yearly. What a dumb comment
No, KUSD wants $23 million per year for the next 5 years, which is a whopping $115 million tax increase on KUSD taxpayers. Let’s tell the truth, because KUSD sure as hell won’t!
Except the VAST majority of the “funding schools” part is used for even more employees/administrators and huge pay raises. Unfortunately, as has been proven over the past few decades, the KIDS get nothing except dumber. Pride flags and 72 genders and boys can “become” girls, instead of MATH, READING and WRITING.
Yes, you are right. However, questioning cost and investments should always be challenged. It’s always interesting how government can raise you tax bill 15-20% in a year and that’s acceptable. Most people aren’t getting those kind of raises, more like 2-3% if your lucky. When I went to school in the 70’s and 80’s we didn’t nearly have the educational benefits these school offer now. We need the basic’s first, good well paid teachers first and a good meal will get 85% of the student to make strides in life. All these extra activities hasn’t necessarily amounted to an ambitious or motivated adults prospering in life, some but not as many as when I grew up.
I blame a lot on the electronic mind numbing effects these phone have created on a young persons brain. Try to talk to a young person without them looking or responding to idle chatter on their phone, it’s an epidemic. People under 30 have had their brains programmed to think the phone is a requirement to thinking, very scary what these electronic devices have done to our younger society. Don’t get me wrong, much good has come from these phones, but I wonder if it makes it hard to function and be productive for the younger generation. Older folks still know that the phone is a tool at work not a pacifier.
Silly, this is operatoonal..which is not education, it’s everything around teachers.
She looks good
Pull your kids out of the Public School system!