Property Tax Revolt?

[Dreepa]

RE :roads

There are big fish to fry and other things that are way more important and...... doable in the forseeable future cuz let's face it.. not everyone is ready for that.

In regards to public school.  I agree that Russell and Family shouldn't have to pay because they don't use it. But that doesn't mean that I am 100% against public schools.

[Ron Helwig]

I am 100% against government run schools. They are an abomination and should not be allowed. I'm not one for making laws, but this one I feel pretty strongly about.

I would rather a large percentage of the population go uneducated than have them in such monstrosities. (Not that a significant amount of people would go uneducated)

http://honestedu.org/

[Dreepa]

did you go to government schools?

I went K- 6 private Catholic school in MA ( Google  Father Paul Shanley for more info).
Then public from 7 -12.

Although I thought the school was super super super liberal I don't think it was 'bad'.

[tracysaboe]

I live in an apt, and therefore  can't pay property tax exactly.  How can I help?

Some possibilites are writing letters to the editor in your local paper, helping create a flyer to hand out describing what we're doing, distributing flyer to property owners.

I was just realizing that every time we do business in NH, we're paying for the property tax again.  Businesses have to pay it, and pass on that cost to us.

You could encourage your land-lord to not pay the property taxes, and use that money to make improvements on his property, or give his tenants a rebate w/ it.

Tracy

[Lloyd Danforth]

IMHO The Gov Schools are one of the biggest obstacles to freedom that we face. Mind control of our children is their goal. Making them good little submissive doobies.

Hey, Alan, you're giving Doobies a bad name, here!

[Ron Helwig]

did you go to government schools?

Yes, I did go to government schools. I knew they were bad, but didn't realize how bad until I was in my 20s.

It wasn't just the violence and despair, but the lack of education - and I was a nerd who liked learning.

We've got to stop grading schools on a curve, i.e. "my school must not be bad since it is better than that other school". A school can be far superior to the average and still not be decent.

Imagine if car manufacturing was run by the government. We'd be driving around in brand new Model Ts.

There has been virtually no improvement in education since government took over. In fact, quite the opposite has been occurring.

BTW, I work for an educational software company that sells mostly to government schools (and some prisons), like the entire state of Idaho. My first computer job was testing educational games (Oregon Trail, anyone?). My second computer job was working with educational courseware. While I'm no "expert", I have seen more than enough to know that we need to get government totally out of education. Crap like No Children Learning Better is only helping bureaucrats justify their power and pay.

[Kat Kanning]

They're spending $12,000/prisonerstudent in Keene.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Seems a little high for Keene.  I tried to find the Cost per student here in Hartford, but, couldn't.  I looked up privite school tuitions and found Greenwood Sudbury in Hampton, CT, $4800.00 per year.  Deerfield Academy is between 33,000 and 44,000 per year.
While researching, I found the article below.
__________________________________-

http://www.cato.org/dailys/09-08-03.html

[Russell Kanning]

We just took $47-$49,000,000 / 3824 students that was their budget

[FTL_Ian]

Wow... and I thought 7k/student was high.. 

[Michael Fisher]

Well the measly $300/yr my wife and I pay, representing about half of our property taxes, will not do much to help the Newmarket School District. 

[AlanM]

IMHO The Gov Schools are one of the biggest obstacles to freedom that we face. Mind control of our children is their goal. Making them good little submissive doobies.

Hey, Alan, you're giving Doobies a bad name, here!

My sincere apologies doobies. 

[Dave Ridley]

Here's my latest version of the national version of the press release, a local version will appear later in the thread.

New Hampshire family to defy school tax

From NHfree.com
Keene, N.H.; June 15 2005

38-year-old Kat Dillon isn't satisfied she's getting her money's worth from government schools.  In fact, she says she isn't getting anything from them at all.

"My child is homeschooled," says Dillon.  "She's never gone to public school and never will.  I don't get any use out of it, so it's wrong for them to make me pay for it."

To drive her point home, Dillon will appear at Keene City Hall on June 30 with a check for only 42% of what the city says she and her family owe. 

"The part that would have gone to public schools...we're keeping it.  It's our money." 

After handing over her truncated check, Dillon will lead a protest outside city hall urging others to "recalculate" their taxes as well.  She says she has no idea whether her act of noncompliance will inspire anyone else to do the same but that her family will "do this alone if necessary."

Dillon is a longtime opponent of tax-funded schooling, which she considers "education prevention."  And she's no stranger to protest. On June 11 her husband Russell Kanning made national news when he chose arrest over compliance with TSA regulations at Manchester Airport.  And it was Dillon who received the infamous nail buff from "Outlaw Manicurist" Mike Fisher.  In May, Fisher gave her an unlicensed manicure in front of the state licensing board and also went to jail for it.   

The soft-spoken computer programmer says she recognizes her act of civil disobedience will probably trigger retaliation, possibly even the loss of her home.  "But," she says, "it's the right thing to do."

Summary:

What: Civil disobedience against school property tax
How:  By handing over a check that does not include the "school portion" of the tax, then leading a protest.
Why:   Because people shouldn't be forced to pay for a system they don't use or agree with
Where: Keene City Hall: 3 Washington St. (at the traffic circle), Keene, NH.
When:  10:00 A.M. Thursday, June 30, 2005.
Who:  Kat Dillon, supporters from NHfree.com, whoever wants to join us.
Contacts:  Kat Dillon (603) 357-2049, Backup:  Dave Ridley (603) 721-1490


For more information on the libertarian experiment in New Hampshire, and information on immigrating here for more freedom, visit www.FreeStateProject.org

[Dave Ridley]

This event seems to be generating a higher volume of discussion around the internet than the airport thing...slightly higher.  I've posted it to about 12 forums nationally plus the 3 big NH forums.  Doesn't seem to be going wild on the NH forums but is generating a ton of debate on the Net generallly

Here are links to some of the New Hampshire forums discussing it:

http://merrimackforum.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2082
http://salemnhforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=979

[GT]

They're spending $12,000/prisonerstudent in Keene.

For what it worth the NH DOE list the 2003-2004 numbers for Keene as
$11,843 Elementary
$  9,397 Junion high
$  8,359 High School

They play some sort of numbers game since the annual budget divided by students is generaly higher than the state numbers.
http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/data/ReportsandStatistics/FinancialReports/CostPerPupil/CostPerPupil2003-2004/CostPerPupil2003-2004Frameset.htm