Invest in the Future

If we paid no taxes, would there be paved roads, food safety, police safety net, commercial airports or people who could read or do simple math? Interesting society, huh? Let’s just keep our money and not share it with anyone for any reason, what do you say?

No so good? Then how much tax should we pay? Just enough? How about enough to fund a few paved roads with pot holes, to have understaffed police departments, or enough staff at recorder of deeds to have a 6 month back log? Is food safety important? How about educating our next generation of productive people?

Is it reasonable to just say I don’t want to pay more without concern for the quality or what is actually needed? Do we each bear some responsibility for the future of our society in which our progeny will live.

Thinking about this, most of us do not know what is actually needed. So, who should we listen to find this out? How about the professionals we have hired or elected that we demand and expect to be accurate and truthful?

Here is the meat. Our County, good ole Middlesex, is considering adding school positions and raising teacher salaries. To do this we residents will pay a little more tax. This is what the professionals as the School Board and Superintendent are saying is prudent to do.

These pros are planning for just what they are supposed to be planning for i.e. to prepare students to become viable contributors in our society and to make that happen they must address the crisis in the teaching profession. In short, there are fewer people becoming teachers, fewer are staying in the profession and some are retiring. There is teacher shortage. A primary cause is lower pay than other professions. The Middlesex teacher pay scale is less than surrounding counties and most of the Commonwealth.

Some counties are raising teacher pay further. Competing for and keeping teaching talent is even harder to do.

Listen to the professionals. Don’t just say, “No way…No How”, because you don’t want to give up a buck or two. You know that will lead to lower quality. Think of contributing toward well-educated productive student/people. Let’s do this together. Agree to support a bright future for our kids and the well-being of our community.

The teaching profession is what causes all other professions.