The Purely Selfish Reason Why I May Ultimately Vote for the School Bond

Many of you probably think I am anti-school bond because I rail against it so often. Yet, my family is in the perfect position to benefit from this bond. I have two children, the first of which will enter kindergarten in a couple of years. Both my wife and I work, so I need full day Kindergarten. If I had to “upgrade” to all day kindergarten from half day, I believe that costs an extra $4,000 per child. If I went private, it would cost upwards of $10K-$15K per child. So, the selfish way I look at it is this bond will cost me roughly $2,400 ($120 for 20 years) but save me at least $8,000 ($4,000 X 2 ) when all is said and done. That’s a net gain of $5,600.

My kids will also benefit from fewer kids in the elementary school. Once they hit the 5-6 school at Ecker, it should still be in great shape. They’ll likely play sports in high school and it will be nice to have an indoor facility for practice (the field house should still be standing). They’ll also likely be in some sort of arts program, which should have more space in the high school.

It’s almost a no brainer. I save money on kindergarten and get shiny new buildings for free. Thank you second home owners.

Yet, something about that line of reasoning leaves me feeling a little dirty. Do I think this is the best plan? No. There are probably 5 ideas I like better than this one, including my crazy idea to put the whole district on the Triangle Parcel along Highway 40. That would be the same parcel of land adjacent to where Summit County Community Development Director says the epicenter of where Parkites will be living in 20 years. But, that ship has sailed.

The one thing that gives me pause about voting with my wallet is the question of could we do better if we spent more time. I think back to the General Plan for the Snyderville Basin. It took years and years to hash out what we wanted our community to look like. There had to be at least 100 public meetings regarding the plan. Did anyone get everything they wanted? No. Was it a good process? Yes. Now that it’s “done” do I look back and think, “wow…they should have done that differently.” No.

The question is will I feel the same about the school process, given they only spent about 10 months and went with a different plan than the committee that spent the 10 months recommended. I already have a number of concerns, but will those concerns ultimately turn out to be nothing?

I know I’ll save $5,600 but what am I going to get in return — modern 21st century schools that will help propel my children to success (and engender happiness along the way) … half finished buildings because the money runs out (that also have traffic problems) … or something in between.

That’s the question.