Dear Editor,
Overheard on the steps of the Iowa County Courthouse:
Citizen #1: That darn referendum. The school district is bluffing us again. They mismanage their money and ask us for a bailout. No other districts around us have had to ask for a fourth time.
Citizen #2: They wouldn’t keep asking if they didn’t need it. And about asking us for the fourth time, that’s not exactly true. Just about every district around us has asked at least once. Some more than once. Some communities have stepped up, others have said “no.” Dodgeville voters keep saying “no.” Don’t you feel the need to support the schools where your kids graduated?
Citizen #1: Sometimes, I think we’d be better off if we didn’t have schools in town. My property taxes would go down. I’d enjoy my retirement a lot more.
Citizen #2: Don’t be such a fool, man. If we didn’t have schools in Dodgeville, we’d be absorbed by some other nearby school district and we’d have to pay the going rate for school taxes. And you wouldn’t have much say about what goes on in that school district. I can guarantee you, your property taxes would go up. Dodgeville has the lowest property taxes in the area because we won’t pass a referendum.
Citizen #1: You seem pretty eager to support a referendum when you no longer have kids in school. Don’t you want to enjoy your retirement with as much money as possible?
Citizen #2: I don’t want to see Dodgeville without a good school system. When I get my car fixed or head into the hospital, I want to deal with people who are well educated. Our local schools are training kids to be good workers. 100%. When’s the last time you were in one of our schools? They deliver tremendous education preparing our kids for the future.
Citizen #1: We can live with less than the best in education. Teachers don’t have to be paid what surrounding school districts pay. Teachers are teachers. They’re all the same. It doesn’t matter what we pay them.
Citizen #2: Don’t you want excellence? In any business, paying workers a decent salary has a greater chance of bringing in and retaining excellence. What’s the legacy you’re going to hand over to our community, man? Don’t you want to leave things better than how they used to be? That’s what responsible citizens do.
Citizen #1: Are you suggesting I’m not a good citizen of this town?
Citizen #2: Not at all. We’ve been friends for decades. All I’m suggesting is that times are tough for the most important thing we have in this town: our schools. You and I need to step up.
Citizen #1: I’ll think about it. Are you still coming over for a burger later?
Citizen #2: If you think we can eat peacefully at the same dinner table.
Citizen #1: I can do that. With respect to all our neighbors,
Michael Knoedler Senior Citizen,
Dodgeville School District
Dodgeville, WI