To the Editor, 

At the risk, and knowing full well, that this will be an unpopular opinion with the School Admin, improvement committee and some parents. Our decision to vote NO on the Henning School District referendum in November is based on these facts:

1) 14 percent increase in groceries, utilities and other household needs, no end in sight.

2) Inflation rate of 8.4 percent and the economy is pointing to recession. Even if prices stop increasing, the inflation that has already occurred will cost Americans approximately $8,600/yr.

3) Mortgage rates have tripled making purchasing a new home nearly impossible for the average person.

4) Gas is still over $3.50 per gallon and rising again.

5) Wages will not and cannot keep up with these rising costs.

Everything is costing more. Using the calculator on the Ehler’s website, a $200,000 home will “only” see an impact of $48 per month or $576 per year for the next 23 years for the school improvements which equals out to $13,250/home. There are probably not too many $200,000 homes out there and if there are, most likely a senior citizen is living in them. Also, most likely the senior citizen is already paying one or two school levies for general education. We are, and

according to our EMV this referendum will be tripling school taxes from what we already pay. It is quite sure that Social Security will NOT be going up 8 percent. Those that have recently retired and/or have been for a while, may see this increase not as a benefit to students in their education, but rather as an additional tax that hadn’t been prepared for with financial planning and benefiting mostly staff.

Infrastructure does not educate children. According to reports in this paper, it appears that Henning student’s do well according the state average and sports have not suffered, so what can improvements in a cafeteria, gymnasium and administrative offices do? We are not saying some improvements shouldn’t be made, but 23 years of taxes for a building that will most likely be obsolete by that time is not feasible. This referendum will saddle us for $43,000 over the course of 23 years; if we even see it paid off, what will be needed then? How can young families afford this? And then, when will the administration see a need for an additional levy for general education? Not everyone can afford this $27 MILLION project. The school administration needs to go back to the drawing board and get a realistic plan for a district this size. 

Don’t feel bad by voting NO on Q1 on November 8, the Administration and committee can still downsize this plan.

Peter and Elaine Hanson,

Vining