Wednesday, October 13, 1999
Starr's Mill High School junior unhappy with rejection of SPLOST funds

Dear Community of Fayette County,

My name is Steve Freeman. I am a junior at Starr's Mill High School. Fayette County recently called for an act called SPLOST. It was to be greatly beneficial toward all families of Fayette County that have children attending schools. The deal with SPLOST is that this is an indirect one-cent tax on every dollar. This money would be used to help build new schools, stadiums, and other school necessities.

We are definitely in desperate need of new schools! In order for an adolescent to obtain knowledge in the best way possible is for his or her teacher to sit down with them one-on-one. This is called “Individuality.” Ask yourself this, isn't your child's education worth it?

People may feel that SPLOST is not a good idea because they feel that the board of education may not be spending the people's money right. Also citizens feel that with taxes, they have deductibles and could, as an example, donate to the community and get a tax write-off. I can see the point made by some individuals who voted against it. Think about it, though, this is benefitting the community and not only are just citizens of Fayette County paying for this, but so are everyone else who come into Fayette County and buy something.

SPLOST is a great idea! SPLOST is not just benefitting the “Future Adult,” but also the present adults. We definitely have a problem with crammed schools. This problem is rapidly increasing and with the amount of students that are in the schools now, makes it even more difficult to get your child's teacher to give the child individuality.

Parents want their children to grow up and become successful in life. In order for your child to become successful they need to learn. Children learn better when his or her teacher actually sits down with them. If the child is having trouble, the teacher could help them out. That is my definition of Individuality. With this the children and “Future Adults” will learn better and feel better about themselves and this will benefit the parents greatly. Nothing would make a parent more happy then to see his or her child succeed in life.

Another great point is the schools are crammed. This problem gets worse every year. It is very difficult to learn in an environment that is crammed and this leads to stress on teachers to make sure everyone understands the material they have been taught. The money from SPLOST will also go to building schools. This will help diminish the problem of crowded schools. Thus, more individuality will result from this.

Starr's Mill is still without a stadium. Another part of the money from the SPLOST would have gone to helping build the stadium. Imagine being in the place of one of the students or being 17 again. Definitely, you would want to experience the feeling of having a true home game. Starr's Mill can not do that yet because there is no stadium. The seniors this year will not get to experience this but there are still juniors, sophomores, and freshman that will one day be seniors and will want to experience a true home game.

I, among many other people, are dissatisfied with the rejection of SPLOST. Aren't your children, and children alike, a good enough reason as to why this should be invoked? We are the future!

Steven Freeman
PoLoSF19@aol.com


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