You’ll want to pay attention to this if your tax dollars go in part to Hamilton Southeastern Schools. The Board of School Trustees may well decide to vote April 14 on list of budget reductions (identified in Current, April 1) to help lower district costs by $5 million during the next two years. The first phase of reductions totals approximately $2.8 million, and that is noteworthy. We understand that revenue cannot keep pace with costs, and so we salute the trustees for taking a stab at reductions, most notably in the area of employee healthcare plan modifications. As with the public sector, it will mean higher insurance deductibles, the introduction of co-pays for some and having to pay for prescriptions. You might recall the state took control of funding –that’s your money, by the way – for school operations for 2008-09 and it caused this train wreck. We’re counting on the trustees, as well as Supt. Dr. Brian Smith, to make the decisions that will set the course for pulling out of the financial quagmire.
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And so the March 31 deadline came and went with much fanfare (cough, cough) for registering for Obamacare. President Barack Obama’s initiative reeled in a whopping seven million registrants. How many healthy, previously insured folks were piped aboard the Good Ship Socialist? How many were previously uninsured? We believe you can make educated guesses at answers. So, then, “If you like your insurance … .“ Travesty.
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We found it interesting that the federal government actually recruited former NBA stars Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Alonzo Mourning to pitch Obamacare. On our dime, yet. Breathtaking. And we found it pulverizing to our collective intelligence that Vice President Joe Biden (can’t believe we’re using “intelligence and “Biden” in the same sentence) took to no less a platform than the Rachel Ray Show in one last appeal to gain registrants last Monday. April Fool’s Day 24 hours early? Laughable.
