Tax THIS

I declined enrollment to a magnet school for my children today. It felt heavy, like I was doing something that was, at this moment, shaping the nation. That must be how a President feels when he/she signs a bill into law. My children were accepted into a prestigious private school that I would have never dreamed we could afford until now. Maybe we'll find out we can't, but we're prepared to do a great many things in order to give them this opportunity. I'm not trying to make a huge political statement. I'm only trying to do something fantastic for my children. This school is a gem. We live along the bible belt in an area less progressive than a snail, but this school is independent of the government and of religion. My children will learn how to think. I mean think critically, problem solve, ask questions that matter, the important stuff. In essence, our children will get the education that my husband and I got from our public schools, but in a time when schools just aren't the same as they once were and legislation to do away with evolution isn't just laughed at as a clever pun. "Stop evolution? Ha ha ha, but we are still evolving today aren't we? hmmm... maybe not."
I like the school that they were in. I like the teachers and I love the principle but they suffer from the same affliction that I, as a teacher's daughter, have seen in the eyes of TOO MANY public school teachers. It's a disease called, "Too Few Funds." I know from much experience that if my mother had had bottomless pockets we would have simply afforded better games, puzzles and books. When teachers set out to teach, they do it with every means available to them. (unless they suck at it, like so many of the teachers who apparently parented Fox News morons) If a teacher does not have enough classroom funds, they will dip into their pockets to afford great teaching tools. I've seen it from the best. But how incredibly unfair is that? They barely make enough as it is and now they have to take from themselves and their families to teach our children? I would cry, but I'm not Glenn Beck, I have a good strong set of boobs on me. So, instead I blog and put my children in private school. At the same time, however, when I am asked to vote on a proposition to increase property taxes, to help the local public schools, I will vote YES. My taxes will not help my children, but I hope that they will help someone else's.
This Friday, we will take in a minor league baseball game. I like the minors because the assholes on the field are still trying to make the big bucks. They haven't done it yet, so they know how the majority of women feel(especially women who play baseball). At the minors, hot dogs are a little cheaper, seats are easy to come by and parking is fantastic. At the same time,we sit in a stadium much bigger than any of the schools in this little, god fearing, city and I have to wonder how much of our taxes paid to build it? How much do they make from the beer that we drink and why can't we combine this cultures fascination with sports and entertainment with our need to be more educated?? Surely there's a way. We just need chestier people to do something and ignore the people who are still just crying about it.