Home Again

I woke up in my own bed this morning after a fabulous week at the beach. We had fantastic weather - not a single drop of rain - and it was so refreshing to spend a week with family and friends. I feel a bit rejuvenated now and ready to move on with my job search as well as my normal summer full of odds and ends that get procrastinated on all through the school year.

Our local paper had an article today explaining that after two years, the district that I live in (where my son attends) are going to lower their pay-to-play fees. The article states that results of a recent survey showed that 32% of seniors that just graduated declined to participate in extra-curricular activities due to the fee. I wonder what those kids spent their time doing instead of participating in school sponsored activities? Playing video games like GTA? The superintendent acknowledges that the pay-to-play fees are a problem. The bigger problem, however, is school funding. Pay-to-play is just a symptom of how many other valuable opportunities are just being cut without the option for parents to pay for them.

The education funding system in our state has been broken for a long time. If it EVER gets fixed, it will take another generation of kids passing through broken schools before any benefit is realized.