EDITOR: What was once thought to be a dead issue is alive and kicking. The pulse of the community demanding action is drowning out the sounds of silence. Efforts to save the music program for the primary grades at the Jefferson school district have not gone unheeded. At the school board meeting held on Tuesday, May 14th, at the request of program advocates citing 480 petition signatures, the Jefferson school board added an action item to the agenda of the board meeting scheduled for June 11th. This means that the board will vote on whether to invest in a grant consultant in an attempt to close the gap between revenues and spending in the coming years.
If successful, this investment will pay off with grants that will not only fund the music program in its entirety, but will benefit the students in a myriad of ways. If the board votes in favor of such an investment, it will signify a paradigm shift in the approach to balancing the budget – that shift being to an approach concentrating on increasing revenues, rather than merely making cuts that will negatively impact the education and future of the students.
The beauty of this investment is that if successful, it will pay for itself. It will not cost more tax dollars, and does not require additional monies from beleaguered taxpayers already burdened with huge Mello-Roos taxes.
This vote is crucial. If you only attend one school board meeting in your life, attend the meeting scheduled for June 11th, as the vote that will be held on the grant-writing investment will impact the children's education and future for years to come. If you cannot attend this meeting, at very least, show your support for the investment by adding your name to the petition found online at www.musicforjefferson.org.
For those in the community that have expressed a willingness to contribute funds allowing the retention of the music program in the short term until the investment can take over the program's funding, with sincere appreciation I call on you now to come forward with offers of assistance that are conditional upon the outcome of the vote on the grant consultant investment. I commend the Bank of Stockton for their offer of a low-interest loan that provides low-cost working capital for the investment while allowing the district to retain reserve balances. It is time for more community leaders to step up to the plate. Let the music play!
Dan Wells
Tracy