This Just In ...

Franklin, you asked for it and you just might get it

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Sept. 7, 2011

Franklin School Board member Janet Evans informs that tonight the board is holding a special meeting to hear from an architect. Here’s hoping she follows up with a blog describing what’s really going on.

I wrote the following last December about the facilities planning surveys:

The Franklin School District intelligentsia gets the public all lathered up by painting the picture of crumbling structures and kids that will be forced to sit in trailers (yeh, right) and sports teams that  will be worse than the Bad News Bears unless you, yes you, struggling taxpayer, open up your wallet for the millionth time and fork it over.

They think they’ve got your number. They will send out sob story of a survey, one after another, begging for just the right answers, and when you politely, innocently tell them, you bet, we’d love to see an improved this and a new that……..BAM!  They’re introducing proposals to raise taxes by a bundle to build and/or improve all these facilities THAT YOU THE PUBLIC DEMANDED.

FranklinNOW reporter Mark Schaaf noted, “Many have complained about the state of Franklin's athletic facilities.”

Yeh, I know. That’s a heartbreaker.  Major frustration.

Being the sports-minded fellow I am, I commented to my wife, Jennifer what a crummy season the high school baseball team had.

The football team? Struggling. Just struggling. Year after year.

I think the boy’s soccer team made the playoffs this past fall. Yes, yes, I think I’m right. Did you know they only managed three goals....... against an MPS team? Now, you build two more soccer fields and we won’t be embarrassed like that ever again!

And the high school basketball teams, boy’s and girl’s…….it’s no wonder they haven’t been to state for a few years. It’s you cheapskate taxpayers. All your fault.

At first I urged residents to "Toss the survey in the trash where it belongs."

A few days later, I had a change of heart.

There it was in my mailbox.

What the hell, I thought. I paid for it. Might as well open it up and take a look.

The survey was stunning in its lack of transparency, written and presented with an all too obvious woe is us, we must tax to the max mentality.

We learn that a study was conducted this past summer of the conditions and use of our school facilities, and whad’ya know??? OF COURSE our facilities are going to hell in a hand basket. Those poor, poor, children. Whatcha gonna do about it, Franklin taxpayers? Let us give you some idea$.We’ve got all kind$ of option$ about the middle $chool, the high $chool, a $wimming pool, performing art$, indoor and outdoor phy$ical education and athletic $pace, and a community center. My oh my, we sure need a lot.

I took out my trusty calculator, and let’s suppose a resident decides to support every one of the spending options, including the most expensive choices. That translates into spending an incredible:


$235.4 million


I urged Franklinites to fill out the survey by checking all of the NO or NONE OF THE ABOVE choices. The Franklin School District was setting a big, fat trap for you taxpayers.

The final results showed this non-shocker: About 70 % of school district staffers support big spending on all kinds of new facilities.