Election Date: June 7, 2016

Ravenswood City School District $26,000,000 BOND Measure H – Argument Against

In 2000, voters in the district passed a $10,000,000 bond measure, meant to “improve technology.”  And in 1996, a $6,000,000 bond to “improve technology.”

If you wanted a personal computer for your home or business, would you take out a 30-year loan at an unknown interest rate to pay for it?

That would be nuts, right? Especially because most technology is going to be obsolete in 3–5 years.  But, decades of debt are exactly what the proponents of Measure H would be pushing on us, with this bond.

Bond interest rates can legally go as high as 12% per year.

Would you buy a house or condo without knowing what the interest rate is going to be?  That would be nuts, right?

But, the proponents of Measure H are asking us to accept that uncertainty, that risk.

And because bond measures are like mortgages — they have to be paid back with interest — we should ask about the real cost of this $26,000,000 bond measure.

If we assume a 3% rate, that’s $780,000 per year, just in interest.

Over 30 years, that adds up to $23,400,000 in interest, plus the original bond amount of $26,000,000, for a total cost of $49,400,000.

That’s our hard-earned money squandered on investment bankers, not technology — let alone teachers.

What makes schools great is great teachers — not fancy classrooms or access to the trendiest computer technology.

By the time this bond measure is paid off, the technology it funded will be long ago obsolete, probably rotting in some landfill dump.

Just say NO to more debt. Vote NO on Measure H.

For more information, please see our web page:

www.SVTaxpayers.org/2016-ravenswood-city-bond-measure

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Ravenswood City School District $26,000,000 BOND Measure H –
Rebuttal to the Argument in Favor

In 2000, voters in the district passed a $10,000,000 bond measure, meant to “improve technology.”  And in 1996, a $6,000,000 bond to “improve technology.”

If you wanted a personal computer for your home or business, would you take out a 30-year loan at an unknown interest rate to pay for it?

That would be nuts, right? Especially because most technology is going to be obsolete in 3–5 years.  But, decades of debt are exactly what the proponents of Measure H are pushing on us, with this bond.

Bond interest rates can legally go as high as 12% per year.

And because bond measures are like mortgages — they have to be paid back with interest — we should ask about the real cost of this $26,000,000 bond measure.

If we assume a 3% rate, that’s $780,000 per year, just in interest.

Over 30 years, that adds up to $23,400,000 in interest, plus the original bond amount of $26,000,000, for a total cost of $49,400,000.

That’s our hard-earned money squandered on investment bankers, not technology — let alone teachers.

What makes schools great is great teachers — not fancy classrooms or access to the trendiest computer technology.

By the time this bond measure is paid off, the technology it funded will be long ago obsolete, probably rotting in some landfill dump.

Just say NO to more debt. Vote NO on Measure H.

For more information, please see our web page:

www.SVTaxpayers.org/2016-ravenswood-city-bond-measure


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