Bond subsidizes out-of-district transfer students

There are four overarching questions every Oak Park voter should consider before deciding how to vote on H6:

Do we want even more outof-district students needed to fill the new buildings and make use of the extensive remodeling that are part of the $80 million in funds? Do we want or need a district of more than 3,700 (our approximate current enrollment). In eight years, if we don't recruit students from outside the district, our school enrollment would revert to what it was in 1992 when we were winning national and state awards. Is that so bad?

H6, if passed, would create a sort of "demonstration school district" for every conceivable trend, from solar energy and expensive "drought tolerant" landscaping to grandiose kitchens designed to support menus of solely organic food, costly super technology and $38 million in unaccounted-for funds. Do we need that?

Is this building proposition to the scale that is appropriate to Oak Park's size? After all, in today's dollars, $80 million would just about build the entire Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, replete with parking structure, city offices, reflecting pools and landscaping.

The H6 signs say "repair our schools." But only 3 percent of the money is planned to go to repairs now. The signs say, "without raising taxes." But your tax payments would be extended 25 years, which is clearly a significant total increase in taxes. The advertising just isn't true. Doesn't that make you wary of writing a blank check to the district to spend as it wishes, since there are no legal requirements for the district to stick to its evolving and non-concrete plan?

I urge you to vote no on H6. Barbara Bronson Gray Oak Park