Support pre-K; oppose sugary-drinks tax
Isupport pre-K education. Children’s brains are developing at a phenomenal rate, especially during the first three years. If people who are parents do not even know they can and need to communicate with their infants and toddlers, then yes, we definitely need pre-K education.
However, I am opposed to funding it with a sugar tax. It is a food tax that will hurt those with lower income. Say what you want about sugar, but when you have limited dollars for food, sugar and fat will satisfy your hunger.
Also we have to realize that Santa Fe is not in dire need of pre-K. According to 2015 census figures, there are approximately 3,440 children 5 years or younger in town. According to the mayor, 1,000 of those children do not attend pre-K. That means that slightly over 70 percent of those children do attend pre-K. Nationwide, the percentage of children attending pre-K is 53 percent, and statewide it is 40 percent.
The past 100 years
From The Santa Fe New Mexican:
April 9, 1917:
U.S. Marshal A.H. Hudspeth today received the following official communication from T.W. Gregory, attorney general of the United States:
“No German alien enemy in this country who has not hitherto been implicated in plots against the interests of the United States, need have any fear of action by the department of justice so long as he observes the following warning: Obey the Law and Keep Your Mouth Shut.”
I just helped facilitate a wellness conference sponsored by Doña Ana County and Las Cruces. According to the report that served as a foundation document for that conference, the most important factors for a child’s success are not having a parent in jail and living in an affluent neighborhood (not being affluent yourself ).
Our city has done all our children a disservice by allowing developers to buy their way out of having an affordable unit or two in affluent developments. We used to have economically diverse neighborhoods everywhere. Now we have gated communities, buyouts on affordable housing and lowincome housing clustered in large part on the city’s southwest side.
Las Cruces/Doña Ana County has the highest rate of high school graduation in the state even with a great number of English learners, and only 29 percent of their children attend pre-K. Can the mayor explain the disconnect between 70 percent attending pre-K in town and our low graduation rate? Probably not.
In addition, how will this soda-tax money be used? Now the mayor tells us, the city will give it to nonprofits. What are they going to do with the excess monies? Are city taxpayers funding the whole program that is buildings and yearly training? Why fund nonprofits that have deep donor lists? More importantly, do you want the city to have a pot of money that more likely than not will be mismanaged or misappropriated?
Apparently the mayor is so sure that this tax will pass that his handpicked group of 30 have already designated 88 nonprofits to receive the money. And a true bait and switch tactic, now the pre-K education will be a four-star education, not a five-star program.
What about the Verde Fund initiative? The mayor started that fund last year to great fanfare. Why no explanation of the abandonment of this fund? Why not enforce the no cellphone/no texting law and give one-third of the $300 fine to the pre-K fund? This way the city would be making our streets safer and helping those children who do not now participate in these programs. And no funding for nonprofits. especially ones surrounded by financial scandals.