Residents React to Bold Budget
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NORTHWEST JACKSON — The superintendent of Jackson Madison County Schools made a bold budget request, Thursday. She asked county leaders for $10 million for the school system. Some commissioners said granting this budget request would require every property owner in Madison County to pay more in property taxes. “That’s a real high number. That’s a major number right there. $10 million?” Torrey Esters was shocked by the additional funds requested by the Jackson-Madison County School District. Commissioners said the only way it could happen is by raising county property taxes for the first time in more than 2 decades. “We already got a lot of bills as it is, now this on top? We’re gonna be tapped out,” Esters said. But for others, especially those with kids in the public school system, the additional cost is worth every penny. “If it’s gonna make my kids succeed in school because I want my boys to graduate and get a good education,” Lafayeshia Yalartai, a Jackson-Madison County student said. In addition to pay raises and additional staff, district leader said the new money would buy technology and new textbooks, things they said would have direct impact on classroom instruction. A big chunk of the funding would also go to repairing aging buildings. “It’s for my kids so I’m all down for the simple fact of me making sure my kids get a better education,” Yalartai said.
