The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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PUBLISHED: March 13, 2008
Do you support weighted GPAs?
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Because of the way Saline High School chooses to calculate grades, your child and your wallet may be at a disadvantage when applying for college and seeking financial assistance and scholarships.
Surrounding school districts such as Ann Arbor, Milan and Manchester recognize this problem and have responded. They all apply weighted grades to tougher academic classes such as AP and honors courses, but not so with Saline.
Our school district doesn't feel this issue warrants any change in the way they do business. They have repeatedly ignored efforts to act and reward those kids who have decided to work hard and attempt to learn more.
To our school administration, an "A" earned in AP biology, honors trigonometry or AP chemistry is equal to an "A" earned in physical education when calculating a grade point average or determining class rank. Many colleges use data such as GPA and class rank when making acceptance decisions. And many scholarships utilize a child's class rank when determining the amount of money the student is eligible to receive.
So, while other school districts are actively marketing their graduates, our school has elected to sit back and let our kids fend for themselves. Other concerned parents have contacted me to let their voices be heard and I have brought this data to the school board personally, but I never even received the courtesy of a formal response on this matter.
It's time to speak with one voice. If you are in support of weighted GPA calculations in Saline, then let your school administrators know. Apparently, the sound of my single voice isn't loud enough to get their attention.
My six students of Saline schools and I appreciate your support in this vital matter and welcome your feedback.
Jack Wagner
Lodi Township
Appeal your property taxes if they're too high
Last year, I had had enough of watching the property taxes go up on my home year after year. I knew that home values were in decline, so I decided to go down to City Hall and appeal my property taxes.
I filled out the paper work and went to my hearing with the Board of Review. I was given some relief, but not enough. So, I decided to appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal, which is the next step in the process.
I received a copy of my homes assessment information from the city. This was great information because it showed me that the city had been taxing me for years for a fireplace that never existed. The city was also taxing me for a finished basement and several other things that never even existed. Bottom line is that my effort paid off and my assessment was lowered.
I am encouraging all of you to contest your property taxes this year. Housing prices are going down and they are going to keep going down. We haven't even begun to face all the coming foreclosures that are on the way. Some experts claim that existing home values may fall another 40 percent from 2005 prices.
Your property is supposed to be valued at the fair market value. How much could you sell your home for if you had to? Can you even find a buyer? How much will someone pay for your home when they could buy a foreclosed home for half the price of yours? These events all affect your home's fair market value. You do not have to accept your assessed value if you think it's high.
The housing bubble and the decline in our home values is the direct result of the Federal Reserve handing out truckloads of cheap or easy money to the banks. The banks saw a chance to make lots of big profits and decided that they would give home loans to anyone with a pulse. This increased the demand for homes and caused the prices to go up.
Now these sub-prime loans are defaulting big time. Property owners are walking away in droves from mortgages on homes that are worth less than they owe. The mortgage insurers are going bankrupt on all the bad loans. The companies that insured the mortgage bonds that were sold to investors all over the world are on the brink of failure as these bonds loose value.
We still have a long way down to go on our home values. And do you think that when this sub-prime problem is over that your home value will be coming back? I doubt it, because the new jobs at Wal-Mart won't be paying people like the auto companies did. You can't afford much for a house as a Wal-Mart associate. Even the jobs left in automotive will be paying less than half of the old salaries and without many of the benefits that used to be available.
Gasoline prices keep going up, home heating, health care and food costs are rising fast. Get ready for more federal taxes from presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain. Don't even get me started on the collapsing dollar that's happening as the Federal Reserve pumps billions of freshly printed dollars into the economy because it chooses to give us inflation instead of a recession. How can we all cope?
So, I hope that many of you will take a stand this year and say enough is enough. Don't let your local government take advantage of you by overvaluing and overtaxing you for your home. You may not be able to change things in Washington, D.C., or the state of Michigan, but you sure can have some say in the way your own hometown taxes your property.
Your home's appraised value is not much more than the assessor's educated guess. Appeal your property taxes this year if you think your property has been overvalued. If you don't win, at least you will put the local government on notice that you are watching and willing to challenge them.
Hurry, though. Contact your local tax assessor soon, because there isn't much time left to make your appeal. Appeal every year you believe you are being overtaxed, sooner or later our government of the people and by the people will get the message.
Remember this quote by Thomas Jefferson: "A government afraid of its citizens is a democracy. Citizens afraid of government is tyranny."
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