Let’s get off the dime for schools

MY VIEW • Invest in education, and ultimately it will pay for itself

By Samuel Metz

The Portland Tribune, Sep 23, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

In the words of the renowned 20th-century Western philosopher W.C. Fields, “It is time to take the bull by the tail and face the situation.”

Our schools deserve more money, and we should give it to them.

This is a hard sell.

Many will ask, “Why should I pay to educate your children?” The flippant answer is that my uneducated children will steal your car and increase your insurance rates; consume precious police and judicial time when they get caught; live on your tax dollars when they are convicted and sent to prison; and never pay a penny in taxes because they never earn an honest dime.

A more serious answer is that original dollars invested in education repay taxpayers many times over (anywhere from three to eight times, according to the Economic Policy Institute www.epinet.org).

How does education pay for itself?

1. When educated students hit the work force, they generate more taxes than their education cost as their improved careers generate greater tax revenue.

2. Our communities are safer because better-educated students commit fewer crimes, break into fewer houses, avoid being unwed parents, and resist drug abuse.

3. Future taxes decrease because better-educated students spend less time in prisons and jails. The predicted investment return would be the envy of any venture capitalist: Each dollar invested in public education produces a 10- to 20-fold return in money not spent on judicial and incarceration costs, currently 15 percent of our state budget.

4. Businesses seek communities with excellent schools. Why? Better schools attract talented workers. How do we know this? Did you know anyone who paid a premium buying a house in a better school district?

Ultimately, better schools reduce taxes and improve everyone’s quality of life.

But today, right now, where will this tax money come from?

A sales tax. Many taxpayers may reach for smelling salts, but we finally have met the right justification for a tax Oregonians have avoided for a century.

Why a sales tax?

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