People in Franklin Township have their priorities backwards

And appear not to understand that “free” bus rides are anything but.
(Please note: I am not a resident of Franklin Township. But I can see stupid three townships away. So if you reside in Franklin Township and don’t like what I have to say, tough.)
“Police cars, yes; free bus rides, no” blares the headline in the print version of the Gannett Star yesterday, front page sidebar of the Metro+State section.
Franklin Township Schools bought three new police cars to replace aging fleet vehicles. “The vehicles were bought eight years ago and have ‘exceptionally high mileage'” says the article, quoting Superintendent Walter Bourke. But as has been widely promoted by the Star, since the good voters of Franklin Township refused to approve a levy that was specifically designed to pay, and would have paid, for free school bus service this year, well, there ain’t no free school bus service in Franklin Township this year. So naturally the Star has its knickers in a twist about the horrible inequity of it all. Thus, “police cars, yes; free bus rides, no.”
How very simplistic. Let’s do some math. I know, I know; there was to be no math. Tough it out with me.
How much did the three cars cost? $70,000.
How much would the tax increase that was voted down have raised in seven years? $13 million. Or close to $2 million a year. (Did somebody say, “free” bus rides? Eeesh.)
The difference between three cars and soi-disant “free” bus service? Three cars — that we assume will last between 7 and 8 years, as the old ones did — cost 1/2 of 1 percent of free bus service for an equivalent period. It’s not even pennies on the dollar; it’s half a cent on the dollar. 1/200th of what “free” bus service would cost.
It looks to me like the school district did due diligence on the car purchase; it’s going through a state program that guarantees the lowest possible price, and it’s pulling a little money out of the district’s rainy day fund to help cover the purchase. While I have questioned the need for townships to have private police for their schools since I was a sophomore at [local high school not in Franklin Township] lo these several…er…many…years ago, the fact is that these guys aren’t SWAT, and they probably are of some use at arrival and dismissal time, and they take the burden off of IMPD for same. Oh, and they are available to check out the sweet smell of burning weed emanating from the restrooms and to investigate lockers for blow and other pharmaceuticals and illicit materials. And maybe to calm down Mama’s little juvenile delinquent from time to time. A five-car department really doesn’t seem like it can do much damage to civil liberties, so I’ll give it a pass.
All this said, I don’t think the rainy day fund probably has enough in it to pay for “free” bus service. And thus, if you want bus service for your rugrats in Franklin Township, you must pay for it; $47.50/month for the first child, $40.50/month for each additional child. Or drive them to school themselves. Or, I don’t know, maybe set up carpooling and actually create one of those voluntary associations that de Tocqueville talked about so much and John Ringo refers to so many times. The horror that one might actually have to talk to one’s neighbor. The absolute, unadulterated horror.
Maybe Franklin Township taxpayers — AND THE STAR — ought to think a little harder about what the actual costs of “free” bus service are, and the taxpayers not be so quick to vote down another levy should one be proposed. I’m hardly one to pimp for increased taxes, but if that’s what it costs, that’s what it costs, and taxpayers either have to shoulder the burden or face the consequences.
Short of going back to neighborhood schools and getting rid of the buses altogether, I really don’t see how to avoid it.