Frightening Photo

Today's cover story from the Morning Star had the hair on my neck standing up.

If a photo can "say" a thousand words, then this photo of two children, eight-year old Anneke and 10-year old Luc VanderVelde, walking to school on Silver Star Road fills me with fear.

Why aren't these children safely inside a school bus?

The story is here in the Morning Star.

Silver Star Road is notorious for speeders, and its narrow lanes--without the benefit of a bike and pedestrian path on either side--often see large truck traffic too.

Rather than repeat the newspaper story here, the gist is that some parents are now having to fork out $300 annually per child because their home is outside the school "catchment" area.
That's $600 for Mrs. VanderVelde.
Annually.

It occurs to me that the system is failing.
I simply cannot imagine any school bus driver leaving a youngster at the side of the road, having picked up other children whose parents have paid the fee.

"So why do we--including those without children--pay ever-increasing school taxes annually,"  Kia would've asked, "if there's not enough money to get kids there safely."

Yes, why indeed...


So what were school taxes used for?