Collinsville has four publicly funded hubs of social activity:

1.Downtown
2.Public Library
3.Collinsville City Park
4.Collinsville Public Schools

Within the last 15 years the first three have seen major funding for improvements. Our downtown is now what I consider the benchmark for local small town business centers. Take a quick drive or stroll through Skiatook, Sperry, or Oologah downtown areas and compare the sidewalks, streetlamps, streets, parking, and condition of the buildings housing the businesses that produce sales tax and utility revenue to run our city. You will hopefully agree that there is a correlation between the beauty created through public funding and the amount of small business owners operating out of Collinsville in comparison to our neighbors.

The improvements to the library are easy to recognize. After years it still draws my gaze as I go by. My daughter is able to attend events at the library that if not for funding I would have to take her out of town for similar experiences. Next is the City Park that has transformed from run down buildings and outdated play equipment (if you can call just a couple of swings play equipment) to a splash pad, two play centers, a skate park, new basketball court, a brand new walking trail, new shade structures, and even more improvements coming down the pipeline.

We have come so far, and we only have one more step to take. Now is the right time.

The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia concerning Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson was an advocate of public education. In a 1786 letter to George Wythe, he remarked that "the most important bill in our whole code, is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people."[21] He believed that "no other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness" and that failing to provide public education would "leave the people in ignorance."[21]

I propose that these are not just our kids we are seeking to teach. They are our neighbor’s kids, our friend’s kids, our family’s kids, our city’s kids, and we owe it not only to them but to ourselves. Building a stronger school system helps build a stronger city. We have made the aforementioned improvements to our town and have expectation that our youth will treat the improvements with respect. I cannot understand how we can have this expectation if we do not show faith to our children that we believe in them by improving their facilities as well.

Public finance improves the greater good but depends on the individual. So what price can we expect to pay? It is projected that the proposed bond will increase our property tax an average of $70 per household, a small price, but very important to consider. Many families in Collinsville have fixed incomes and I would guess that, like mine, many more have budgets that have narrow margins of error. If we reduce $70 yearly to a monthly figure it is less than six dollars! It’s reasonable to expect that most of us have made a major purchase in recent memory that we went in telling ourselves we would not make that purchase if it was more than X dollars per month. More often than not we made the purchase to get what we wanted for well more than a five dollar deviation from what we intended.

Five dollars a month. Will you use five dollars a month for our children? Will you use five dollars a month for a better city? Will you use five dollars a month for a better school? Most importantly, will you use five dollars a month for yourself?

Take as a final consideration that our administrators are doing an excellent job with what they have and they are not asking for a handout. Our state is now testing and monitoring the effectiveness of our public schools. I recently attended a meeting in a Tulsa Metro town in which the school administrators addressed the state of the school. Every principal who spoke complained about the testing system. Local news outlets have covered stories of opinions that the testing could be unfair. Look at the scores of Collinsville Public Schools. You will not hear them complain about the testing system. They scored higher than all but three Tulsa Metro area schools. Give them this bond and watch them propel Collinsville to the top. There’s still time to visit our school administrators and ask them why our public funds are needed and where they will be used. Please visit with them at the administration building north of the football field and then please visit the polls on October the 8th and approve five dollars a month.

R. Glen Reser

Steve Braun
Sports Information Director
918.343.8350 Office
918.343.7567 Fax