To the editor:

I notice in Tuesday’s Journal World that the school board is going to go after the senior citizens and low-income property owners again. It is a shame that the burden falls most heavily on this group. Everyone that I know, including myself, is 100 percent for education for one of our most important and precious assets, our young people.

But whether anyone agrees with me or not, Lawrence has a large base of senior citizens and low-income homeowners that try to live on what income they have and, if they are continually bombarded by property tax increases, could in the near future lose their homes. Meanwhile, the school board falls back on the old standby, slam the homeowner.

Why can’t they just face the fact “we cannot do this item (salaries) this year”? One of the board members even laments that the tax increase now has to go on the ballot for approval.

In line with the spending spree, the sport facilities item again was touched on, so it is still lurking in the shadows, with an estimate of $12.2 million to upgrade what they have. With Haskell University, Kansas University and city facilities, could these not be used with a little extra work on scheduling? The school board has often mentioned having facilities like Olathe, and I am sorry to tell you that Lawrence does not have the commercial tax base to support even one of these.

David Williams,

Lawrence