Tuesday

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  banana468 member

  

  January 2023

  MissKittyDanger said:

  @ei34 maybe? Here during march break and summer, they have all day camps at varying places.
  BK is doing day camps at her tumbling place and gymnastics - they do themes so it's not just tumbling and gymnastics all day, they have other stuff happening.
  
  When I was about 11, the local public school had a drop in day camp for kids who weren't old enough to be home all day but older than some day camps. They had varying stuff and it was pretty fun.
  My bff and I would go daily and play ping pong or make crafts.

  We have different camps out here too.  But there's a big difference in their type which is what I was trying to point out.  
  
  Ex: The daycare we used turns into a summer camp.  They do this knowing that there's a surge in care needed AND that for 8-10 weeks, the kids need a variety of activities in addition to the childcare.  But the activities are lower cost and it's understood that they're there to be childcare.
  
  Our town does the same thing in summer months.
  
  That's different than the sailing camp I could sign up the kids to attend or the nature walk camps or overnight ones.  Yes, those are great and benefitting my kids and yes they're childcare, but those are above and beyond and assumed to be an OOP cost for parents.  IMO that's the same as sending your kid to school and you're expected to pay OOP if they want to go on that spring break trip to Ireland.   

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  MyNameIsNot member

  

  January 2023 edited January 2023

  ei34 said:

  MyNameIsNot said:

  MissKittyDanger said:

  CharmedPam said:

  That’s some BS @Casadena, I’d feel those feels too. 

  Unpopular opinion here, that’ll probably cause a lot of debate here, but i’ll say it anyway.  

  How about taking away the dependent tax break parents get, and put that towards the schools before raising the taxes for everyone, even the ones without kids? And I totally get how taxes raise the value of your area because of good schools and yadda yadda yadda, but there’s a reason why some people remain childless. 
  

  
  So I get where you're coming from but disagree because that tax break doesn't cut it for how expensive raising kid(s) can be especially with inflation.
  
  Want your kid in activities? That's $300
  
  Work and no one can watch your kid?
  For us doing 3 weeks of day camps, that's $800
  
  The dependent break isn't a lot in comparison.

  The point of the tax break is not to fund the cost of raising kids. 
  
  I'm all for funding education, because I see the value of an educated population for society as a whole, and I'm always on board with leveling the playing field. But I don't think that same logic applies to wanting to put your kid in activities and day camp. 

  There's a difference between extracurricular activities / day camps, which maybe it's semantics - @misskittydanger do you mean "older kid day care" when you say day camps?  By me we have what I can only describe as day care, but for school-aged kids, when schools are closed for say winter break but grownups still have work.  Adults capable of working should be working, and I'll be the first to say it, schools are closed a LOT.  I think it's okay to use dependent tax credits to help you work your work day. 
  
  Personal use - I have to be at work at 7:15am.  My kids' school day starts at 8:30.  Their school offers an early morning drop off program that allows me to drop them off at their school and make it to work on time.  Lovely staff, clean, safe, and fun environment...a lot more reliable that an individual baby-sitter who might call out.  Downside is it costs $250/month per child.  So $750/mo for me to work my work day.  
  
  Early morning drop off is a need.  The kids' tae kwon do and piano lessons and softball are wants and not what that tax credit is for...I wouldn't expect society to pay for that (that's why I tutor on the side lol).  Not sure if misskittydanger was referring to fun extras or camps that run literally on days kids are off when she said "day camps".  
  
  ^that aside, I see myself moving at some point after my kids finish using our school district.  Not like the year they graduate, it's too close a commute for me to my job, but maybe around the time I retire. We're in a top 10 district in our state and it's worth every penny now but can't see always paying into it - I definitely think everyone living in an area should pay the same taxes, regardless of kids using the SD or not, just not sure I'll personally want to once I'm older.  
  Good luck @banana468 with your school board woes!  It's not how it should be but oftentimes when the Superintendent and board members have spoken (in the districts I work in and live in) it feels pretty final 

  I'm not debating that it's expensive to raise kids. Of course it is! I'm just saying that's not what the tax credit is designed to do. Maybe to alleviate some of the costs, but not to fully fund them. I'm just saying that "I have X expense so you can't cut my tax incentive" isn't logical when we're talking about any tax.
  
  By the same logic, you couldn't eliminate the tax credit for families that have a STAP or kids old enough to stay home alone all summer. 

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