Election Day is now fast-approaching, so it’s time to make some educated decisions – rather than be stuck scratching our heads in the voting booth trying to sort out all the verbage in front of us.  One such decision is whether to continue Leon County’s half-cent sales tax for public education.  It may seem like a “no-brainer” to some, but surely all of our votes are worthy of our due diligence to take a closer look at the facts.  Here’s a quick summary to get you started: This half-penny sales tax has been in place for 10 years and is a substantial lifeline for our public school system.  Voters will get the chance to decide this November whether to keep it for another 15 years or do away with it come January.  If the half-penny were not extended, Leon County public schools would suddenly be operating with $18 million less per year.  They may not be perfect, and some families do choose to home school or send their kids to private schools, but the fact remains they are the institutions that are responsible for educating the majority of our county’s families.

Whether or not you have children/grandchildren/future children in our local schools, be a responsible voter and check out The Village Square‘s discussion on the topic in our “Get Local” Tallahassee section of our We the Wiki website.  Feel free to add to it, too — additional sources, fact checks, even write an op-ed.  Remember, the content of our Wiki is made greater by factual, civil, diverse contributions from people like you.  So, go ahead — check it out.  And if you’re a first-time user, be sure to check out the Tools & Tips page, too.  If you have trouble with the site using Internet Explorer, try switching over to Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari.