In the past decade a penny could have gotten you pieces of candy, little toys and if you had 99 of them- you could treat yourself to an amazing present. But recently, a penny can get you nowhere. The only thing you can get with a penny is the presence of a penny.

In 1997 and 2001 a penny tax was passed by voters to increase sales taxes to fund projects such as new roads, sidewalks and storm water facilities. The 2001 penny tax gave the schools 25% of the money generated by the tax back into the school board. The money generated hit the $590 million mark and funded 100 miles of roads and 723 total projects, including both school projects and public projects.

This money the tax generates for the school is beyond priceless. The amount of money the school is currently getting is not enough, and by passing the 2014 penny sales tax (which will become effective on January 1, 2015) schools will gain money to deal with renovations and updates.

Money of any type that goes into the schools can help students directly. If money comes in, grades will go up. The possibilities of learning styles will help many of the variations of learners here, which means we could have more field trips, better textbooks and better overall learning materials.

In this case the effects of the penny could be limitless, triggering a 10 year money fountain into the public school system with the famed title of being in the top 100 school systems. With the penny sales tax in place, the school could be revamped and the money could fund the things many of us complain about each day.

The penny tax is proven productive, but at the end of the day- the people are the ones to decide the ultimate fate.