Are our children as important as our football team? The question is relevant because:

Taxpayers are now investing about $20 million a year in the Lambeau Field renovation through a .5 percent county sales tax approved in a 2000 referendum. As you remember, tax backers argued that the Packers fiscal health was vital to the community.

The Lambeau tax expires in 2014. The community has six years to decide if the tax should continue and to decide its best use. I believe the tax should continue and that the revenue should be used to help the most vulnerable kids get a good start in life.

Understandably, many people would like to see the sales tax die. But the 2000 referendum in which residents voted to pay a small tax for a big community improvement – the financial health of the Packers -- set a precedent worth following.

There are many ways in which an annual $20 million investment would improve the community. There are valid needs in health, education, recreation and other areas. But the biggest long-run bang for the buck can be gained by investing in kids.

Research shows that if children are not on the track to good health and education by the time they are ready for kindergarten the chances are slim that they will grow to become the self-sufficient adults the community needs.

A lot of kids need help. Census figures show that about 10 percent of the Brown County population (about 25,000 people) live in poverty. Last September, the Green Bay Public School district reported that more than 9,500 students qualified for subsidized meals. In 2007, the federal Food Share program covered more than 5,100 county families.

If children in those families are not helped early with health and learning assessments and follow-ups, the poverty cycle will continue and the community will pay higher taxes forever for schools, welfare and law enforcement.

It will pay another hefty price because many kids will grow up unable to get and hold good jobs essential to the community’s economic well being which is based in large part on the presence of a good work force. Entrepreneurs who need bright and healthy workers may go elsewhere to do business.

The Packers are vitally important. They make this community special in many ways. Spending some tax dollars to keep the franchise healthy is a reasonable investment in the future. But consider this:

The sales tax money ultimately subsidizes the multi-million-dollar salaries of administrators, coaches and players. It also provides luxury seating at Lambeau Field for the community’s most affluent members. Are those salaries and that level of comfort for a relative handful of people less important than the future of thousands of our children?

Making a case to continue the sales tax will not be easy. It will require unprecedented collaboration among governments and social-service agencies specializing in early childhood care and education to set priorities and establish measurable goals.

Sensible oversight must be provided, as is done now with the Lambeau Field tax district. Rules must be made so that agencies who receive tax funds use the money for services and not for bigger buildings and higher administrative salaries. Fortunately there is time – nearly six years – for all of that to be put in order.

In 2000, Brown County residents recognized the importance of the Packers and approved a small tax to improve their community. In a few years they should say that our community’s children are at least as important as our football team.