9/20/05
PONCA CITIZENS GROUP INNOVATES WITH A WEBSITE:
HOW TO BEAT A BOND ISSUE BEFORE IT REALLY GETS STARTED
A group of voters and taxpayers
in Ponca, Neb., on the northeast tip of the state, have created their own
website with information on a school spending ballot measure they believe is
coming but which they don't support.
Come see: www.abcscommittee.org
The group reports that the last
attempted bond issue in Ponca would have cost taxpayers $51,000 per student,
compared to an average in comparable Midwestern districts of around $20,000. The
district has sustained some declining enrollment, dropping to 193 students in
Grades 7-12 this school year, according to district figures. In response to
these factors, the group is calling for other strategies, including
consolidating with two other small nearby districts, rather than strapping
taxpayers with a $10 million debt they don't feel is necessary to still provide
kids with a quality education.
You have to commend them for
their common-sense approach to community involvement. All you really have to do
to drive a better dialog about school spending is to create a new website – an
inexpensive move – and supply people with the facts instead of the self-interested
schmooze so often dished out by the educrats, and at taxpayer expense to boot.
How one could wish such a simple defense maneuver had been
in place when the Omaha Public Schools was seeking its $254 million bond issue
a few years ago, and Westside was running all those tax-lid levy override elections.
Perhaps this is a precursor to future bond battles in which, for once,
taxpayers and voters will have a fighting chance in the propaganda war.
Ponca is in between bonds right now; the last one lost, and
the next one is in the "community discussion" stage.
It's no surprise, but quite a delight, to learn that Paul
R. Dorr of Ocheyedan, Iowa, who was a consultant to a similar citizens' group
on the successful opposition to the subsequent $100 million bond proposal by
the Omaha Public Schools a few years ago, is advising the Ponca group.
Dorr can be contacted at (712) 758-3660. He does a fabulous
job.
Here's a quote he gives in public speeches; people come up
to him afterwards and remark, "How can people NOT hire you after hearing this?"
The
Public School Monopoly
by Erminie King Wright
"Whenever more pressure is needed than a school board can
exert to provide a huge sum for an extravagant building program, the school
administration organizes and trains a ‘Citizens Committee' composed of
prominent but naïve citizens. This committee does the bidding of the school
administration (under gentle guidance, of course) in making speeches and
otherwise coercing an unsuspecting public into approving such bonded indebtedness
as the schoolmen want. This has been a
standard and nationwide procedure since 1950, and the indebtedness of every
local government bears witness to the success of the carefully devised system. The local news media always lends full
support, free of charge: and against these cooperating pressures the
unorganized taxpayers do not have a chance!"
Well, that could change, if more
Poncas and Paul Dorrs get crackin'.
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9/20/05
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