9/19/05
HOW TO BEAT A BOND ISSUE:
COUNTER-MOVES TO CURTAIL THE SCHOOL-SPENDING MONSTER
Nebraska voters last week passed
four ballot measures which would increase school spending and taxes, and
rejected three others. Voters in Grand Island, Waverly, Gage County and Lincoln
County turned thumbs up on bond issues, while voters in Ord, Otoe County and
Prague, Neb., turned down bonds or tax-levy overrides.
Wow! What's going on? School
spending contests going 4-3 on an early autumn weekend with nothing else on the
ballot is an eye-opener. They used to go undefeated, bigtime. School bond
issues and levy overrides used to be pretty much of a slam-dunk for school
officials.
Here was the game plan:
n
Schedule the vote on a date with nothing else on
the ballot to ensure a low voter turnout that could be controlled by the union
and school rah-rahs.
n
Put heavy pressure on parents and teachers to vote
out of self-interest and hope that voters looking out for the good of the whole
community, which is always to hold the line on taxes, would stay home.
n
Solicit big campaign donations from construction
companies, bonding firms, technology companies and other companies also
self-interested because they would be likely to make big bucks if the bonds
passed.
n
Buy big newspaper ads and lots of yard signs.
n
Use school buildings as polling places, position a
"no" vote as being possible only by a despicable mass murderer who hates
children, and claim the money is "for the kids" to tug on the heartstrings of
the voters.
It was just a nearly unbeatable
system.
Most of the school bond issues in
Nebraska have passed over the last 10 or 20 years, some for eye-popping amounts
of money, like the $254 million one in the Omaha Public Schools a few years ago.
The amount of investment allowed by voters just adds more perplexity to the
current cry by OPS for more money and property from increased state tax support
and a proposed takeover of suburban districts.
But taxpayers are finally
figuring out the school districts' political strategy, and putting their feet
down on increased spending, if recent trends are being interpreted correctly.
Last weekend, voters in the
Spring (Texas) Independent School District defeated a $385 million bond issue
by a 3-1 margin. School officials wanted the money for eight new schools, a
competition swim center, and a free laptop for every high school student.
Taxpayers mounted a counter-campaign that exposed the impact on property taxes
and questioned whether the proposed spending was really necessary.
A new law in Texas will require
future school-spending votes to take place in May or November, in an attempt to
get voter turnout rates higher, which sounds like a great idea for Nebraska as
well.
See the story, "School Bond
Formula May Be Faltering: School Boards Worry the Spring ISD's Defeat Could Be
Sign of a Trend":
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3357685
Now for some
real fun:
Tomorrow,
we'll check out a counter campaign that's going great guns right here in
Nebraska.
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9/19/05
Reprint rights granted with attribution to www.GoBigEd.com
