Loading ...I’LL TAKE “A HELL OF A LOT OF NERVE” FOR $1000
The older I get the less use I have for the current K-12 public education system as it currently exists. I’m not talking about choice, vouchers and merit-based pay, which I am all for and would go a long way to fixing our education system, but my use for “educrats” gets smaller and smaller everyday.
I got a copy of a talking points memo, which the Superintendents of Marion County have been using to make their arguments against property tax reform, even though schools are anywhere from 24-75 percent of your property tax bill, depending on where you are in Indiana.
They oppose the circuit breaker, i.e. property tax caps because it would “harm school systems trying to educate children in districts with low assessed valuation.” Never mind giving homeowners predictability with their tax bills.
They also oppose the referendum requirement , saying the process would “cost too much and take too much time” to conduct a campaign and could only be done in May or November which means the designs and bidding would have to fit in that electoral time frame.
They are notorious silent on consolidating the upper management of school districts as pointed out in the Kernan-Shepard commission report.
Now I know none of this is new information; particularly as we go into what will hopefully be the last week of the General Assembly. However to have the audacity to actually write this stuff down in an e-mail, circulate it and tell other Superintendents to use it to fight against real, meaningful and permanent property tax reform and relief so average Hoosiers don’t have to worry about losing their homes, takes a hell of a lot of nerve.
March 9th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Way more Hoosiers are losing their homes to foreclosures due to predatory lending, layoffs and economic recession than to tax delinquencies!
March 9th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I don’t even know what Wilson’s remark means in this context. Situation normal.
The current remonstrance process doesn’t even work. In Washington Township, remonstrators gathered appropriate certified signatures to go forward with a full-blown remonstrance drive. Which I think they’d have won, in this tax climate. Instead, in good faith, they negotiated with the pro-bond folks, and reached an agreement of I believe $50 million tops, with caps for each project underneath that gross total. Any savings project-by-project were to be returned to taxpayers, used to pay down debt faster, or something similar.
The first project out of the box was a new pool, which was needed. But it was 15-17% too expensive for the agreement. Which should’ve meant a rebid or something similar, right?
Not in Washington Township. The arrogant school board and superintendent launched a campaign that made it appear, if you supported the negotiated agreement, instead of the new pool, you were anti-kids.
And those arrogant so-and-so’s pushed through the higher-cost pool. Thereby violating the remonstrance agreement.
That’s how they play the game. Rules and agreements be damned.
So, off with their heads. Full-blown petition drives for every project that has a certain gross cost, say, $5 million or 5% of the gross annual bdget, whichever is lower.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
In response to Think Again, I would like to see documented evidence to back up why MSDWT needed or still needs a new pool. Regardless of cost, how does a pool help educate students?
March 9th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Wilson, I so wish that your approach would be more along the lines of; “yes, we should be concerned about tax issues, spending, just as we should be concerned about predatory lending, layoffs and economic recession”. You always seem to deflect away from issues that need to be addressed by pointing to other issues. It is in the end a zero sum game my friend. It is through the complex mix of all of these that real solutions can be achieved. From following your various posts, you seem to believe that merely pointing out other bad issues excuses those that you do not want to address. I am probably wrong, but it is how I see it.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Maybe Ballard should cut the salaries of some of his upper staff to save the property taxpayers some money. As my good friend Jon G said, every dollar counts.
I had to say it cuz no one else on this blog will.
March 9th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I think any expenditure of tax money outside the normal course of doing government business should be subject to referendum–not just schools, but, say, stadiums and such. Any tax increase should have a mandatory sunset provision (say, five years or whenever the stadium is paid for, whichever comes first). This way, the TAXPAYERS would have much more control over government spending!
March 9th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Wilson said,
“Way more Hoosiers are losing their homes to foreclosures due to predatory lending………….. than to tax delinquencies!” Wilson, these people lost their homes due to their own stupidity brought on by a lack of education. I would never enter into a morgtage like a sub-prime loan. It’s pretty much common sense. If I lose my home because my taxes went up 500% which is way more than my income has gone up (and should I have to have three jobs to pay my taxes), that is out of my control, and it is against the “pursuit of happiness”in the constitution. When I bought my house I took out a mortgage with an escrow account based on what I could afford. When my taxes go up beyond what I can afford that is not my fault and why should I be punished for it. Some would say I should move to a home with lower taxes. I say, why should the government have the power to dictate how someone lives by being able to take my property. Taxing someone on an unrealized gain should not be allowed, as a matter of fact it is criminal….stealing. Other taxes (like capital gains) aren’t assessed until you make the profit. Taxing property at an assessed value is not fair, especially when the assessment system is so screwed up. Property tax is the least fair tax for everyone,the rich and the poor, and should be abolished…period.
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And Abdul, the “educrats” saying things like we don’t care about the kids if we don’t buy into their line of thinking is a bunch of crap. If they really cared about the kids they wouldn’t be trying to out-do the school system next door with all the fancy spending on material stuff (like $14 million swimming pools) and put the money into actually educating the kids.
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REMEMBER NOVEMBER
March 9th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I did see a memo to the Guv from the ‘crats mentioned that actually stated to him that vast school building projects were actually economic development. That the Gov is still not laughing proves he has a sense of humor.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Abdul,
I think my sentance about “educrats” didn’t come out like I intended. What I meant to say is that THEY, the educrats are full of crap.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Why is it that school corporations think that they have an inalienable right to exist?
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Why is it that our lawbreakers in the GA believe that school corporations have an inalienable right to exist?
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GOVERNMENT does not have any such rights. Only We The People have such rights. We can alter and reform our State government, which is OUR right!
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Indiana Constitution, Article 1 (BoR):
Section 1. WE DECLARE, That all people are created equal; that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that all power is inherent in the people; and that all free governments are, and of right ought to be, founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and well-being. For the advancement of these ends, the people have, at all times, an indefeasible right to alter and reform their government.
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The legislators and other government officials, via legislative fiat, have given themselves rights that transend those of the People.
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The ONLY method of property taxation that is Constitutionally-authorized for the support of our schools is a tax on the property of corporations (Art 8 Sec 2).
March 10th, 2008 at 5:25 am
My favorite position in both the high schools and junior high schools is the athletic director and the assistant athletic director. Explain to me why it takes two people to run a athletic department? Most high schools throw in a secretary assigned to the athletic department. The crazy part is in these positions there is no teaching required. Hmmm do we have a band director, arts director, history director, math director,etc.. that is not required to teach? Shows where are priorities lie.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:37 am
You go Abdul! TELL IT!
March 10th, 2008 at 10:24 am
We’ve got to quit governing like this!
The bipartisan government-reform panel led by Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard and former Gov. Joe Kernan recommend the elimination of 1,155 units of government and 5,833 fewer elected officials statewide saving $400 million each year.
Message from former Governor Joe Kernan:
http://www.indianachamber.com/
BSU Study: Kernan-Shepard Recommendations Give Big Savings EACH Year
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=27617
March 10th, 2008 at 11:18 am
The schools will win this fight unfortunately. It’s a simple matter of marketing and power. In this instance, the marketing will always present opposition as anti-children/kids; a position no adult or parent wants to be framed in. Once it starts and gains even the remotest traction the opposition will diminish.
The power side of the equation is evident in the legislature. How many legislators are employed by Ivy Tech (Bauer and others) or other educational institutions/entities? I believe the number is near 10.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Maybe the path to “quit governing like this” is to stop electing the same entrenched democrat and republican parties. Maybe if vote differently in a huge collective voice, we will be heard.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
These talking points were written at great expense to taxpayers.
Property taxes are used to pay the school districts’ lobbying consultats. Some school corporations are registered with the State of Indiana as lobbyist. Their Superintendents (salaries paid with property taxes) lobby for continuation of the current property tax system.
Our own property taxes are being used against us and in violation of the desires of the vast majority of voters.