The suspicious public – The sneaky Board

I’ve been inundated with email from people asking me the same question I’ve been getting from folks on the street. Is the School Board going to offer a trick levy question to fool voters into giving them more operating money? Well, Its not that easy. Of the three taxing levels being offered to voters there should be both a YES and a NO voting box. For any of the three levels to pass a majority of people must vote “yes” at that level.

That will be a challenge as the Trib’s online poll makes clear. 56% of the 1200 or so people voting on that voted “no” for any increase. The most any three possible levy amounts received in the poll was a little over 22% but you have to assume that the way the question will be phrased the least objectionable amount (probably the smallest at $365/pupil unit) will get the maximum positive votes. That would be about 43% which is about how many people voted for the operational levy that failed in 2001.

My guess is that this is very optimistic. Readers of the online Trib are likely to be much younger and thus more inclined to vote for a levy. This is a town with a great many people on fixed incomes. Many more of them will vote no. Besides, the controversy in 2001 paled before the anger brought about by the Red Plan. Many people are eager to teach the School Board a lesson.

There is, however, one thing the Board can do to improve the chances that at least the smallest amount gets passed and they discussed it at length at the last school board meeting. Because the $365/per pupil level is already being levied having been OK’ed by voters in 2003 a new state law allows the Board to include the phrase: “this will not increase your taxes” beside that amount. To use this phrase the Board had to forego a slightly larger figure that would have also given them an inflationary increase. They were prepared to lose to inflation because they didn’t dare alert voters that the inflationary increase would cause an increase in their school district taxes.

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