Indiana

I?LL TAKE ?A HELL OF A LOT OF NERVE? FOR $1000

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

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.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on March 09, 2008 (boomark / email).