By Antonio D. French
Filed Friday, October 26, 2007 at 1:32 PM
School officials attending a conference this weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks may get a political message on their drive to the Tan-Tar-A resort. Labels: Schools
A group called Americans for Prosperity - Missouri has bought a billboard attacking the nearly 300 school boards, including St. Louis Public Schools' and its Special Administrative Board, for supporting a lawsuit against the state seeking more money for public education.
Carl Bearden, the former state representative who left the House to accept the state director position with the group, says many of the state's school districts are guilty of a "misguided effort" to funnel tax revenue to lawyers in an unsuccessful effort to force the state to increase state aid to public schools.
Bearden said that if the school districts prevail in court, "the state would either have to raise taxes by $1 billion, cut services by that amount or a combination of both."
The billboards direct people to a website which outlines the group's position on the school funding lawsuit.
Americans for Prosperity calls themselves "the nation's premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity." According to campaign finance reports, AFP spent $25,000 last year opposing the proposed tabacco tax increase.
4 Comments:
They want to save about one dollar for every citizen of MO?
Why not just give us a dollar each out of your advertizing budget?
Save the crocodile tears about how the lawyers are taking so much away from us----and tell us why what the lawyers are advocating is wrong. I bet you a dollar there is something.
10/26/2007 3:20 PM
They are wrong because the Judge in this case unilaterally threw out each of the plaintiff's arguments. Judge Callahan was clear, the State is more than meeting its constitutional requirement to adequately fund education(25% of general revcenues) and possibly could be spending more than 30%. They are wrong because there is NO coorealtion between money spent and improved student performance. They are wrong because these school districts could be spending the $4.6 million in the classroom teaching kids. Clearly, history shows us, maintaining the status quo DOES NOT work. More money for education, does not work. We should all call our school districts and demand that they pull out of this futile lawsuit. Especially the StLPSchool. Spending 600K on lawyers plus whatever it takes for useless appeal will do nothing except line the pockets of the lawyers with school district dollars that could be spent on teaching kids!
10/27/2007 10:44 AM
Good to know Laura. That must mean our free public schools do as well as spending tons of money for tuition at private schools. If money spent doesn't improve education, as you say.
And you know, we have appeals courts in this country because the first judge to hear a case does not always get it right. If you prefer the one man unilateral approach to justice, go weep on Saddam's grave.
I actually agree with you that spending taxpayer money is wrong in this instance. But I completely disagree with your reasoning that the trial court judge is infallible and that money doesn't matter. A kid with access to a high quality science lab will learn better than a kid in a school without one. Labs, libraries, teacher salaries, it all costs money. Saying money doesn't correlate makes no sense at all. And if you plan to trot out the tired argument about private schools doing it so much cheaper, first add in all the extra costs those parents pay those schools, don't pretend tuition costs are all they pay. Then find a private school that takes any disabled or behaviorally challenged student who applies, without question, and educates them for less than public schools do. Then I'll admit you are right.
10/27/2007 11:47 AM
Money doesn't improve education if it gets lost on poor administration before it can get to the kids who need it most. For example: SLPS spends more on legal fees than new library books. I don't know what private school numbers look like, but I know we spend more every year on education in the city and see fewer results. I'm not about to put more of my money on a sinking ship until I see how exactly it will turn the situation around. This is a perfect opportunity for parents to stand up and say to the school districts: Change course. Implement new and effective policies. Show us that the years we've paid for substandard education for our kids are at an end.
10/28/2007 11:18 PM
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