Voter apathy and the school bond
-
- October
- 21
A school construction bond tends not to capture the same public attention as Pirro vs. Cuomo or those other elections on our “political blog.”:http://lohud.com/blogs/hudsonpolitics/
When it came time to vote Tuesday on a $66.5 million bond proposal in “White Plains,”:http://wpcsd.k12.ny.us/wpps/site/default.asp less than 7 percent of registered voters showed up. The bond passed by a narrow margin. Back in May, during the school budget vote and an uncontested school board race, about 5 percent turned out.
It’s wrong, says John McCarthy, a White Plains resident and commercial real estate broker, that such a small group of people determine such a large portion of his tax bill. School taxes cost him more than city taxes, after all. Considering that 1,984 people voted on a $66.5 million bond, he figures each vote was worth more than $33,000.
School districts hold elections independently, under state Education Department guidelines. Legal issues aside, McCarthy asked why school spending shouldn’t be part of the general elections in November. “What’s the difference if you also threw in a school budget? You vote for local elections, you vote for mayor and common council or D.A., you could also include school board members,” he said.
“They would flip out with that,” McCarthy said, “but that’s in my mind the way it should be.â€?
Some have questioned why the district didn’t lump the bond proposal in with the school budget vote, especially since the separate election cost about $15,000 to run. School officials said they wanted more time to review the project, which will rebuild an elementary school, among other things.
In the past, such questions of timing have come up in other districts. Gov. George Pataki has proposed that bond proposals be voted on at the same time as school budgets.
Thoughts?
This entry was posted
on Saturday, October 21st, 2006 at 10:00 am by Leah Rae.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Maybe the issue should be framed a little differently: no other governmental budget is subject to an annual up or down vote—except for the school budget. Why not have town/village/county—and the state budget (whoa!!)put up for a referendum each year? I think a school district would be nuts to put up their bond vote at the same time as its mandated yearly budget vote and school board election. A bond vote will lilkely draw more voters to the polls (“no” voters) who generally don’t come out for school budget votes (a passive pass vs coming out and voting no). Mr. McCarthy merely wants to ensure that these votes are defeated regardless of the merits. A school facility bond vote should stand on its own merits—and not get swept up in school board election politics; conversely, the annual school budget vote should not have its prospects stacked against it by coupling it with a large facility bond vote.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the way public schools are funded and structured and mandated—will come to a breaking point in the not-too-distant future. What’s the answer? Income tax? Sales tax? Privatization?