Taxpayer line-item Veto for School Referendum

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The July 9th Sunday Gazette placed the latest Janesville school referendum issue at the top of the local (B) section. They reported that all but one school board member will likely embrace the full $72.2 million package. They placed a small article about the opposing viewpoint of the lone board member at the very bottom of page five of a six page section. This may sound picky but the Gazette should have printed a link in the main story acknowledging Sodemanns viewpoint and guiding readers to the separate article or start the article with the main story and then continue inside. I believe this was deliberate, and an example of a newspapers ability to de-emphasize what it chooses.

But Sodemanns suggestion is the real story here. He proposes splitting the school referendum into several parts thus giving the voters (payers) the option of saying yes or no to each particular issue. This is very similar in principle to the line item veto bill that Rep. Paul Ryan is so proud of in Congress, except for one thing. Ryans proposition allows one person (the president) to cherry pick programs and appropriations and then return the dissected bill back to Congress, while Sodemanns idea is purely democratic by allowing the people to vote for and control their own disbursements.

The Ryan bill will politicize, welcome abuse and divide even further. While Sodemanns idea is smart, provided that the school board doesn’t do what the Ryan bill does. Which is to bring back the failed or vetoed items for repeated votes until they’re all passed, like what the school district did with the last referendum.

JG excerpt:

In a city in Arizona, homeowners complained that only they should be able to vote since they will pay the bulk of the taxes. The referendum never went through. Homeowners in Janesville should follow suit. My taxes will go up $2,100 more over ten years. Can you afford that much?

Rock netroots: Great rant! That’s about right, but the school district dismissed the cost with the quarter and a nickel a day remark. You’re right, referendums for school spending should only be decided by the people who will foot the bill. It’s too bad the Janesville School Board is playing hardball politics with this five part referendum. Sodemann had the best idea to break it into parts. But nooooo. I wonder. Where is Rep. Paul Ryan on this? Now that the Fed is flush in Bush taxcut dollars (poor joke), why can’t Ryan earmark 20 or 30 million for education right here in Janesville? That would encourage the voters to unanimously support the rest.

Oh, but he’s too busy writing dictatorial powers for Bush to help his own, and write an earmark for Janesville schools that someone else might call “pork.” Make no mistake, the Bush taxcuts combined with the drive to lower federal domestic spending will directly result in higher taxes at the local level. Good grief!

The levees in New Orleans, Homeland Security and No Child left Behind are just a few examples which have suffered from a lack of promised Fed funding under this (mis)leadership. The Ryan/Bush agenda is in full swing. Local property taxes, sales taxes and fee’s will be going up, taking a bigger chunk out of what you thought you saved by turning off your A/C. But don’t worry, the kids will have A/C in school while you sweat making your bills. If you want more of the same just vote for Ryan again in November.