So Margaret Donnelly is going to be an advocate of poor minorities trapped in failing urban schools by “holding the line” against vouchers, which would enable them to attend outstanding private schools for free. Makes sense to me!

Nick’s sarcasm amuses me. Try this on for size. Surely what is best is to take money from school districts, helping many of our children, and help out the few that could take advantage of a voucher. That would be the best solution to education that would be for the greater good of the whole society.

While I could focus on Koster’s negative aspects, like this crazy voucher business, I would like to talk about positive things. Like Jeff Harris trying to prevent middle income families from being taken advantage of with sub-prime mortgages. How about how Jeff Harris led the fight to prevent corporate farms from ruining our environment or being the leading advocate to open up government through the Sunshine Law. I could go on and on about why Jeff Harris should and will be the best AG that this state has seen. I would just like to ask what Chris Koster has done besides strip 100,000 Missouri citizens of their health care.

Taking money from the school district wouldn’t be the best thing for the school district, and especially for the employees of the district who might lose their job. Of course, if it is your kid who is stuck in the failing school, is your priority to continue funding the failing school, or to get a good education for your child? Rich people already send their kids to private schools. Vouchers would provide poor kids with the same opportunity.

As far as Harris “trying to prevent middle income families from being taken advantage of with sub-prime mortgages” … uh, if you are middle-income and you’ve paid your bills in the past, you should not even have a subprime mortgage. On the other hand, if you have bad credit = a history of not paying your bills, then you aren’t eligible for a prime mortgage. So the options are, offer them a subprime mortgage, or let them rent. I’m a landlord, so as far as I’m concerned, they can rent. But let Harris be honest about the ultimate impact of reducing the availability of subprime mortgages: a drastic decrease in poor and minority home ownership.

I didn’t know that Nick Kasoff had ever been a poor minority trapped in the State of Missouri’s failing urban schools, but maybe you were. Nick your comments are very interesting and I guess you have not been able to visit the private schools. The media doesn’t cover it, but there are more failures in the private voucher schools than the public schools. The parents become dissatisfied by mid-school year and many of the students end up returning to the public schools.

So many people are fooled by the media, but Nick Kasoff deserves a tour of the public schools and an explanation of why vouchers are being pushed so hard by some State Legislators.

Here is a beginning education for you Nick Kasoff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1JFhJuKVU

After viewing this video, some of the actions of State Legislators should be clear!

“Once you go whack, you can never go back!”

Jo do you know whether Koster avoided the vote on vouchers ? The part of his statement that you used above doesn’t say whether he voted on the voucher bill.

I am in agreement with Nick. I know this story is more about the scary voucher monster than Koster’s voting record. If you look at the actual language of the bill, instead of being “fooled by the media”, you’ll surely see that this is not a voucher, but a tuition tax credit, and that it isn’t for poor parents but parents of special needs children. The reason behind this idea is that parents with special needs children often can’t find appropriate services in public schools, but their taxes pay for them anyhow. Especially when talking about autism, the cost of a private education can run up to 80K a year.

Here is a beginning education for you, Standupdemocrats:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp7dbnNzEu4

This is the decision you come to when your priority is public school CHILDREN, and not the obviously fallible public schools.

Even if you want to defend the bill, the fact is Koster didn’t vote for it. He also didn’t vote against it. And that’s the issue Harris was raising. Koster the Chameleon is trying to hid his pro-voucher record from Democratic voters while not coming out against them and alienating his big dollar pro-voucher donor Rex Sinquefield.

No matter how you slice it, and no matter what side of the voucher issue you come down on, Koster’s refusal to vote was a gutless act and exemplifies pretty much everything that’s wrong with politics.

Nick and benini, if you support his bill, then you ought to be as miffed about Koster refusing to vote on it as those of us who oppose vouchers are. We can disagree on vouchers themselves, but either way, shouldn’t Koster have a position on this issue?

I think I would agree with Nick on the merits of the bill but I think people are missing the point of what Harris said. First, the education establishment is opposed to the bill because it is in their view a limited voucher bill that opens the door for something in their view that would destroy public education. Nick like Rex Sinquefield feels they are wrong, that the St. Louis school system is a joke and that kids shouldn’t be trapped in lousy schools. Most Democrats stick with the education establishment and many Republicans think kids should have alternatives. Koster as a Republican supported what republicans call the tax credit bill or what democrats call the voucher bill. If what Harris says is true Koster as Democrat didn’t vote because he doesn’t know what to do because he got all that money from Sinquefield. I think that is the problem that people seem to have with Koster they believe he really has no core values. Nick or I may not agree with Harris but I can appreciate he stands for something even if it is the wrong thing. I am a big fan of Gibbons but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating that the basic point of what Harris says rings true to me. Nick agree ??? disagree ???

Agreed–I wish Koster had the guts to go one way or the other, and I think it’s an important issue for both dems and republicans (eh, but attorneys-general don’t make laws, on the other hand). I’m just as displeased with Harris, however, for politicizing something that in my opinion is quite a bit more than a party issue.

All of the AG candidates are getting frowny-faces from me today.

Approving a voucher system would mean we add some parents of private school students onto the state’s welfare rolls as preferred recipients of a subsidy. Oh well, it’s only one issue and I’m not a single issue voter.

But repealing all donation limits basically means that your state legislators voting on vouchers and everything else will mostly be those who have the approval and money of people like Soros and Sinquefield.

I’d say that’s a little more important.

Koster has learned from Obama, and his voting record. ‘When it can make you look bad, don’t vote’

I don’t see the problem Democrats could have with this…

I’m sorry but lets get real about vouchers. They would simply subsidize the rich and wealthy folk who send their children to private schools. And if you really think John Burroughs, MICDS, Westminister, and other private institutions are just going to open there doors without any restrictions to inner city kid, your extremely naive.

If Rex feels so strong about giving kids an opportunity to have these private school education, why not start a non-for-profit that focuses solely on that? After all he is a billionaire. Why would he want to divert public dollars into private institution? He has donated millions upon millions to this cause. Those millions he donated in campaign contributions could have successfully started and funded hundreds of inner city kids and parents to have ’school choice’, without relaying on tax dollars to do it. I will even go one step further in this arguement, I’m sure he find other donors willing to help jumpstart this and even get a substantial grant from federal, state, and local grants to help this program succeed.

#12, Why is it that Rex is advised to use his money for a pet cause, but you don’t feel the same about the folks in your party. John Edwards talked about poor under bridges, but didn’t stop and offer a sandwich. He could have afforded it. Barack talks about the folks that can’t afford healthcare. He could purchase healthcare for 500 people and really make a difference. Same with Bill and Hillary. If every wealthy democrat in favor of socialized medicine would just write a check to cover 100 people’s insurance, the entire country would be covered.

By the way, I agree with you about Rex. Instead of donating to our representatives, his money could be better spent. But alas, it’s his money. He can burn it if he wants.

Benini, I don’t exactly see how Harris is the one politicizing the issue when he’s calling Koster out for refusing to take a position. Democrats generally disagree with the bill, and Republicans generally support it. No one else on here has seemingly had a problem taking a position on the issue. And yet Chris Koster won’t tell us one way or the other? And how exactly is it playing politics to expect a candidate for Attorney General to stake out a position on an issue that’s liable to face the state over the coming four years? You may not like Harris, but he has every reason to question Koster on this one.

In fact, HELLO JO, Koster’s response above fails to offer any reason why he missed the vote. I sincerely hope your or someone else will press Koster for an answer. Why didn’t he vote? Was he sick? Did he have to meet with a donor about funneling another $100,000, did he have to hit the men’s room? Give us a reason, Chris. And while you’re at, please let us know how would you have voted if you had been in the room to cast your vote? You’re on that committee for a reason, right?

I accept Harris’ prerogative to question, I am not impressed with Koster’s abstention. But these candidates are still in session, and we get the sense from Harris that this bill is “bad”, but has he said why? Has he offered a better option? I think these may be good questions for a legislator to mention, as well as simply the fact that his opponent is stuck in cement.

Black Democrat’s comments interested me. I’ve seen a lot of fear-mongering about how the rich are going to benefit and those kinds of arguments, but if you look at places like Milwaukee and the similar tuition tax credit for special needs students in Florida, well, they are doing good in those areas. Could it work for Missouri? Well, try it out for 6 years–that’s no longer than we gave the SLPS to turn itself around. If it doesn’t float your boat, it will sunset.

Interestingly enough, the description offered by Black Democrat about putting money into a scholarship fund is almost exactly what would happen with SB993.

Democrats say wait it out, stick with the public school system. That’s easy to say when it isn’t your kid who will be flipping burgers for the rest of his life.

republican leaning independent - Yes, I agree, it would be nice if Koster stood for something. Of course, he’s caught between a rock and a hard place here … or more precisely, between a big pile of contributions from Sinquefield, and his need to look like a Democrat. Lest anyone misunderstand, I am **NOT** defending Koster.

BD - Vouchers are unlikely to “subsidize the rich and wealthy folk who send their children to private schools” because they won’t be offered to people who live in Parkway and Ladue. A voucher program is most likely to target students in districts which have lost their certification by the state, or which do very poorly at meeting state standards. That is to say, they are likely to be available almost exclusively to poor, black parents.

Standupdemocrats - That has to be the stupidest video I’ve ever click away from after 30 seconds. If that’s the best Missouri Democrats can come up with, you should be dreading November.

So no rich people live in the city who send their kids to private schools already? Only ‘poor black parents’…….are you kidding me? How stereotypical is that?

The thought that we should give public tax dollars to private schools is crazy! Maybe the should open district borders SLPS seemed to be doing better when they had more diversity (deseg).

Actually, if you recall the initial dis-accreditation (un-accreditation?) of SLPS, all of the neighboring county school said they wouldn’t accept SLPS students, not a single one of ‘em, even though that would be the difference between them getting a diploma at the end of the year and a “certificate”. Transferring to an adjacent, accredited district is actually what the state constitution says should happen, Black Dem, but it leaves a loop for those schools to duck out. In this instance, we’re not even talking about public vs. private, we’re talking about public vs. public, and St. Louis kids still don’t have an option.

Oh, and I thought I’d see what other tax credits are being voted on…hm, one that would reimburse someone for sales tax on a Missouri-made car. The idea that MY tax money is going to someone else’s CAR is crazy…but oddly enough, no one’s up in arms about that one.

I like tuition tax credits. It makes sense to me in a way that vouchers do not. Instead of everyone’s tax money going into a scholarship fund for private school tuition, this would simply be a deductible if someone chooses to give to the scholarship fund…just like any tax-deductible charitable donation. And here’s the interesting part–scholarship amounts are usually LESS than what the state pays per pupil, so even though Missouri doesn’t see that tax revenue, they would likely save money on the difference.