School boards serve those who elected them
No one should be surprised that most St. Louis County school districts, fire boards and other taxing jurisdictions have rolled up property tax rates this year to make up for the money they’ll lose from lower property tax assessments.
The first rule of politics is that decisions are made by those who show up. If you’re an educator or a firefighter, you know the things you believe in — including your livelihood — depend on getting people who share your values elected to school boards and fire boards.
So they get involved in the April elections when board members are chosen. They turn out to vote. They make sure other people who share their beliefs turn out to vote. They tend to elect candidates who believe in the mission.
Folks whose first concern is tax rates tend to get overwhelmed at the polls. Turnouts for school and fire board elections are astonishingly low. Most of the people who pay the bills don’t bother to show up, and then they scream bloody murder at assessment time.
Consider: The last time Kirkwood voters elected school board members was in April 2008. Turnout was only 23 percent, and that’s high by the standards of school board elections.
Since then, the Kirkwood board has voted to pay its new superintendent $240,000 a year, which is $15,000 more than the St. Louis School District — with an enrollment six times higher and all the turmoil of an urban district — pays its new superintendent. The board recently approved a 4.5 percent a year raise for teachers, who now earn an average of $61,281.
And now, to offset lower assessments in the county, the Kirkwood board has decided to raise tax rates by 18 cents.
Or consider the Ferguson-Florissant School District, where only 10.4 percent of voters took part in last month’s school board elections. The district will pay its teachers and administrators 3.9 percent more and raise its tax rate by 56 cents.
It might be argued that the board members of taxing bodies have obligations to the district at large, not just to students, teachers and administrators.
Board members would argue that by keeping good teachers and keeping academic standards high, they are fulfilling that obligation. They would argue that by maintaining good schools, they keep property values from falling even farther.
Such an argument will not please many homeowners whose property values have fallen but whose taxes won’t fall along with them. In this economy, the pain is widespread, but it is far more acute in some areas than others.
Public-sector employees — including educators and government employees — are doing far better on average than private-sector workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month that in December the average total compensation package — salary and benefits — for public-sector employees was $39.25. The average private-sector worker earned $11.31 less in pay and benefits.
All of this is a result of political decisions, and, as we noted, the first rule of politics is that decisions are made by those who show up. If you’re upset with your property taxes and didn’t vote in your local school board election last month, you have no one to blame but yourself.
You are so right. I had a row with our school board some years ago which was trying to raise our taxes by over 25%. I went to the meeting and they told me tax increases always passed and I shouldn’t bother objectiing. I organized a small group and handed them their first defeat. Since that time, we have forced them to re=evaluate the way they did business, eliminated waste like you wouldn’t believe and balanced the budget. Our district was one that kept the rate the same. While school districts often are out of control, I think the fire districts are the most glaring examples of insiders showing up. This is why in our district firefighters make close to $100k and the police, who are hired by the city are lucky to make half that.
So am I to understand that the Post-Dispatch editorial board now opposes school board tax increases? My bet is that by the time the next tax hike or “no tax increase bond issue” appears on the ballot, this position will be in the dustbin.
The Editorial Board actually has a decent point here. We need to pay attention to every election and participate. However, there are more things that can and should be done.
* Do not allow off-cycle propositions. Make all school board elections and funding initiatives be on the November ballots. Take advantage of the high turnout to get the most true election possible.
* Disallow campaigning on campus. Every school function before these elections is a campaign event for the district.
* Make school funding equitable and fair. Using property taxes to fund schools should be illegal. Charge every household the same flat rate. We all benefit equally, so we all should pay equally.
* Require full, and open disclosure of school budgets and yearly actuals. Plop it on the Internet for all to digest.
@Nick–
Come on. That’s classic “straw man” argumentation as practiced by some of our less well-informed posters. The issue in this editorial is voter turnout and political activism. You ran in that same April election as the Ferguson-Florissant school board members. You got hurt by low turnout among voters who should have been your constituency. The point of the editorial — and as one who was in the arena, I think you’d agree with it — was that you’ve got be involved if you want to gripe.
As a real estate investor and as a Ferguson booster, I would think you’d want good schools in Ferguson, but maybe you’ve got other ideas on how to get it done besides raising taxes and salaries.
These days, thanks to lack of manpower, we don’t usually endorse in school bond elections. But if we do, you can be assured we’ll consider tax burden, teacher salaries and other factors.