[Vision2020] Dr Weitz and school finance

[Jeff Harkins]

Facts - let's work from facts.

 From some online research, here are some of the activities that 
substantiate Dr. Weitz's efforts on behalf of the Moscow School 
District and public education:

>(1) Chair and founder of Moscow Rotary Youth Exchange (18 years).
>
>2) Chair Education Committee Moscow Chamber of Commerce 
>(1993-1997).  Received member of the year award from the Chamber 
>(1995),  Awarded Spirit of the Chamber (1996). Committe appears to 
>have sponsored numerous focus groups and town hall meetings 
>concerning school-to-work issues.
>
>3) Awarded Parent of the Year Moscow High School 1995
>
>4) Chair MHS Parent Advisory Committee (1993-95)
>
>5) Chair Palouse Partnership Council (School-to-Work)
>
>6) Co-Chair School-to-Work Region II, which partnered with 
>Albertson's Foundation, UI College of Education and the federal 
>School to work folks which brought into the district about $200,000 
>worth of grants for the management of change.
>
>7) Member Moscow School Board 1997-2000
>
>8) Worked with the National Guard, Congress and State Officials to 
>acquire a "free Skills center" - apparently not yet a reality.
>
>8)Airconditioned: Russell and MacDonald
>
>9) Provided the building, remodeled to the District's specs. and 
>provided infrastructure, (desks, chairs, computers, lockers, 
>furnishings, telephone system etc.)  for alternative HS.
>
>10) Offered to acquire Tidyman's for conversion to a skills center, 
>went through architectural concept drawings.

I am sure there are more activities, but this is what I have been 
able to document thus far.  If any of the above are incorrect, please 
advise and I will edit as needed.  I think these "facts" speak for 
themselves - Dr. Weitz has been a committed advocate for k-12 education.

It's interesting that Ms. Hovey chose to bring up the Billy Bob Teeth 
project.  As I recall, the MSD teacher's union originally agreed to 
participate in that project and later withdrew its support citing 
"too busy" to help with that.  Perhaps Ms. Hovey can bring forward 
some numbers to substantiate MSD personnel involvement in that activity.

The facts are that Dr. Weitz has been a solid advocate for MSD and 
k-12 education.  The evidence suggests that Dr. Weitz is keenly 
interested in education and in particular, vo-tech education - and he 
has backed up his interest with effort and investment.  Frankly, his 
decision to challenge the permanent levy seems to have legal 
foundation and while there are some that question his decision to 
pursue that course of action, it appears it was a valid 
action.  While there appears to be a link between the legal action 
and vo-tech education (Dr. Weitz has indicated that he would be 
"pleased to see" additional investment of some of the levy proceeds 
invested in Vo-tech) there is no requirement that these activities be 
linked at all.  Frankly, if the district did not comply with the 
"rules" for the levy, then the fault lies with the district, not with 
the actions of the citizen who initiated the challenge.  It is in our 
long-term best interests as taxpayers and citizens and in the 
long-term best interests of governmental entities if governments and 
citizens follow the rules.

Some want to advance the "tyranny of the majority" argument to 
discredit Dr. Weitz's tactics; thankfully, even in our neck of the 
woods, a minority position is allowed.

The real issues for me in all of this are integrity and by extension, 
accountability.  Some questions beg to be addressed,  including (1) 
can the taxpayers, patrons and other constituents trust the actions 
of the MSD leadership?; (2) is it wise for governmental entities to 
have "permanent" taxes, not requiring persistent periodic taxpayer 
review? (3) is it wise for governments to rely on "permanent levies" 
that can only be extended by support of a new "permanent levy"? and 
(4) is it appropriate public policy to provide one local government 
with a permanent levy while the other local governments must compete 
with each other for their "right" to fund their activities, is public 
education more important than health and safety, than dealing with 
our water problem?

To encourage a rich discussion of these and other important issues, I 
will attempt to offer facts and dialogue on these issues in the 
coming weeks.  Hopefully many of you will join in the dialogue - 
there are many questions to be considered and a thorough examination 
of the facts could lead to a better school district for us all - and 
a more knowledgeable voter base.

Please! Let's stop the fingerpointing and name calling - it gets us 
nowhere.  Fact, there are a substantial number of folks in our area 
that did not support the district's request for a permanent levy 
increase.  Now is the time to deal with that.  The next levy is on 
the horizon ...........