[Vision2020] Dr Weitz and school finance

Wed Nov 28 11:51:59 PST 2007

Kelly,

Well, actually it was inflicted, by choice, by the MSD.  While 
allowed, it is not mandatory.  To my knowledge, only three districts 
use it - Mullan, Sun Valley and Moscow.

It is becoming somewhat evident to me that using the "permanent levy" 
for school support for MSD is a flawed strategy - we might do well to 
go back to the periodic supplemental or perhaps convince the 
legislature to remove the permanent levy option and replace it with a 
defined period levy - say every three years or four years or five 
years.  This would provide taxpayers the opportunity to weigh-in on 
school district investments - certainly it would shift integrity and 
accountability to the forefront and refocus our attention on the 
propriety of budgets - which is the system that the other local 
governments must contend with.

And, I disagree with you that voting against a "permanent levy" is 
wrong.  A foundation principle for governmental entities in the US is 
to avoid imposing the costs of current programs and activities on 
future generations.  The notion of intergenerational equity is to 
protect future citizens from the tyranny of the present generation by 
giving them an opportunity to vote on taxes imposed on them and not 
be burdened with the cost without their vote.  I will bring some more 
information about intergenerational equity in a future post.

At 11:33 AM 11/28/2007, keely emerinemix wrote:
>One final point to Jeff harkins and others:
>
>The permanent levy wasn't dreamed up by, constructed by, legislated 
>by or inflicted on taxpayers by MSD.  Since the '90s, it has been in 
>place because of the Idaho State Legislature.  Withholding needed 
>support from MSD because of dismay over this or any other permanent 
>levy is wrong.
>
>Keely
>
>
>
>
>
>----------
>Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:26:55 -0800
>From: the_ivies3 at yahoo.com
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Dr Weitz and school finance
>
>you said,
>
>"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"?"
>
>While those are real issues, this levy was voted on and passed.
>Now the issue is WHEN can the school district collect the funds from
>THIS levy that passed.  I agree that we should be able to move on to
>the next levy that will come soon enough.  We could do that if
>Dr. Weitz would just drop this suit.  Because now it isn't about an
>"illegal" or faulty language in a levy. -Tom
>
>
>Jeff Harkins <jeffh at moscow.com> wrote:
>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 ...........
>
>
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>
>Tom & Liz Ivie
>
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