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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><font size=2 color=navy
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Bruce
Livingston</span></font></st1:PersonName><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> stated:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>“I fear that the only folks unharmed
by this lawsuit are those to whom the public schools are unimportant, because
the lawsuit will not damage their thoughts about whether <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> is a good place to live or establish a
business. For the rest of us, the day this lawsuit was filed remains a
dark day.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Quick Question, Mr. Livingston: Who
do you consider “those to whom the public schools are unimportant”?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>We ALL should consider public schools to
be important, VERY important. Public education is not merely something
neat-o to have, like an ice rink. Public education is an absolute
necessity. It affords opportunities for each of us to learn as
individuals and all of us to grow as a community. Without public
education, we might as well set our clocks back 300 years and restrict
education to only those that can afford it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I am certain that there are many local
citizens, like myself, without children who believe that a community’s public
education to be a measuring standard of its future. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Seeya round town, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'>Moscow</span></font></st1:City><font size=2 color=navy
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Idaho</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font size=2 color=navy
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>"I think one of the best ways to
support education is to make successful private schools like Logos prosper
through tax exemption."<br>
<br>
- Donovan Arnold (July 11, 2005)</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>jeanlivingston<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Sunday, May 13, 2007 7:40 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> J Ford; vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [Vision2020] [Bulk]
Re: Weitz Lawsuit: A Challenge</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>JFord
asks:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>> What
about asking for a "judicial opinion" or judicial review" of the
facts <br>
> as presented by the interested parties? Does <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Idaho</st1:place></st1:State> have such an option or <br>
> would a judge(s) be willing to do this? How about the AG looking at the <br>
> "facts" and issuing an opinion? If those come back negatively
opinoned, <br>
> wouldn't that at least be a "warning" to other potential filers?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</blockquote>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The <em><i><font
face="Times New Roman">Weitz</font></i></em> lawsuit is styled as one seeking a
"declaratory judgment and injunctive relief." The declaratory
judgment portion of the lawsuit asks the judge to do precisely what you
suggest. That is what is happening. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>One may
seek an opinion on the merits of an issue of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Idaho</st1:place></st1:State> law from the Attorney General, but
this is only "authority" in support of whatever position the A.G. decides
is the correct outcome under! the law, and not "precedent." A
judge, and the ultimate arbiters of state law questions, the Idaho Supreme
Court, would be free to decide this case differently from the opinon issued by
the Attorney General, and the court system's answer would be the final say.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As
authority but not precedent, an Attorney General opinion will suggest an answer
but it could be "wrong" in the eyes of a later reviewing judge.
I suppose an A.G. Opinion could "warn" of a probable
outcome, but it will not carry any weight in terms of forcing those, who might
bring a lawsuit that suggests an answer different from the A.G. Opinion, to
face any additional consequences for doing so than already exists under
existing law. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I suppose
the upshot of this is that the declaratory judgment action is designed to get
to an official statement of what the law is. An A.G. Opinion or Idaho Tax
Commission ruling will merely suggest what the law possibly/probably i!
s. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>BJ
Swanson has suggested that the parties mediate and agree to abide by the
answers suggested by the Attorney General and the Idaho Tax Commission.
As I think about this, a potential problem arises, one raised by Gary
Crabtree and Sue Hovey already, i.e., the lack of binding effect on non-parties.
Entering into such an agreement would bind the MSD and Dr. Weitz from
contesting the decisions of the government agencies, but other concerned
citizens could still contest the validity or invalidity of the outcome reached
in the proposed mediation decision.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Until
thinking the process through in writing this answer, I had been initially
receptive to BJ Swanson's mediation suggestion, but the lack of a decisive
answer that could come from mediation gives me pause. On the other hand,
a year (or three or five) of operating the Moscow Schools without the
significant portion of the money (a fifth, a quarter, a third?) that is
provided by the indefinite, per! manent supplemental levy, will be
so harmful to our children, schools, and this town as a
whole that I hate to contemplate it. What alternatives do others
see?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Moscow's
attractiveness to business and prospects for growth with people that value and
support public schools would seem to be damaged significantly in the near term
by this lawsuit. I think that Dr. Weitz is hoping, somehow, to
help the schools in the long run with his lawsuit by forcing a re-vote
ultimately of money for the schools and hoping to see money allocated for his
pet projects. However, it seems unlikely to me that there is much
hope for that prospect to amount to much for a very long time, no matter
how favorable the outcome from Dr. Weitz's perspective, given the short term
damage. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>That is
why I think his approach was misguided and unhelpful, no matter how much I
support Dr. Weitz's desire to increase professional technical
education ("PTE") offerings for our ! children in the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> public
schools. I fear the backlash against his approach will damage the
long-term prospects for needed PTE offerings in which the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> schools indisputably <em><i><font
face="Times New Roman">are</font></i></em> lacking. (Assuming that
Dr.Weitz's lawsuit had not been filed, I note that some new PTE
programs that came out of November's MCA forum were being put into place at the
alternative school. I hope that still happens. Those courses need
to be made available to the kids at the high school, too, and not be
stigmatized as "just" alternative school offerings, but I am willing
to get there with smaller steps that will allow some experimentation and
time to establish a track record of success.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>I fear
that the only folks unharmed by this lawsuit are those to whom the public
schools are unimportant, because the the lawsuit will not damage their
thoughts about whether <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>
is a good place to live or establish a business. For the rest of
us, the day this lawsuit w! as filed remains a dark day. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bruce Livingston</span></font></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
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