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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Questions for city council candidates Dan Carscallen, Wayne
Krauss, and Walter Steed:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>1) Do you support or oppose the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> school levy being voted upon on
November 13?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>2) If you support this levy, will you actively
campaign for its passage with your voice at public activities and your
endorsement in the media?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>3) If each, and all, of you support this levy, as city
council candidates endorsed by the Greater Moscow Alliance, will you encourage
the Greater Moscow Alliance to further campaign for its passage both publicly
and privately?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>From today’s (October 13, 2007) Moscow-Pullman Daily
News –<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>HER VIEW: Pass the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School District</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
levy Nov. 13 <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>By Judith L. Brown<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"Lemons to lemon meringue." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I've heard that said twice now about <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School District</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>'s
challenge/opportunity to re-run the levy that passed last March but then became
the focus of a lawsuit.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>With the onset of colder weather, I suppose it's a bit late
in the season to be talking about turning lemons into lemonade. What else can
be made from the sour fruit? Luscious lemon meringue pie.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I agree completely that most people who voted for the levy
last March knew exactly what they were voting for. They were voting for an
increase in the Moscow School District's indefinite levy, also called a
permanent supplemental levy, of $1.97 million, thereby increasing the total
amount of MSD's permanent supplemental from $5.6 million to $7.57 million per
year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>However, after listening to Second District Court Judge John
Bradbury a week ago last Friday, I also see that the legal basis for indefinite
levies lacks clarity on a couple of important issues. This has been the case
ever since the Idaho Legislature enacted legislation authorizing permanent
supplementals.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>One chief ambiguity stems from the failure of the law to
spell out explicitly how a school district with a permanent supplemental goes
about asking its patrons to approve an increase in the amount of the permanent
supplemental. Why would a school district need to increase its permanent
supplemental? Because over time inflation erodes its value. Because over time
the Idaho Legislature continues to allow state support for public education to
wither. Because the patrons of a school district may wish to further improve
the quality of the education they provide their children.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Discussion around how to resolve this ambiguity turned on
somewhat arcane points about whether a school district asks for an increase in
its permanent supplemental, or whether it actually asks for a new permanent
supplemental in a greater amount. The net effect for us lay people may be the
same in either case - an increase in the amount of money a school district is
authorized to collect from its patrons annually - but the legal justification
may be more solid in one case than in the other.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>In any event, Bradbury decided there is indeed legal
authorization for school districts to request to increase their permanent
supplementals, thereby clarifying this important point. He also ruled that MSD
in particular has met the legal requirements for requesting a new and larger
permanent supplemental.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The ambiguity around how a school district requests to
increase its permanent supplemental is related directly to a second ambiguity
swirling around in this lawsuit: how best to phrase the ballot question when a
school district seeks to increase its permanent supplemental. Should the ballot
question specify the amount of the increase being requested, or should it
specify the total amount of the district's supplemental, i.e. the current
supplemental plus the increase?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The question on the ballot last March specified the amount
of the increase being requested, $1.97 million. MSD officials tussled with how
best to phrase the ballot question. They'd sought the advice of the state
attorney general, and thought they were on solid legal footing. Furthermore,
Bradbury emphasized that he firmly believed everyone involved in this lawsuit
had acted in good faith.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>However, after reading and rereading the law, and
emphasizing that this had not been an easy decision, Bradbury concluded that
the ballot question should have included the total amount of the permanent
supplemental being requested, $7.57 million. And so he gave MSD six weeks to
rerun the levy election.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I sincerely hope MSD's request for a larger permanent
supplemental levy will pass again, handily. I am optimistic that it will,
although there is much hard work to be done between now and the Nov. 13 election.
In the process, the legal basis under which school districts all around the
state request permanent supplementals will have been clarified and solidified.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Unfortunately, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School District</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,
as the sole defendant in this lawsuit, is bearing the cost of clarifying these
points pretty much alone. But that's the way our legal system works.
Fortunately, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Moscow</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School District</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> also is
blessed with supportive patrons who have both the will and the power to weather
this lawsuit and improve funding for our schools.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Lemons to lemon meringue.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Let's swarm the polls Nov. 13 and pass this levy for the
second and final time.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>Seeya round town, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>.<br>
<br>
Tom Hansen<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Idaho</st1:State></st1:place><br>
<br>
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."<br>
<br>
- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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