School Systems Shine Light on Dysfunction
This story in the Opelika-Auburn News give us an elementary lesson in the dysfunction of our state’s constitution:
The Alabama House on Tuesday approved three local bills that would clear the way for local referendums on property tax increases for education.
Auburn City Schools Superintendent Dr. Terry Jenkins was the first to ask local government to pursue the tax increase. Jenkins told the Auburn City Council on Jan. 23 that without the additional seven mills requested by ACS, officials would be forced to cut course offerings to make ends meet.
I’ll sum up a few points from the story:
- The Auburn City Schools Superintendent asked for a referendum on funding for local schools.
- The city council agreed to pursue a referendum.
- Opelika City Schools Superintendent asked for a similar referendum, and the Opelika City Council agreed.
- Lee County Schools Superintendent, ditto. Lee County Commission, ditto.
- GOP Party Chair and House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard (Auburn) sounds supportive.
“There is no question that the residents of Auburn, Opelika and Lee County value education and have been willing to fund them properly… These bills call for there to be a vote of the people on whether or not to increase funding for the schools, and I believe once the information is presented, the decision will be made to continue to invest in education.”
Not mentioned in the article is the expense that the school systems incur to advertise the proposed legislation in local newspapers for four weeks.
Three school systems in the county want to give local residents an opportunity to decide whether or not they will increase funding for local education, but the bill has to pass the state legislature first. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what the locals want.
Without thinking hard, you could come up with ten reasons why this might not pass the legislature this session, starting with the animosity in the Senate.
Why should legislators who don’t live in Lee County, who don’t know the situation and who are not accountable to Lee County voters at the ballot box be making those kinds of decisions?
Dysfunction.
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“Why should legislators who don’t live in Lee County, who don’t know the situation and who are not accountable to Lee County voters at the ballot box be making those kinds of decisions?”
Because otherwise ALFA would get mad. And we don’t want ALFA to get mad.
Comment by Dan — May 8, 2007 @ 9:27 am
Because otherwise legislators would lose their status as glorified county commissioners. There would be less bowing and scraping by local officials.
A majority of lawmakers ran because they wanted to influence local affairs, and correctly perceived that the Legislature still tightly holds the reins on local government, especially over counties and smaller cities. Which is why big state-level problems like an overcrowded prison system, understaffed state troopers, and underfinanced Medicaid system fester year after year. Most lawmakers are busy passing local bills. Only a few top-drawer committee chairmen and scattered others, especially in the House, are really conversant in the big problems of state government
Comment by jamy — May 8, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
In theory, I have no problem with making the process of increasing taxes onerous. In this particular case, I would like to see a voter turnout of 50%+1 for the vote to valid. However, would agree the Honorable Gentlebeing from Lower Peachtree or Sunny South should have no role in deciding what is a purely local issue.
Comment by walt moffett — May 8, 2007 @ 10:06 pm
Good comments, Dan, jamy, and walt. I think more and more of us are beginning to realize what a ball and chain our state’s constitution can be.
Comment by Danny — May 9, 2007 @ 10:02 am
[…] Auburn, Opelika and Lee County voters will decide whether to increase property taxes for schools by 7 mills in a special election today. This issue was mentioned in a previous post as an example of our state constitution’s dysfunction because the proposal had to pass the legislature first. Why should a state senator from Florence or Dothan vote on this bill? Shouldn’t those voting against the wishes of Lee County residents on a matter affecting only Lee County residents have some accountability to the voters of Lee County? […]
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