Riff Raff Removal Referendum

“Nobody wants property taxes to go up, but why take it out on the children?” That’s how a radio ad framed the issue of the school budgets up for a vote tomorrow. A majority of districts in the county (unfortunately, mine was not one of them) rejected the school budgets, and alternate lower budgets have been worked up. The PTA, teachers’ union, and other constituencies devoted to fleecing the public through the schools are working night and day to frighten and guilt the voters into approving the new budgets even though they still represent tax increases and do nothing to cut the fat.

One of the more idiotic reasons for a tax increase is that the population has grown. This argument might support a budget increase, but tax rates should not be impacted since all the new taxpayers will be contributing to increased revenues. But the school districts are not content unless they encumber us with higher school taxes.

Another argument is that better schools translate to higher property values. It is assumed that higher taxes translate to better schools, but I have never seen evidence of anything but a spurious relationship between per pupil spending and “quality of education”. The fact is that more affluent people tend to take more of an interest in their children’s schooling, that their children are well nourished and equipped, and that they tend to have higher IQ’s than children in poor communities. They will test better than their poor counterparts no matter what.

The argument ought to be reframed in more realistic terms:

-Richer people produce better students who make their schools look better.

-If we raise taxes, we can drive the riff raff out of our district. They will take their stupid children with them so test scores will rise.

-This will make our real estate more valuable.

The way the issue is framed now, the riff raff will probably vote themselves out of the district and feel good about doing it.