Free Republic

Yes or no, do funds raised by public school levies give money to the teacher's unions?

East metro voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved extending school district levies already on the books, but mostly rejected requests for more cash. West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan was the anomaly. It was the only district that successfully passed a tax increase for operating costs.

The phone banks have been humming for three weeks straight in the headquarters of the teachers' union for Minnesota's largest school district, as Anoka-Hennepin teachers and their allies plead with voters to renew an operating levy worth $48 million a year. "If this levy were to fail, I don't know what our district would look like," said Julie Blaha, president of the local chapter of Education Minnesota.

SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Carole Migden has been fined $350,000 by the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the largest penalty ever levied against a state office candidate, for dozens of violations including failing to disclose seven years' worth of political expenses that she paid with credit cards, the watchdog agency said today. The agency's investigation was prompted in part by a complaint filed last fall by fellow San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno, an Assembly member who is one of two Democrats trying to unseat Migden in the June primary. The agency's initial probe concerned $397,000 in credit card expenses from...

GIVEN THE PASTING PRESIDENT BUSH has taken over the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, one might have assumed the president's critics were in agreement about how to prevent such disasters. But for years now, the left has been deeply ambivalent about the most logical and time-tested mitigator against the threat of city-wide and regional floods: dams.How could dams, embraced by everyone from beavers to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, be a source of contention? Ask the environmentalists. Their campaign against dams has gained influence and stalled, decommissioned, or otherwise limited the construction of many dams and levees, including one project that could...

Jesse Jackson Incites Black Rage/Blames Bush's "Ozone Layers" Jesse Jackson: Reports Of Looting And Sniper Fire "Exaggerated" From Larry King Show Transcripts September 1, 2005 - [Transcript]KING: Thousands. What do you make of snipers and people interfering with people transporting to Houston? JACKSON: Well, I think that has really been exaggerated. You have the combination here of misery and panic and desperation. Some people have not eaten in five days, are without water, without food and have no form of communications. So, there may have been some sniper fire here and there but you know we didn't let that stop...

Nothing but the headline now: "FLASH: New Orleans mayor says attempt to plug breach has failed and rising water about to overwhelm pumps; water will rise rapidly again, as high as 15ft in next few hours..." Link goes here, but no details yet.

The "supermajority" issue is hardly the no-brainer some people make it out to be. So be wary of cheering along the current effort in Olympia to do away with the decades-old, constitutional voting provision for school levies. The no-brainer crowd crows that it is undemocratic to require a 60-percent passage rate for school money measures when politicians typically are elected to office with just more than 50 percent of the vote. And while it sounds well and good to say that the majority should always rule in any given election, the reality is, the majority rarely rules, given low voter...

House votes to end need for 60% on school levies By Andrew Garber Seattle Times Olympia bureau OLYMPIA — The state House of Representatives yesterday passed legislation, for the third year in a row, that could make it easier for school districts to get property-tax levies approved by voters. The constitutional amendment now goes to the state Senate, where it has died in past years. It would allow school levies to be approved by a simple majority of voters instead of a 60 percent supermajority. The amendment would go before voters in November if approved by a two-thirds majority in...

CANTON — The Stark County auditor’s office has added a tool to its Web site that allows voters to find out how much proposed tax levies on the ballot will cost them if approved. If a user enters a property parcel number or township and school district along with a home’s value, the Web site will list all the proposed levies that apply to the property as well as levies approved earlier this year. It also will provide the cost of each. The tool was launched in mid-September. Stark County Auditor Brant Luther said after tax bills are mailed out...

What if this levy fails?If this operating levy is not approved by the voters on November 4th, the district will make reductions each year until a levy is passed.The reductions for the 2004-2005 school year are as follows: Cut one full-time High School English teacher. Cut one full-time High School Social Studies teacher.Cut one full-time teacher at West Elementary.Cut full-time Middle School Spanish teacher.Cut one full-time classroom teacher at Park Elementary.Cut half-time Tiger Pause teacher at Park Elementary.Cut two half-time reading teachers.Cut one administrator.Cut one custodian.Cut special education instructional supplies, field trips, summer curriculum writing, and professional development.Cut media generalist...