Time to End Elected School Boards?
By Shaun Kenney | Sunday, March 13th, 2011 | Policy
Delegates Dave Albo and Tim Hugo think so… courtesy of the WaPo Virginia Politics Blog:
Concerned that school boards have the authority to spend taxpayer money without the corresponding responsibility of setting tax rates, Del. Tim Hugo (R) said he drafted legislation in preparation for this year’s recently concluded legislative session that would have allowed county supervisors to dissolve elected school boards.
I could not agree more. After 18 years of school budgets doubling (and in some cases, tripling) from elected school boards with the power to spend without a corresponding power to tax has turned many into irresponsible teenagers — credit cards in hand, but little responsibility to the taxpayers who must fund their decisions, whether for good or ill, responsible or irresponsible.
“If I had one vote in my 18 years to take back, it would be elected school boards,” he said. “Because they just don’t work.”
Albo said he has no problem with the current members of the Fairfax board — indeed, he praised them for holding the toughest elected position in Virginia, since all of their decisions have direct impacts on people’s kids. But he described as unworkable a system where school boards spend money that supervisors must collect through taxes.
Albo saves the best for last, and this right here is the problem in a nutshell:
“They come up with the budget, and then they basically rag on the county for not funding them properly,” he (Albo) continued. “The school board people never have to go into someone’s pocket and take out the taxes. The county supervisors are in this horrible position every year of the school board saying, ‘You guys are cutting education.’ “
Bingo.
…and the drama plays out in every Virginia locality all across the commonwealth. The victims of these regressive real estate tax hikes? Fixed income families, renters, working families, farmers scraping by facing EPA regulations and the rising cost of gasoline, and potential homebuyers who now find the American dream a little further out of reach — all victims of increased property taxes.
The worst part? No one dares mentions the pawns in the game. Namely our students, who are then handicapped for life by one of the worst performing education systems in the industrialized world.
I sincerely hope that Delegates Albo and Hugo extend this right to all elected Boards of Supervisors in Virginia. The experiment is over — either give the School Boards their own taxing authority and hold them accountable to taxpayers, or make them appointed positions held by those who are responsible to taxpayers.
The status quo? It cannot continue any longer. Virginia’s taxpayers and students deserve far better.
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
Shaun Kenney is the Chairman of the Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors, former Communications Director for the Republican Party of Virginia, and an active blogger since 2002. Shaun lives in Thomas Jefferson's backyard with his wife, six children, and a modest attempt at a farm in Kents Store, Virginia.
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
12 Responses to "Time to End Elected School Boards?"
How about telling the school board bullies that their recommendations will be subjected to cost benefit analysis and annual evaluations of effectiveness which are mailed to parents?
How about providing the public with per capita expenditures for each district compared with national and international expenditures and test scores?
Why is the NRA the only group that seems to know how to fight back against the left?
I’m from Missouri, and am still having a tough time getting my head around the machinations of local government in Virginia. I remember meeting with Rob Wittman for lunch shortly after he won election to the House of Delegates.
He was stunned to learn that in Missouri, school boards–which are elected–have their own taxing authority and the county government has no role to play except to collect and disburse the taxes. In fact, Missouri is probably the the “special district tax capital” of the world. Nearly every agency has its own tax and elected board: sewers, water, libraries, fire districts, etc. I admit its a bit awkward.
But school boards are another matter. I wouldn’t want my board of supervisors playing school board. I think the answer is not to banish elected school boards, but let them be responsible for setting their own tax rates.
That being said, one of the things I find incredibly amazing is that unlike in Missouri, counties (and the state) can raise taxes any time they like, with no vote of the people. Not so in Missouri. Thanks to the Hancock amendment adopted by voters of Missouri in 1980, no taxes of any kind for any reason can be raised with out a vote of the public. This also incudes bond issues if the bond is funded by increased taxes.
The state and its subdivisions (localities) can only raise taxes to the extent it equals the rate of inflation. If property reassessment creates increased valuations, then the tax rate has to be rolled back so that the locality still only collects the same amount, plus inflation, as it did the year before. (New construction is excluded from this formula.)
Did local jurisdictions like the Hancock Amendment? HELL NO! For all the reasons you can imagine. But it works. If there is a real need for higher taxes, or a new bond issue, they have to explain it to the public and convince them it is worth the price.
And if a bond issue is approved and then paid off–this applies mostly to school districts–they usually come up with some new “need” and bill it is a “no tax increase” bond issue. It should be called a “no tax decrease” bond issue. But still, it goes to referendum.
So, why not take a page from Missouri’s book? Extinguishing elected school boards does not seem to be a good answer. Putting them in charge of their own tax rates seems a more sensible answer–let them face the voters and explain why taxes should go up, instead of blaming the “stingy board of supervisors.”?
I never thought elected school boards made much sense in the first place.
@Valentinius –
Local BOS’s are not privy to budget information. The most local boards can do? Stroke a check. That’s it.
Now how it gets spent? Totally up to the local school board — including reports on cost effectiveness.
@Craig –
Being a tad bit familiar with the Missouri system of taxation, I don’t mind tax increases going to the public in the form of referenda. There’s probably a serious gap between ol’ Virginny (where we still live with the legacy of Governor Spotswood) and those states out West who have the heritage of popular sovereignty laws.
Missouri isn’t without her problems though. They do have some great innovations in post-secondary education and the like that could probably stand to be imitated here in Virginia.
No representation without taxation?
Boy, we’ve come far in 235 years…
How about people just getting all their political eyes of the Feds and then the state and stop saying who cares about the local. The local affects us the most. Time for us to look at the local first, then the state and the the Feds.
Instead of taking away our right to vote them in lets hold them accountable and vote them out. Create advocacy campaigns to put fire under their feet.
Besides its stupid to take away our right to vote for them, but allow them to keep the power to decide how to spend it, for then we have unelected bureaucrats to decide how to spend our money.
I thought Conservatives were against that?
But, if we do take away voting them in, then take away their power to decide how to spend the money that way we don’t have taxation allocation without representation.
I favor elected school boards WITHOUT a taxing authority as that would only result in higher taxes. Boards of Supervisors can act as a brake on the higher taxes that school boards would desire. The worst thing would be another separate taxing authority such as a school board. If Supervisors don’t want thisesponsibility, simple: don’t seek the position! As to elected vs. appointed school boards, WHAT would make an appointed school board member any less inclined to spend money than an elected one??? Elected school board members are more accountable!
This reminds me of the old beer commercial: “less filling–great taste.”
There is a considerable amount of literature out there about elected versus appointed school boards, including a study conducted by Randolph Macon College right here in Virginia where 111 school boards are elected and 24 are appointed. Guess what? The studies show that student performance is about the same under both systems and that spending per student is about the same. As for giving school boards taxing authority, I suspect that would make school budgets go up if anything. No one would get elected to the School Board, or get appointed, on a pledge to reduce school budgets. Voters with kids in school and the teachers’ unions far outnumber the rest of the taxpayers.
Fair points, HisRoc. But when you have a budget line that large, it can’t all be spend, spend, spend. And when the taxpayers look to hold someone accountable, local school boards just point up towards the local supervisors… who essentially get bushwhacked by school pressures AND state mandates.
Perhaps the whole system is broken?
Aw, c’mon, Shaun. Bushwhack them back! You can handle it
Yes, the system is broken. The only answer is School Choice.
@ Shaun. Apparently the Missouri Plan is a no-go in the Old Dominion. You are the only one who even seems to have read what I wrote. Judging from the later comments, it may as well have been written in invisible ink. Flaws in Missouri system? I suppose there are, mainly that municipal and local elections are usually held in June with little else (if anything) on the ballot like primaries (oh yeah, we have an open-closed primary system there…never heard of “fire house” primaries until I moved here)….so these “special elections” (those too) can be rigged by turning out the right voters. That’s a two-edged sword, however. The “right” voters may be the “wrong” voters. Still, any tax increase is subject to voter approval. Don’t understand the hysteria here by some people who think and elected school board automatically means higher taxes. These people DO RUN FOR ELECTION. It’s like what one hears on the tourist bus in Berlin when going down Unter den Linden, and the tour guide says “Hitler cut down all the Linden trees.”
Yeah, well, that did happen….so they could build the U-Bahn! Even the Nazis had to curry favor with Den Volken.
Leave your response