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5/13/2005 Anti-Public Education Attack Unjustified By Casey Hoff Referendum is a word that rolls off the tongue like a fiery expletive after you get your property tax bill in the mail every year. Why such lewd language? Probably because a referendum seems more common than a cold day in January and the Madison School Board is now asking you to approve not one, not two, but three referenda totaling over $48 million dollars. This includes a $7.4 million revenue cap raise, $26.2 million over five years for building maintenance, computer technology, and instructional materials, and $14.5 million for the Leopold Elementary School facelift. You may be asking yourself, “Should I really vote ‘yes’ and just bite my lip as I tack on another $108 to my property tax bill?” You may be saying, “I strongly support funding for our wonderful public education system, but are they making all the cuts they can to clean up the budget?” Don’t tell Madison CARES Spokeswoman Beth Zurbuchen that you’re considering voting ‘no’ or you’ll be drug out in the mud and figuratively shot like a feral cat in the north woods of Wisconsin (oops, touchy subject, sorry). Zurbuchen is actively campaigning for a ‘yes’ vote with Madison CARES and recently berated ‘no’ voters saying, “I’m disturbed by people who are actively campaigning against public education in Madison who don’t have children in the schools.” Campaigning against public education? That’s like saying you’re campaigning against air or water. I think it’s safe to say that Vote No for Change members Dorothy Borchardt (former alderwoman) and Rick Berg (former Madison School Board member) aren’t against public education! But further more, for Zurbuchen to suggest that anyone without kids (who still pays property taxes every year) are against public education is completely outrageous. If people don’t feel that the city is using their money in a fiscally responsible manner, they have a right to say no to a proposal without being nearly slandered by a school referenda hack like Ms. Zurbuchen. The most ludicrous thing that Zurbuchen insinuates is that everyone who votes no is a cold-hearted, anti-public education, anti-child, selfish reactionary who is against any spending. All you have to do is notice the acronym of her group: CARES. They’re trying to guilt-trip the citizens in Madison by saying, “If you vote ‘no’, you don’t CARE about the kids.” Many people voting no are middle class, liberal democrats who have children in the Madison Public School district, but don’t want to be taxed out of their homes because they know they need a home for their kids first and foremost to really be able to give them that care. Others voting ‘no’ are elderly men and women who are happy to support public education, but want a change because they see far too many highly paid administrative jobs in an overcrowded bureacracy run by Superintendent Art Rainwater. If Zurcbuchen and others are so angry that anyone without kids would consider voting ‘no’ on these referenda that they paint them as anti-public education, then maybe we should only allow those who drive on the beltline to vote on highway spending referenda and leave those rural road drivers out of it. Or maybe, according to Zurcbuchen’s logic, we should only allow landowners to vote in statewide elections like they did hundreds of years ago. The bottom line is that people like Zurchuchen feel that those who don’t have children but live in the city of Madison shouldn’t have a say in the upcoming school referendum. She’s treating them like they’re all a bunch of Illinois residents who should stay out of Wisconsin politics. Campaigning on both sides of the school board referenda should be a welcome opportunity so that voters can analyze the information and make the decision that they see appropriate on May 24th. No one is against the children’s futures. We’re all proud of our highly-rated education system in Madison; so proud that we have people who have invested hours of time and money into this hotly contested campaign. Wanting sound, fiscal responsibility in the schools doesn’t mean you’re against public education, because a good spending policy is not akin to mean-spiritedness, and it’s not a partisan political issue. As one school board member Bill Keyes recently said, “I have never done anything but smile to make a check for property taxes because I know I’m buying services.” I don’t think most people smile when they make out the check, but I do know that we all want what’s best for Madison’s children, so in a democracy we should entrust that the collective votes in Madison will lead us to that outcome. -- Hoff hosts "New Ground with Casey Hoff" Talk Radio 1670 WTDY Madison. |
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