SM is talking out of both sides of its mouth.
So Wed. at 7:30am, the SMSD met. The public was not allowed to speak. And the hoped for moment, when someone dared to stand up to Ed Eilert's shenanigans and deceits, and refused to hand over $1 million in rightful property taxes to the county--for the purpose of funding Recreational Welfare: a FREE community center for PV--at the expense of every taxpayer in JoCo.
I was proud of Cindy Neighbor and Patty Mach, two board members, for even DARING to suggest ths goofy "reverse TIF" for a car dealer, was, as Commissioner Michael Ashcraft of Olathe admitted on PVPost.com, "a bad deal for SM Schools". After all, the school board members, who work for free, are elected to protect our property values. Not kiss up to Ed Eilert and his buddies.
It's not just to provide good schools for those of us who have kids. But also to protect our single biggest investments, our homes. And when our schools fail to compete with Blue Valley, we can easily lose $20,000 when we go to sell our homes.
But alas: this was the first round. And when it came time to vote, there was no vote! So, if the public's business must be conducted in public, then exactly how did Superintendent Jim Hinson discern that there were insufficient votes to even HOLD a vote, to possibly VETO the TIF? And why is he so afraid of a vote, on the record?
Over the past week, before the vote, did he and the BOCC and the panicked Mayor Laura Wassmer of PV and the school board members all communicate using their district-issued Ouija Boards?
Gosh, we know emails are fair game. Is ESP via Ouija board a violation of the KOMA? Can DA Steve Howe subpoena every Ouija board hidden behind the librarian's desk there at every SM school? (We knew about giving a tablet or a laptop to every student in September. These Ouija's somehow slipped past our attention.)
The deets of the amicus brief are all covered on PVPost.com, which has done an excellent job, as usual, of reporting. And Tonyskansascity saw merit and linked to it--for which we are grateful.
Click here to read PVPost story re amicus brief, feigning poverty
SM School District: It's not nice to fool the Kansas Supreme Court. If you can walk away from TIF's, then maybe you don't really need more funding from the state of Kansas or us taxpayers.
This was just Round 1. The taxpayers lost. Cindy Neighbor and Patty Mach get it. Hooray for them. Now we need a few more to wake up. In about two months, the SMSD will actually FORMULATE a policy on TIF's. Hopefully, they will Just.Say.No. Especially to Recreational Welfare.
Personally, it doesn't take a policy or being a Rhodes scholar to be able to make a sound financial decision. And represent the people who put you there. Or to be consistent in one's messages, to the car dealers and the courts. So I am disappointed in our school board.
But then, (I was a teacher in a private school), we must remember:public education was never designed to promote critical thinking. It was officially intended and still serves one purpose for a better work force of compliant workers: Public education teaches kids to shut up, walk in a straight line--and all hold hands. Apparently, the SM school board got an A on learning that lesson.
I'd like to see the so called answer for the no vote on record explanation. I am still thinking pay off here somewhere. Has to be a something here somewhere to pull a stunt like this.
ReplyDeleteBoo to Jay Senter and the PV Post, he is Johnnie on the spot to roll out all the hard facts on the amicus brief but sure didn't dare put in print anything negative about the TIF for a park. That to me is speaking out of both sides of the mouth as well. Running a so called local information site means making sure all the facts on an issue are shown not just the facts "YOU" want the readers to only see.