Larry Appel, Dumas ISD superintendent, denounced voter approval for tax hikes, saying “It is much harder to convince them to vote for a tax increase” since most voters don’t “typically have kids in school.” But it’s their money.
To take the analogy further, most voters don’t have kids in college but they must be convinced to continue supporting public universities and community colleges. Likewise, most voters don’t use mental health services and state schools for the retarded, but have a say. When there is a bond measure for a particular road, most voters may not use that road but they get to vote.Â
Appel’s frank comments came this week at a House interim hearing where superintendents and lawyers for school districts told the Legislature once again that they don’t have enough moeny and that they can’t be inconvenienced by having to go to voters to ask for it.Â
Never mind that 93 of the 119 districts that asked voters to raise their rate got their wish granted. Representative Dan Branch (D-Dallas) should be commended for saying at the hearing that maybe those that failed deserved it and really didn’t need more money.
