Libertarian Librarian

Of worst school district in the state. At least in terms of being disingenuous, sneaky, and unwilling to listen to their residents' wishes. My own Racine Unified School District still holds that title, and it will be difficult to wrest from them. After all this is a school district that:

• Lost an April 2005 referendum to increase taxes-- one year after assuring us that the 2004 tax increase they got okayed through the referendum process would suffice for several years-- and then put a slightly smaller tax increase on a JULY 2005 referendum.
• Disingenuously claimed that the July proposal wasn't a tax increase since it only maintained the tax increase approved in 2004. So the fact that the owner of a $150,000 home would pay $70 more if the referendum passed than he would if it failed wasn't a tax increase. Follow that?
• To get that July referendum passed, the district threatened to end all sports, thus getting lots of high school student athletes to pressure their parents and their parents' friends to vote YES.
• After getting the July referendum passed, the district STILL reduced the funding for sports, and now requires students and their parents to contribute to the funding of said sports.
• Paid a consultant a lot of money to ask all the Racine teachers what their wish list would be if they could have anything they want in their classroom. The fact that the consultant had strong ties to the administration of the Racine Unified School District was entirely coincidental.

Phew. That kind of anger will eat you up inside. Anyway, Mequon-Thiensville. Right. Here's their efforts to take over the title of worst school district in Wisconsin.

I absolutely HATE referendums that are scheduled at times other than normal voting days. They disenfranchise a lot of people and they cost the taxpayers extra money. Plus, they give public agencies, like school districts, the ability to just ignore the results of a previous referendum-- from as little as three months previous-- and to try, try again. And again. And again. Until they get the result they want.

Oddly enough, taxpayers don't get that option. If the tax increase referendum passes, we do not have the option of scheduling a new referendum, or of threatening to close the school district offices if they don't figure out a way to live within their means. We just get to pay. And pay. And pay some more.