Missourians Must Stand Up And Fight

M E M O R A N D U M

To:       Missourians who care about the kids in our public schools
From:  Roy Temple
Re:      Governor Blunt's $272 million fraud
Date:   November 3, 2005

Here are some of my thoughts on Governor Blunt's proposal for an anti-public school constitutional amendment:

• Today, Governor Matt Blunt proposed a constitutional amendment that is the biggest fraud to be perpetuated on Missourians since Governor John Ashcroft's unfunded 15 year plan. 
• This is the proposal of a Governor who has been bought and paid for by anti-public school, pro-voucher groups like All Children Matter, that have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Governor Blunt's campaigns, and the campaigns of his anti-public school allies.
• Make no mistake, this proposal is a direct assault on Missouri 524 local school districts. 
• Governor Blunt suggests that simply by waiving his magic wand, he can produce $272 million more for Missouri's local schools.  He can't.
• Governor Blunt claims this money will appear by eliminating "bureaucracy."  Missourians would be well advised to remember that this is the same man who claimed during his campaign that Medicaid costs could be reigned in by cutting bureaucracy, without cutting a single person off of health care.  As it turned out, Governor Blunt's idea of cutting bureaucracy was to cut 100,000 Missourians off of health care. 
• Governor Blunt doesn't have a shred of credibility.  His dishonesty in the past should cause serious questions about the real impact of his current proposal.
• This is an attempt to distract Missourians from his own failures:
  • Schools are facing skyrocketing costs in what Governor Blunt calls bureaucracy as a direct result of his failure as Governor.
  • Key costs that Governor Blunt has caused, contributed to, or failed to address entirely include:
    • Health care costs for school personnel--Blunt has taken no action to address this problem.
    • Skyrocketing energy costs--in part because of Blunt's cave in to the major utility companies.
    • Astronomical growth in transportation costs--Blunt has failed to act.
    • Anticipated costs for schools due to sicker children showing up at school as a result of Blunt administration policies that have dropped tens of thousands of Missouri's children from the health care rolls.
• If Missourians think that their local school spends too much on administration, they don't have to pass a consitutional amendment to deal with that, they have a much more direct and effective means of addressing that issue.  It's called their local school board election.

Blunt's proposal will not succeed on the merits because it's bad public policy.  The Governor has proposed this from a position of weakness, and he knows it.  The enemies of Missouri's public schools can only prevail if those people who care about the schoolchildren of Missouri remain silent and do nothing.  We must not let that happen.  There must be a mobilization at the local level to shed light on this proposal unlike anything seen in Missouri since the Hancock II fight in 1994.

So what can Missourians do?

• We must hold the education groups accountable.
  • If you are a member of a group like the School Board Association, the Mo Association of School Administrators, the PTA, the MSTA, you must notify your leaders and staff that you expect them to strongly oppose this idea.
  • They will be under extreme pressure from the Blunt administration and the GOP leaders in the legislature to waffle, cower and equivocate.  Let them know that you will view their unwillingness to fight as a betrayal of Missouri's school children and that you will pursue all available means to replace them with people who are willing to fight for the cause of Missouri's school kids.
• We must forcefully urge every local school board to oppose this measure strongly through formal board action.
  • Organize to pressure local school boards to pass a resolution opposing this idea.
  • Make it clear to school board members that you will remember their unwillingness to defend the public schools at the next election.
• Make clear to Senator Rob Mayer that his association with this idea may very well spell the end of his political career.  Make clear that he can't say he supports the public schools while he is supporting a measure that would devastate them.
• The victory for Missouri's public schools will not come in Jefferson City, it will come at the grassroots level, just as the victory against Hancock II did.  Hancock II sounded good until people found out what it would really do.  The same will apply to this proposal.  You must be willing to speak out in your local community.
• Make clear to our Democratic friends that this is a fight we must fight and will win.
• We must make sure that every misstatement Blunt and his allies make on this gets answered immediately and locally.  We can't let Blunt and his henchmen lie about this and get away with it.  The truth is on our side, be it won't tell itself.
• Find ways to hold anyone who helps fund Blunt's effort accountable.
• Share this memo with others who you think might be interested.
• Email your friends about this issue, post on listservs, blog about it. 

Post comments with your ideas.  The sooner folks get organized, the sooner we can begin discussing the real issues facing this state, rather than phony proposals designed to give Republicans political cover in what they expect to be an impossible election year for them.