Voters in St. Louis County, Missouri, will see Proposition S on the upcoming ballot for the 2012 Presidential election. Voters will decide if the Special School District of St. Louis County (SSD) will be able to continue to provide Special Education services to children who have disabilities.
What is Proposition S? It is something that is being proposed to voters. It gives voters the opportunity to decide if they want to vote yes or no on having Proposition S go into effect. It will be presented to voters in St. Louis County, Missouri, on their ballots for 2012 Presidential election. Propositions are not for a particular candidate, instead, they are about a particular issue. Propositions often include requests to raise taxes.
The short explanation is that Proposition S is asking for a 19 cent tax levy. The money will be used for the Special School District of St. Louis County, so that it can continue to provide “quality education services to children with disabilities and cutting-edge career and technical education to 10th – 12th graders from St. Louis County.”
On the one side of the issue, Special School District Superintendent John Cary points out that this increase in taxes is needed. He said:
“One of our big concerns, obviously, is just being able to maintain, with the nationwide recession and the slow economic recovery.”
He notes that the demand for autism-related services has increased substantially in recent years. In 2000, the district delivered these types of services to fewer than 500 students with autism. Today, the district is providing those services to around 2,500 children who have autism. The purpose of the autism services is to help students become productive citizens when they leave school.
On the other side of the issue, are some commenters who responded to a request that KDSK NewsChannel 5 put on its Facebook page. The news organization was seeking people who were opposed to Proposition S. I’m going to be kind and not list the names of all of the commenters.
Why is this group of people opposed to Proposition S? Some said they felt that the money needed by the school district should come from the casinos, and not from the taxpayers. One person said: “No way till we hav sumone who can budget responsibly and not waste the money lern to live wth wat ya hav as the rest of us do u.” Several expressed opposition to being asked to pay more taxes, no matter what that tax money would be used for.
Perhaps the most interesting comment came from a woman who was quoted in an article by KDSK. Angie Hoff Barr wrote:
“No I am NOT willing to pay more in taxes for government dictated school systems. I have been forced to make my $$ stretch farther with less income. I think it’s time they should too.”
Image by Jeff Kopp on Flickr