Let ‘Em Vote
Given KXEL’s broad reach, I don’t usually talk about issues that affect only one city or area. And I don’t live in the Waterloo school district and don’t pay taxes here, so in that respect, I don’t have a dog in this fight.
But I do hope supporters of an effort to force a vote on the pending school consolidation issue get enough signatures by today’s deadline…because it just seems like the right thing to do.
The Waterloo school board voted 5-2 earlier this month to push ahead with consolidating the current East and West high schools, and converting the old buildings into middle schools…all at a cost of $165 million.
They are not required to have a public vote because the board approved $165 million in revenue bonds from district funds intended to fund school repairs, plus revenue from a 1% statewide sales tax divided between districts on a per-student basis.
In other words, they have the money, so they don’t need voter approval.
But this is too major a shift in education for the city to not have voters weigh in. Merging two separate high schools into one alone is controversial anywhere, but especially in a city with divided school loyalties like Waterloo.
Perhaps school officials are wary because their effort to build a Career Center failed at the polls; they used similar retained money to go ahead anyway, and it appears to have been a success.
Again, I don’t have a stake in this plan, which may well be great. But to by-pass the voters, especially in this current political climate, makes it seem like something is up. I hope voters have a chance to weigh in, and not at future school board elections when it’s too late to change the plan.
