On Nov. 9, the Washington Missourian published a letter to the editor in which I wrote that the Missouri School Boards’ Association (MSBA) uses your tax dollars to fight for keeping your taxes high.
Well, as you might expect, MSBA took issue with my letter. The funny thing is the part of the letter with which they took issue.
Was it my claim that MSBA is gearing up to battle against tax cuts in the next legislative session? No.
Was it my claim that they are hosting a series of anti-tax cut meetings? No.
Was it my claim that they hadn’t invited anyone who is pro-tax cuts to the meetings or that they are not interested in a debate on the issue? No again.
Was it my statement that our tax dollars go to MSBA to fund their efforts to keep our taxes high? Sadly, no.
Carter Ward, executive director of MSBA, took issue with my claim that I would have had to join MSBA if I had been elected to the school board. He wrote, “The decision to join MSBA is made by local boards of education as a whole and is voluntary. No school board in the state is required to belong to MSBA or to spend any money with the association.” Of course, state statute requires every school board member to undergo training that only the MSBA can provide, but never mind that.
He went on to claim that Missouri is a low-tax state and cutting our taxes further would be a “recipe for disaster.”
There you have it, MSBA thinks your taxes are low enough and they will fight to keep it that way.
