Comments on: Rural SC District Can’t Count

By: SpillinIt

SpillinIt — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:49:49 +0000

Havent heard anything about the cheraw scandals lately…wondering if the BIG DOGS of CPD put a hush to it. Found something really interesting…Last years CPD Xmas party pics. A boozefest it was, on tax payer money?

By: sick of it all

sick of it all — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:24:08 +0000

Someone please send the Calvary up here! Between our former solicitor, school district, Representative Vick, and some police dept. thug, I mean officers, and “If it’s brown it’s down” bumper stickers (and mentalities), we don’t stand a chance!

By: dirtbogger

dirtbogger — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:24:13 +0000

I agree with liberty for me 100%!

By: BIN News Editorial Staff

BIN News Editorial Staff — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:18:22 +0000

Meow.

By: Maytag

Maytag — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:51:01 +0000

Its stuff like this that makes me glad I’m a cat.

By: BIN News Editorial Staff

BIN News Editorial Staff — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:57:56 +0000

Ron speaks with voucher clown mouth. And he cuts and pastes from voucher clown rhetoric. He’s probably passing the SCRG crack pipe with Reality Check right now. Besides, this is SC. Not NY. Not Texas.

Come on Ron. If you’re saying school districts “across SC…routinely and fraudently (sic) misrepresent their revenues and spending” then you should put your SCRG crack pipe where your allegations are.

Our Funding Editor has authorized us to tell you she double dog voucher scam dares you to prove it. Because you can’t

Because it’s not true. It’s just more of Howie’s voucher scam rhetoric.

Vouchers are dead in SC. Double dog dead. Jakie said so! Tell Howie.

BTW. The word is “fraudulently.”

BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:49:12 +0000

In a separate development concerning Texas school funding litigation, a study by Harvard economist Caroline M. Hoxby has concluded that a 10-year attempt by education finance lawyers to reduce per-pupil spending disparities in Texas schools by means of a so-called “Robin Hood” scheme has produced a smaller spending gap but also resulted in the destruction of an estimated $81 billion worth of property wealth.

The soon-to-be-abandoned Texas program involved the forced redistribution of about $30 billion annually in school property taxes, taking from so-called “property-rich” districts and giving to “property-poor” districts. Hoxby’s analysis shows the plan did not succeed in equalizing per-pupil spending throughout Texas, although it did reduce the gap between the highest-spending quartile and the lowest-spending quartile from about $2,000 to $1,500 per pupil.

That $500 reduction was achieved at a cost of $27,000 per pupil in property value destruction across the state. This destruction resulted from increased property taxes in the wealthier districts, which depressed real estate values, leading inevitably to additional tax increases (and further declines in real estate values) as revenues fell short of projections.

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:43:29 +0000

A court-appointed panel in a New York lawsuit found in late November of 2004 that an additional $5.6 billion must be spent on New York City’s schoolchildren every year to provide the opportunity for a sound, basic education that they are guaranteed by the state constitution. In addition, $9.2 billion worth of new classrooms, laboratories, libraries and other facilities are needed to relieve overcrowding, reduce class sizes and provide adequate places for learning. The judge overseeing the case is expected to draw heavily from the panel’s findings. (New York Times, 12-1-04) Tax increases on New Yorkers have faced are mind boggeling.

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:40:43 +0000

About half the states face various court cases concerning school financing. Another 21 have only recently settled similar suits, and most will start litigating again soon. Only five states have avoided litigation entirely. Spending lawsuits began in the 1970s, when they focused on equalization of spending between rich and poor districts. (The Economist, 11-25-04)

By the 1990s, the focus of spending litigation shifted from the allocation of resources to demanding a subjectively “adequate” overall level of spending and education, often in reliance on general phrases in state constitutions. Plaintiffs are winning most of the cases despite the constitutional argument that tax-and-spend decisions are solely a legislative prerogative.

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:39:48 +0000

Good morning Will,

Public school districts across SC and the US routinely and fraudently misrepresent their revenues and spending to their constituents especially when they’re trying to pass a bond referendum or increase their annual budgets. That’s why I call them government schools rather than public schools. The majority of citizens have “lost their trust” in government entities whether it be at the school house, the court house, the state house or the white house.