School Bond Issues Bite the Dust

Two school districts in the Black Hills rejected higher taxes for school yesterday.

From the Rapid City Journal:

Voters in two Black Hills school districts said “No, thank you” to higher taxes Tuesday, rejecting bond issues in the Belle Fourche and Meade school districts.

In the Belle Fourche School District, the bond request fell considerably short of the necessary 60 percent approval it needed. The bond failed 55 percent to 45 percent with 925 “no” votes and 750 “yes” votes.

The Meade School District was making a second attempt at an $8 million bond issue to help finance the building program. At 10 p.m. Tuesday, with all but one Sturgis ward counted, the bond issue was failing 63 percent to 37 percent. Voters had cast 2,465 “no” votes to 1,426 “yes” votes.

Last fall, the same bond issue failed by a 3 percent margin.

Looks like the Meade voters, after last year's vote and this year's vote, said not only no but heck no.

Maybe if the education establishment would try cutting some of the administrative fat and getting some real results, people would be more inclined to throw more money at public education.

But maybe people are starting to realize that smart folks don't just keep throwing money at something that isn't working.