Patt Sharp
...writing a new Formula. In other words, it would take courage and hard work to write a new Formula, especially if the State were to address the adequacy and equity issues in such a re-writing; they abdicated this responsibility—since only the legislature can meet our state Constitution’s mandate to fund public education. When the local boards of education and our local administrators saw how bad the situation was, they banded together – more than half of the school districts across the state, including most of ours in the 25th District, and they joined in a lawsuit to require the state to fund schools adequately and equitably. This lawsuit costs money, of course. It costs our schools precious dollars that they really don’t have to spare to be Plaintiffs, and it costs all of us as taxpayers because the Attorney General has to defend it. Although the State of Missouri is named as Defendant, it is not the Governor or any group other than the only entity whose Constitutional duty it is to see that our state pays for public education—the legislature. Once the lawsuit had been filed, did that move the Legislature to do its duty? No. The lawsuit gave them cover—let the “activist judges” make these decisions and direct how the state is to meet its responsibility; then the legislators can blame someone else for the decisions that must ultimately be made. Included in solutions by some in the legislature is the forced consolidation of our rural schools. That’s wrong, too. Not only is it wrong for Jefferson City to force our local communities into consolidation, but it is wrong as a cost solution. The state still has the same number of children to educate—wherever the children are bussed to. If some of our schools choose to consolidate based on local folks’ decisions, that should be their choice. We don’t need to have that decision made in our state Capitol. More and more the current legislature made it clear that if schools did not have enough funds to do their jobs (and meet all the mandates required of them), they would need to go to their local property tax owners for more money. While our rural communities are just as supportive of sound public schools as the wealthy districts are, they are not as financially able to keep increasing local tax levies and must rely on state funding to have adequate resources. That’s also where the equity issue comes in. Our school districts which have high concentrations of low income children and families should receive more help from the state dollars. College costs have to be kept within the reach of our farming and working-class families. State universities and community colleges must have enough state support to keep tuition costs from skyrocketing beyond that of what our people can afford to pay. Farmers have seen production costs increased (just look at fuel prices alone), and there was a bill to help them during this last session. Yet the votes of our rural representatives went again with St. Louis County’s . Because of a patent that Monsanto owns, farmers can be and are being sued for saving and replanting seeds that they themselves grew. The bill would have compensated Monsanto for its technology, even with the second-generation planting. Insurance and health costs are concerns for everyone—from our doctors’ malpractice premiums to prescription drugs to family health insurance. Yet no one has done little more than talk about it with the exception of a type of bill which places all the blame on lawyers and “run-away juries”-- and no blame on or examination of large insurance companies’ rate-setting process. Big insurance companies must have powerful lobbies. In fact, one bill which addressed homeowners’ insurance rates was of interest to all of us since we live in an area that is prone to have lots of tornados. The bill would have barred insurance companies from raising a homeowner’s rates if the insured had made a claim based on a weather-related loss, such as from a tornado. You probably already know; our rural representatives voted with the insurance companies, enabling them to raise rates after such a loss. Too many working Missourians have no health insurance at all, and many children in low-income homes would be without any medical care were it not for MC+/ the CHIPS insurance program. In Stoddard County alone, there were more than 800 children covered by this state insurance. The real issues in the race rested on priorities (including district interests vs. the political party interests) and the fiscal health of the state. While not many fiscal experts ever run for political office, we need their advice. We could easily put together a blue-ribbon commission of some of our brightest economists who would be willing to re-examine our revenues and expenditures and help us identify from performance audits where and how we can change and improve our situation. We could rely on the knowledge and advice of some common-sense people I know right here from the Bootheel. Missouri has a structural budget problem. We can’t continue to plug budget leaks with one-time funds; we can’t continue to let our schools and colleges be diverted from their mission of educating as they worry about economic survival; we can’t afford some of the business tax credits which seemed full of promise but were only hot air; we can’t wring our hands at the plight of the small farmers who feed and clothe us and abandon them when they need us. We can do better. We can do what we expect our families to do – cut expenses that we can do without and spend wisely and well. Having up to now focused on some of the main issues that prompted her to run. She had no personal agenda or purely political agenda; she simply want to represent the people of our area and see that we have a voice in Jefferson City, a voice that truly reflects the needs and interests of our people here. She didn’t specifically discuss the importance of law enforcement, good jobs, good roads, and other important concerns that folks also care about, but ...