Published: December 04, 2008 09:58 am      

Voters deserve big pat on back for revenue purpose statement approval

Today we are sending out a big thank you to Clinton School District voters.

On Tuesday, you overwhelmingly approved a revenue purpose statement that will allow the Clinton School Board the freedom to decide how to spend monies that will flow into the district as a result of the statewide one cent sales tax.

As was stressed in letters to the editor and recent news articles and editorials, this was not a new tax but because the Iowa Legislature decided to make the tax statewide, each district's voters had to go to the polls to agree to let their district spend the money in the way that is best for it, not per a priority list that would detail how the dollars would be spent.

During these tough economic times, there was concern that people would vote no on the issue, mistakenly believing that a no vote would stop the tax. But the voters understood that was not true — the tax was still going to be in place but that it should be up to the board, through input from constituents, that makes the decision as it works to upgrade Clinton's middle and high schools and maintain other buildings in the district.

There are a lot of restrictions on the way a school district can spend its money. It's not as easy as breaking open a checkbook and paying your bills as you see fit from one large pool of money.

Instead how the money flows into a district and how those monies are to be directed is tightly controlled by law.

So when there is an opportunity for local control, such as this, it is important that we do the most we can to make use of it. Who better to make decisions than the people who understand the challenges faced by a district?

In this case, it is the Clinton School Board.

As Clinton School District Superintendent Richard Basden said after the vote: “I’m very excited for the community and for the children, and for the long-term stability this will allow for improvements to our facilities. ... This wouldn't have been possible without the hundreds of folks in the community that helped make this a positive vote.

“It’s important that the number be high so the (school) board has a feeling for what the community is thinking.”

He said the next step is for the district’s Facilities Task Force Committee to determine its final recommendations for improvements to the district’s aging middle and high schools, and present them to the school board for approval.

We believe the approval of the statement will go a long way in upgrading and maintaining our district to make it a strong learning environment for our students.

Again, for that, we say thank you.