There were several very important outcomes to yesterday's (April 2, 2024) municipal races in Christian County. First, the Christian County Health Board has three new members who are dedicated to individual freedom. It is a huge win for citizens.
Second, the President-Elect of the Missouri School Boards Association, Ozark School Board Member Patty Quessenberry, was defeated. After 27 years as a school board member, the voters decided change was needed.
Now for the sticky part. According to the MSBA by-laws, the President of the MSBA must also be a current school board member:
"Article IV - Board of Directors Section 1 - Qualifications With the exception of the position of Immediate Past President and any ex-officio member serving as chair of the MSBA Council of Past Presidents, to be eligible to serve on the Board of Directors a person must be a member of an Active Member Board and shall have served at least two years on their local Board of Education."
Quessenberry has just been voted off the Ozark School Board. The by-laws further state:
"Art. IV, Section 8 - Resignation
Resignation, Automatic - A member of the Board of Directors who vacates a local board position, with the exception of the President and the Immediate Past President, shall immediately relinquish their position on the Board of Directors."
It's possible that Quessenberry can become an individual member according to Art. II, Sec. 5 of the by-laws, but she will not be able to hold elected office.
That she was elected President-elect last year may give the MSBA a little bit of wiggle room if they are adamant about retaining her as President in 2024. However, their own by-laws are clear. To keep her on as President of the MSBA when she is no longer a school board member, is problematic.
When it comes to spending taxpayer dollars, school districts have the winning refrain: It's for the children!
This mantra is so common it deserves to be examined. Variations on the theme include: Do it for the kids! You can never do enough for the children! The children deserve the best we can do for them! I would do anything for the children!
These common "arguments" have been used for many years to browbeat and gaslight overburdened taxpayers into agreeing yet again to another raid on their pocketbooks. School personnel and elected officials often use this mantra as they push a bond for yet another project that must be funded because...the children!
Has anyone ever asked these questions: Why can't the school district plan and budget for improvements? Why do they have to go into debt to big financial organizations to do repairs and maintenance, or even add classrooms?
Isn't there an ongoing maintenance plan for the school districts? Aren't they making sure the infrastructure is inspected and maintained? When they see a problem, why don't they make provision for it? Is it reported to the school board before it becomes a big problem? Is the school board even aware of how the buildings are being maintained and on what kind of schedule?
Why doesn't the district use the tax revenue they receive from the citizens to fund improvements? By continuing to borrow millions of dollars from big financial organizations to fund improvements, renovations, and capital projects, the school district keeps taxpayers on the hook for ever-increasing loans and interest to bankers.
To
add insult to injury some school districts, like the Clever School District, take their internal bond debt (otherwise known as Lease
Purchase Debt) that is paid from the Capitol Projects account. This
account can have a portion of the property tax levy associated with a
school, especially if it is a large amount of debt. This is generally
PAID BACK through the base levy for Operations--the permanent tax you
pay to the school through property taxes.
Lease Purchase Debt does not require the approval or
vote of the community. So in asking voters to take on all or a portion of this
debt if the $16 million bond is approved, the school district gets to loosen their belt, while asking the
community to continue to tighten theirs. It allows them a get-out-of-debt
free card to just do it all over again in time for the next
generation.
This is not living within one's means. It is the proverbial "borrowing your way out of debt," only it is the taxpayer who ends up paying for the fiscal irresponsibility of the school district.
The school district should be looking at the whole community when thinking about bonds. We are all in this together, and taxing the elderly out of their homes, burdening homeowners with ever-increasing property taxes actually harms children in the long run. The 20-year bond debt that gets rolled over will affect students as they move into home ownership, careers and families.
And what are taxpayers getting for their constant "investment" in more and better school buildings? How are academic scores in your school? In Clever, academic scores are declining. According to Missouri School Rankings, the Clever School District is ranked 316/535. It has an overall GPA of 1.50/4.0.
Read it and weep. In 2018-2019, Clever ranked 301/516. In 2020-2021, Clever ranked 138/516. In 2021-2022 they ranked 238/552. Now they are ranked 316/535. What accounts for these numbers--the sudden rise and then the steep decline?
Clever currently has a student to teacher ratio of 15:1. This is ideal. Why are academic scores so terribly low?
The question must be asked: How is a $16 million school bond going to bring up the academic scores in Clever? How will it benefit the children's minds and reasoning skills?
You know who really benefits by keeping school districts in a perpetual debt cycle? The financial institutions that parasitically feed off the community by loaning school districts millions of dollars, and the associated companies that are standing by to design and construct the plans for new weight rooms, covered walkways, and so on.
They are the MAJOR beneficiaries. The lender stands to make over $8 million in interest alone. It's for the children!
No, it's for the lenders and the companies that are hired to do the design and construction.
Parents and taxpayers, it would be one thing if our students were succeeding academically. In fact, new science labs are a good thing, as well as needed renovations. But it doesn't take $16 million to build five new classrooms. A reasoned, well-thought out plan that takes into account the needs of the whole community is requisite. It's time to go back to the drawing board, to come together in a way that holds our schools accountable for the mission they are tasked with--to turn out educated individuals.
If the school district is failing to turn out students who can read well, write well, do math well, and reason well, then the focus should be on academics and not weight rooms or performing arts centers.
Are citizens aware that the organizations who are helping the school district to sell these bonds to the voter are associate or business members with state trade organizations like the Missouri School Boards Association or the Missouri Association of School Administrators? In Clever, it is Raymond James who desires to be the lender to the school district. They are a business member of MASA.
School districts lose sight of the fact that they serve the taxpaying citizens as a whole--families, elderly, homeowners--and must keep in mind their first mission is to adequately EDUCATE the children entrusted to them and to properly and morally steward the money they are provided by the taxpayer.
The election for Clever voters to approve/disapprove the bond is April 2, 2024, which is the General Municipal Election. The bond is for over $16 million. Other local school districts have also voted to max out their bonds.
As Retha Holland says in the video, it's a BONDEMIC. Holland shares how school board members in districts all over the state are pressured to make financial (and other) decisions as one, which is a feature of the "training" that the Missouri School Boards Association gives to board members.
As Holland says, these bonds are usually 20-year debts, which are added on to as time and finances permit. This means that the kids in the schools now will eventually be paying on that same debt if they decide to stay in Clever.
Currently, 80% of property taxes goes to the Clever School District--which is the highest in Christian County.
Keep up with Patrick and Retha Holland at Missouri Freedom Initiative. Lots of information about state and local politics.
School boards DO have a lot of power. When they give up their power by submitting to the MSBA's decrees, our children are harmed and school boards become the tool of powers that are bent on implementing policies that reach far beyond the classroom.
The
Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA), a private quasi-governmental
organization whose purpose is to assist Missouri school boards, recently
held their 2023 Fall Delegate Assembly.
The
MSBA works in conjunction with other state-level professional
organizations and alongside the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education (DESE) to implement top-down agendas that are not only in
direct conflict with local control, but seek to implement and
advocate for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), Social Emotional
Learning (SEL) and Critical Race Theory (CRT).
With
a 2023-2024 revenue budget of over $12 million (some of which is in
the form of federal tax dollars), the MSBA is a powerful presence in
Missouri schools. According to their own explanation, “Since 1936,
MSBA has been the unified voice of school board members throughout
the state.”
Why
would school board members in Ozark want to have a unified
voice with school board members in St. Louis or Kansas City? Why
would local school board members want a unified voice with
those in any other locale for that matter? One unified voice for all
Missouri school board members is not local control.
Just
the tip of the School Borg, the MSBA is a full-service provider:
“MSBA
offers Basic and Full Maintenance policy
services to our member districts. Our team of experienced policy
editors and lawyers will work with your district to develop policies
that drive excellence.”
If you look at MSBA-member school boards across the state you will indeed see a uniform structure of policies and guidelines that are amazingly...unified. Certifications,
training, resources, personnel, financial services, business
connections, education safety, emergency operations, and legal aid are
some of what the MSBA offers. It’s a one-stop shop that makes it
easy for school boards to justify paying membership fees that reach
into the thousands of dollars annually.
If
your local school board is seeking a new superintendent, the MSBA is happy to provide candidates. The MSBA’s school
board policies also hand over most of the school board’s authority
to superintendents.
In the video below Ozark School Board members Amber Bryant and Guy Callaway at the Nov. 16, 2023 Ozark School
Board meeting, advocate for school personnel control by the superintendent and not
the school board. Involving a new position, that of Human Resources Executive Director, discussion included who the new director would report to. Board Member Christina Tonsing suggested that the board might have oversight over this employee and not the superintendent. She reasoned that if there was an issue with the superintendent, there was nowhere for staff to resort since the position would be under the direct supervision of the superintendent.
This policy puts the superintendent, an employee of the school board, in a position of authority so complete that there is little to no recourse for school employees who may have issues with the superintendent. Board member Amber Bryant stated, "The only person who reports to the board is the superintendent." Callaway concurred. "I don't think they should report directly to the board," he said.
Interestingly, Bryant is the human resources director for Christian County. She reports to a "board," the citizen-elected Christian County Commissioners. Why wouldn't the elected Ozark School Board provide for a similar personnel structure? They have voluntarily given their authority to a non-elected individual. It is well known that Ozark school employees have been victims of this structure in the past. You can read about them here.
Readers should know that the policy Bryant stated is simply that, a policy. It does not have the force of law. The school board could easily adopt a policy that allows for certain other employees to report to the board, thus placing ultimate authority in personnel matters to the board and not the superintendent--a non-elected position. Here is the Missouri Statute regarding how school boards govern.
The video below is prompted to the discussion at around 47 minutes:
This is what 18 hours of MSBA training will get
taxpayers—school control in the hands of administrative staff and
not the elected school board.
It
is organizations like the MSBA, working alongside state government
agencies, that have created a veritable Borg system of rules,
regulations, and guidelines that drain away local control, and put
power in the hands of state-level trade organizations and often handpicked administrators instead of
elected board members.
Unfortunately, it is often school board members who are unwilling to utilize their authority for the good of the students and staff that allow for the MSBA to control what happens in local schools.
Guy Callaway & Patty Quessenberry, Ozark School Board members
MORE ON THE MSBA BORG
The
MSBA Assembly is held annually. Member delegates gather to confirm the
MSBA’s annual budget, its advocacy position proposals, give
reports, adopt the agenda, and other business. Although the MSBA is a
voluntary organization, it rules school board members through a
maze of guidelines and regulations that are enforced on the local
level by ignorant and/or complicit school boards.
Throughout
the MSBA’s 2023
delegate
handbook is a constant drumbeat for increased taxes. In fact, in
their first policy proposal, the MSBA advocates for “Adequate
and Equitable Public School Funding...MSBA supports increasing state
revenues available to adequately fund public education by
bringing certain taxes on tobacco, e-cigarettes, imitation tobacco or
cigarette products, recreational marijuana, alcohol and
alcohol-related products, and internet sales to a level
consistent with the national average.”
Regardless
of the desired tax on marijuana and internet sales, the word
“equitable” is the word to focus on. This is the term that
Marxists use to take money from one group and distribute it to
another group. Now
just remember, that approximately 75% of property taxes go to fund
public schools in our local school districts. But this isn’t
enough for the MSBA. They come right out and say this about the
current tax on tobacco products:
“The
recreational marijuana-specific tax rate is not currently used to
fund public schools. The Missouri Constitution specifies that the
taxes are used for a) administration costs, b) the costs of expunging
criminal records for marijuana-related offenses, c) costs of health
care and other services to military veterans and their families, d)
to increase access to drug addiction treatment, overdose prevention
education, and job placement, housing and counseling for those with
substance use disorders, and e) to provide legal assistance for low-
income Missourians through the Missouri public defender system.”
The
MSBA wants to take tax dollars away from military veterans and their
families, treatment for drug addiction, and other programs for
low-income Missourians. You can’t make this stuff up.
The
handbook then moves on to the MSBA’s advocacy positions. We will
focus mainly on the highlights of their advocacy positions that
involve centralized control. Within the verbiage the word “equitable”
or “equitably” occurs at least five times regarding the funding
of public schools. The MSBA:
Supports
legislation to “fund state
and local programs to eliminate disparity in achievement among all
students.” (Utopian
silliness.)
Supports
legislation to provide “relief” to school districts that have a
“significant amount of tax-exempt property. (Like
churches and
some job-providing businesses?)
Urges
an increase in state
funding “to allow districts to provide free early childhood
education programs.” (You
can say good bye to small independent childcare businesses.)
Supports
a state
program to provide “low-interest loans to school districts during
difficult financial times.” (In
addition to the bonds and levies that taxpayers already provide?)
Supports
a “constitutional amendment permitting the increase of a school
district’s bonding capacity to 20 percent. (Let's help the taxpayer accrue more debt on the school's behalf!)
Supports
legislation exempting “public school districts from paying state
motor fuel tax for fuel consumed by school buses.”
Supports
an increase in the state
motor
fuel tax in Missouri!
That’s
just some of what you will find in the delegate handbook. It must be
noted that the MSBA also desires to have government control over tax
abatement projects, including: “School boards shall have legal
standing to participate in all phases of the process, including any
legal appeal relating to any tax abatement application for property
located in the school district...School boards shall have veto power
over their portion of any tax abatement project.”
Let’s
ponder that for a moment. The MSBA wants school boards to be able to
have legal standing over a city or county’s tax abatement
processes, including having veto power. I wonder if our tax assessor
and other elected city and county officials know about that. This
seems like an outright usurpation of the authority vested in other
elected officials.
This is the bloated, centralized tick that is sucking tax dollars from wherever it can and attempting to accrue political power wherever it can.
Moving
on, the MSBA:
Supports
“legislation mandating accurate real property assessments and
practices to ensure comparable assessments and practices throughout
the state.”
(So
much for local governance.)
Moving
quickly through the positions, the MSBA also advocates for a state
accreditation system that forces any schools that receive state
funding to be under the system.
States
student curriculum must be inclusive to educate the whole student.
This is DEI language.
Says
local districts can come up with goals and objectives for learning
as long they meet state
and national
standards, but then says
the local districts are not allowed to prohibit or mandate specific
curricular content. (Doublespeak.
Schoolspeak. Centralized control of curriculum.)
Wants
standardized kindergarten readiness tests.
Advocates
for state
licensing
requirements to all public preschools, as well as full certification
for all
Missouri preschool teachers.
Advocates
for a single, statewide
reporting system to be funded, for “safety” reasons.
Advocates
for a State
school safety coordinator.
Advocates
that all
students
MUST attend school until 18 or a diploma.
Wants
to require homeschooling parents to annually report to the school
district where their child(ren) reside.
Wants
more control over releasing information regarding emergency
operations, school safety hot line, and to have limited financial
penalties when schools “inadvertently” break the law.
Ozark School Board Member Patty Quessenberry, who has been a board member for 27 years, is also the president-elect of the MSBA. She has recently spoken of the MSBA in glowing terms. She has been assimilated. She is most likely running for another term on the Ozark School Board.
The Delegate Assembly Handbook is a revelation of third-party entity control, including the state and federal governments. The MSBA is a private, non-profit organization, yet it wields immense control over local school districts whose school boards are members of the Association.
The MSBA's advocacy positions push hard for more centralized control of schools. You will read such things as:
"Under Tax Credits on P. 4,
the MSBA calls for the capping of "potential reductions of state
revenue." They even support suspending "issuance of all tax credits
until the statutory funding obligations of the state are met." What do
you wanna bet the taxpayer would never see another tax credit
implemented?"
And this:
"The MSBA's advocacy positions go on, P. 3.
The organization supports giving school districts more options for
"raising local revenue, including sales taxes." Yes, they now want a
piece of the sales tax pie. I hope local elected officials are aware."
And this:
"In fact, the MSBA thinks school boards
should have legal standing when tax abatement programs for residential
building projects are considered, to the point that they may
"participate in all phases of the process...[and] shall have veto power
over their portion of any tax abatement project."
Go read the shared notes here. You have to read it to believe it.
