The Missouri Freedom Initiative goes live at 7:30 p.m. tonight. School bonds, the Silver and Gold bill in the Missouri Legislature and perhaps a little about the Education Bill SB727. Also, Patrick Holland of the MFI talks about more deceptive school bond language below.
@right2winozarks The more you know!
♬ original sound - Right2WinOzarks
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| Missouri School Rankings: Clever School District |
By Gretchen Garrity
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?
Missouri School Rankings: Clever
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.
The plan designer is Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective who are members of the Missouri School Boards Association Business Connections. These professional trade connections help drive the school bond issues that plague communities all over our nation.
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.
It's for all of us. We're all in this together.
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| From: MSBA |
By Gretchen Garrity
David Rice writes about Ozark School Board Member Patty Quessenberry, who has served on the board for 27 years--and she's running again. Quessenberry is also the president-elect of the Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA) about which you can read here, and watch below:
Rice writes: "Mrs. Quessenberry’s loyalties are not to you. At the very least, she is loyal to the MSBA which is buried in DEI and wants to increase school debt so they can make their Bank overlords happy. Is it possible her loyalties are to the businesses and organizations that stand to make the most money off the district? Even if all she gets out of being a board member is a massage to her ego, is it worth so many students failing?"
Rice shares the crux of the matter--that low academic scores are the elephant in the room that school boards avoid talking about at all costs.
Because of professional relationships, as well as the policies and guidelines pushed by groups like the MSBA and the Missouri Association of School Administrators (in connection with DESE), academic scores have taken a nosedive, as well as the mental and emotional health of students and staff. Also, these organizations are associated with lending organizations (like Raymond James and Stifel) that stand by to help school districts (taxpayers) get into debt through never-ending bonds for school construction projects, renovations, etc. Both Raymond James and Stifel are associate/business members with both the MSBA and MASA.
Citizens should check into the relationships with these professional organizations and how they work with local school districts to pass bonds and keep the taxpayers in perpetual debt above and beyond the tax levies. Follow the money.
Citizens must not lose sight of the abysmal academic scores. For parents and taxpayers the Return on Investment (ROI) is not there, but for financial organizations it's a never-ending windfall of taxpayer dollars.
The organizational relationships that school board members and candidates have has a lot to do with the decisions they make on the local level. Vote accordingly on April 2.
@right2winozarks Mofree.org for more info!
♬ original sound - Right2WinOzarks
By Retha Holland
I keep hearing from those that are in favor of these school bond proposals, “I trust our board members” or “I trust our administration to know what’s best.” This trust is based on the emotional connection with the school, meaning the teachers mostly.
These people are a part of the community that we put our faith and trust in to educate and keep the community’s children safe for the hours they have them.
While the community trusts these people, the community is asleep in the passenger seat. Parents manage to make it to the games and performances of their children but so many do not take an interest in the education, indoctrination or even grooming of social beliefs of their child, let alone pay attention to increasing funds paid by the community to the school.
Just as the people “trust” their board members and administration, they are being led by the ear of organizations they are a part of such as MASA (Missouri Association of School Administrators), and MSBA (Missouri School Boards Association). Your board members and superintendents trust these organizations to know best, along with the unions and bank representatives that are associated with them.
With that being said, if you look at the organizations' missions and legislative priorities and statements you will find little on education; it’s about body count, it’s about getting legislation to get more money from the community and state. It’s about legislation to make it easier to fleece the community for more funds through taxes, and oppose any reductions or relief on bills presented in the Capitol. These organizations lobby our representatives at our state capitol, all on your dime with the funds you pay to the school with the member fees associated with the MSBA and MASA
From: Raymond James
These organizations have partnerships with the lending banks, like Stifel and Raymond James that finance these school bonds. MASA does “free” seminars to help superintendents get more success in getting bonds approved from the community.
MSBA and MASA are NOT state government organizations, they are private. They too have an agenda and interest for ever-increasing revenue along with reducing the ability of the community’s influence or voice. It’s about the money, it’s about control, it’s not about education. These are organizations your board and administration trust to know best! This is who is leading them! These organizations don’t care about the community, they don’t care about the education of the students or the school as a whole. For them the bigger the dumpster fire the better for implementing more control and garnering more funds with ever-increasing services.
Your board, administration and teachers are being misled, with the “trust” and partnership they have with these organizations and unions all working in lockstep. These organizations and affiliations have connections with federal and WEF agendas, all while the community is trusting their administration and board members
From: WEF
See a pattern? Good people can be misled, many good people will toe the line without question, and good people don’t know the monsters with motives behind the curtain.
Did we learn nothing from the shut down? “Two weeks to flatten the curve.”
At the end of the day public schools are GOVERNMENT schools, they want to feed and grow like all government does, so they should always be met with scrutiny, along with their associations with outside influences.
It’s time to email your ELECTED board members with the expectations from the community, otherwise these organizations will take up the slack to continue to influence our schools.
This is up to the community to do so, otherwise the people they trust with the education of our community’s children will continue to be lead by bad influencers.
From the Missouri Freedom Initiative:"We will be live tonight at 7:30 PM on Rumble, Twitter (X), Odysee and You Tube. Firstly, Isaac joins us again tonight with information on use taxes coming up on the Missouri ballots. Also, Retha and Gretchen will be joining us tonight as well with new findings linking school lenders to the NWO and WEF right here in Missouri. We’ll cover knock and Shock from the 11th of March and the trip to New Hampshire."
(From: Clever School District)
Guest Post by Retha Holland
The Clever R-V School District has requested voters approve, on Tuesday April 2, 2024, a bond for $16 million for acquisitions, improvements, construction, and renovation at their various school buildings.
Voters should consider these points when deciding to approve or disapprove the proposed bond:
1) Will the proposed bond help increase student academic scores? Clever has among the lowest student scores in the county, despite having an ideal teacher to student ratio of 1:15.
2) Is the additional tax burden justified and reasonable? The Clever School District levy is currently at $4.6394 per $100 of assessed valuation of real and personal property, with $3.1636 of that going toward district operations, and the rest--$1.2758--going toward debt service (additional account that services the bonds). Currently, this alone represents over ¼ paid to Clever Schools in property taxes.
3) Does the Clever School District currently have bond debt?
According to the estimated tax collection the district could be within
$100,000 of all debt paid on their bonds. Currently the collection of tax
for the levy associated with the bond account is nearly $1.4 million in
revenue. However, knowing they were close to paying off the bond debt,
the District refinanced the 2017 bond at lower interest rate, but in
doing this kicked the can down the road to 2026 before they could call
it for payoff--which means they extended the loan with interest. Let
that sink in.
4) Has the population of students in Clever increased or decreased? There has been a reduction in student population in recent years; for example, in 2021-2022 there were 1,351 students, while according to January 2024 school board minutes we currently have 1,309 students. Surrounding schools are also slowing or stagnant in student population growth, even though the population as a whole has increased.
5) How much local tax revenue has the school district received and is it increasing or decreasing? Total local revenue in 2022 was $4,563,636. The estimated current tax year revenue is $5,015,274, an increase of $451,638. Additionally, tax reassessments of property (not counting new construction) is up over 6%, which means more money for the District. Note, the local tax effort increased from 2020-2021 through 2022-2023 by $782,192. Combined, this is over a million dollars in extra property tax revenue in four years. Remember, this is just local tax revenue!
About 2,750 homes serve the school district with property taxes. The median income in town is $53,000, while total median household income serving the Clever School District is $63,295. The median for Christian County is $66,500. Yet we have the highest property tax levy associated with the school district in Christian County. (Income obtained from Clever Schools RSP presentation stats for 2022.)
6) What are the payments and interest going to be on the $16 million bond? Take a look at the repayment plan (Bond Debt Service) that is on page 17 of the Raymond James Public Finance company's "Financial Overview of the District." Over the term of the loan, the interest payments on the $16 million bond would total nearly $8.8 million and would not end until 2043.
Taxpayers can get a copy of the plan by emailing the Clever School District and requesting a copy of the "Financial Overview of the District" by Raymond James.
Page 17 of the District overview
8) Does the language on the ballot matter? It does! It says, "If
this proposition is approved, the debt service levy of the District is
estimated to remain unchanged at $1.2768 per one hundred dollars
assessed valuation of real and personal property." The language
should read "to remain unchanged," which protects the taxpayer from any
levy increases during the contract. For instance, if tax revenues would
decrease for whatever reason, the District might not be able to make
their payments on the bond, and would have to increase the tax levy,
thereby burdening taxpayers in perpetuity. The use of the word
"estimated" gives the District the wiggle room to increase the levy. "Estimated" means taxpayers could be subject
to levy increases if needed to pay the debt. That $1.2758 could turn
into $1.40--all based on a forecast of 4% increase in property values,
averaged.
Additionally, the ballot language would allow the District to push off some of their internal debt (called lease-purchase debt) onto the taxpayer. It is made unclear how much that will be; as of last fall the total internal debt was $5,985,000.
9) What about renters who don't pay property taxes? If renters ever wonder why their rent is raised every year, and thought they had a greedy landlord, they should realize that when property taxes go up, the landlord is paying more for the rented home, and thus must raise rents in order to keep pace with taxes. Additionally, a percentage of the personal property tax that everyone pays on their vehicles also goes to the schools. Everyone suffers from ever-increasing property taxes!
10) What about SB 190, the tax freeze for seniors? That bill caps assessments on property for those eligible for Social Security, but it does not protect elderly homeowners from a levy increase. It only caps the value of the property.
11) Why should I vote? Nothing ever changes. While our national votes don't seem to matter much, your vote in local elections has major impact. Few people vote in off-year elections, so those who do vote have an outsized impact on what happens in your community. It can and has come down to a single vote that can elect a new mayor or alderman or approve/disapprove a bond issue. Your vote in a local election has a direct impact on you and your community.
12) What about the Hancock Amendment? Clever Schools has been taking advantage of the loophole in the Hancock Amendment that caps property tax increases to 5% for the District's Operations Account. The District has been transferring a portion of the levy funds from the Operations Account to the Bond Account (which pays down the bond debt). This is a type of legal but unethical "shell game" to keep any and all of the increase over the 5% excess revenue on existing property, instead of returning it to the taxpayer. (Last year was over a 6% increase.)
13) But it's for the children! We all want our schools to be able to have what they need to function well. When we lead with emotional sentiment it can cloud judgment of what is appropriate or reasonable. This tax affects everyone, low income, fixed income, even the children who will be paying off this bond debt for 20 years! Stop and think about that. These loans last about 20 years, and when we approve them, the payments and interest will affect the next generation of students.
14) Is there a better way? Yes. I have found nothing stating that we cannot save money through a tax levy in the District's Capital Projects Fund, where not only can the debt be for a shorter stated period, but with a reduced levy rate the school gets all the property tax revenue that is collected instead of 33% (over $8.7 million) in interest going to the bank and putting our next generation in debt. It would remain our approved debt with a clearly defined contract. It is a win for everyone. We can navigate the needs of the school in a more productive, clear and efficient way.
For example, a 50-cent "saving levy" in the Capital Projects Fund would be approximately $500,000 per year currently in tax revenue. If approved, for say, five years, it would be $2.5 million for stated projects. Currently, according to the Raymond James contract of the proposed $16 million bond, the interest alone over the next five years is higher than the proposed example.
We should live up to our name and be more Clever in how we do things.
Additional Resources:
Clever Missouri Hold on to Your Wallets
Christian County Election Calendar
Retha Holland was was a guest with Kyle Wyatt of All Out Law on KSGF 104.1 this morning. The subject was the "bondemic" that our school districts are attempting to impose on taxpayers. Take a listen. Clever, Springfield, Nixa, and Ozark are all mentioned.
Holland explains how schools propose more bonds just as previous bonds are due to be paid off, basically keeping taxpayers on a rolling schedule of never-ending debt. Always couched as "for the children," these bonds are often 20-year obligations, which means that performing arts center for today's students will be paid for by those same students as they join the workforce in years to come.
Take a look at your ballot on April 2. Chances are you will see a proposed school bond. After listening to Wyatt and Holland you will understand that all is not always as it seems with school bond debt.
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.
