Historical November 1982 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Candidates for area legislative seats differed sharply over tax support for public education at the West End Political Forum, Oct. 14.
The Forum was sponsored by the Rosedale Neighborhood Association and the Central West End Association at New City School. Bonita Cornute of KTVI, Channel 2, served as the panel moderator. PROPOSITION C Supporting Proposition C, which would provide a one-cent sales tax increase to be used to support public education, were Sen. John Bass, O. L. Shelton, and Elouise Miller. Bass (Democrat, 4th Dist.) is unopposed, and Shelton (Democrat) and Miller (Republican) face each other in the general election for the 57th House of Representatives seat. Proposition C is the result of an initiative petition pushed by teacher organizations after the Legislature rejected a similar proposal during the 1981 session.
The Proposition would increase the state sales tax by one cent, but would require school districts to roll back their property tax rates by an amount equal to 50 percent of the monies received from the increased tax.
The new funds would be distributed on a per pupil basis rather than through the equalization portion of the state school aid formula. (The existing formula is designed to use state monies to balance the differences in local property tax wealth among the school districts.) Also, the sales tax monies collected would be earmarked in a special fund to be used only for public education. Representative Fred Williams (Democrat, (56th Dist.) stated his objections to the Proposition based on his concern about the regressive nature of the sales tax.
In the Proposition, the increased tax will be collected on all items, including food and drugs. Representative Russ Egan (Democrat, 64th Dist.) was represented at the Forum by State Representative Stan Piekarski. Piekarski said the City would give up more sales tax revenue than it would receive and stated that Egan opposes the Proposition for this reason. Shelton and Miller indicated general support of the Proposition. Representative Nathanial Rivers (Democrat. 59th Dist.) said he supports anything for education. BOND ISSUE, PRISONS, LEGISLATURE CRITICIZED Another issue drawing sharp comments was the $600 million bond issue adopted by a narrow margin last June. Despite bipartisan support, the bond issue was criticized heavily by Williams and Piekarski. Both felt that voters were not fully informed of the possible impact of the approval of the bond issue and stated that, in their opinion, a general tax increase would be necessary to retire the bonds.
In response to a question about overcrowding in the prison system, Shelton stated strong opposition to construction of new prisons and stressed that Missouri must use its present structures rather than build additional facilities.
He called for greater stress on values and attitudes at an earlier age in education as a way to improve Missouri’s problems with crime and prison overcrowding. Bass commented that Missouri needs to place greater emphasis on prison rehabilitation, while Williams called for an effective classification system and meaningful jobs for prisoners. Asked to comment on the very lengthy and complex ballot facing voters on Nov. 2, due to the many propositions and amendments the people will be asked to approve, Elouise Miller chose to attack the present ineffectiveness of the state legislature.
Instead of making important decisions at the state level as the representatives of the people, Miller claimed, the legislature has found it easier to pass items back to the people to decide. Piekarski agreed that the legislature is elected to make tough decisions, but said that when it is unable to do so, issues are then taken up by the people through the initiative petition process. Williams voiced concern about the initiative petition process and claimed that many times it does more harm than good. Bass was troubled by the difficulty of informing the public about complex issues they are asked to approve.
He felt that often people do not receive adequate information to understand the full impact of items on the ballot. Richard Wilson (Republican, 64th Dist.) was unable to attend the forum. Rep. Rivers departed early due to another commitment and did not participate in the question and answer session.
Originally published in The Neighborhood Paper, November 1982.
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