In the fall of 1958, a scant two years after I was born, the people in Lubbock, Texas approved a bond issue to build new schools. Two years after that, my parents moved to Lubbock, and that same year Stewart Elementary School opened its doors.
In the fall of 1963 I began my formal schooling in Mrs. Sides’ first grade class at Stewart Elementary. My parents had bought a house two blocks away, and each school day I would either walk or ride my bike to school.
Second grade was Mrs. Poteet, followed by Mrs. Dorman, Mrs. Snodgrass, Mrs Bradstreet, and Mr. Matthews, in whose class I developed a love for politics.
Seventh grade I was in Wilson Jr. High, after which we moved to Iowa Park, where a new high school has just been built, courtesy of the people in Iowa Park.
Whatever I have accomplished in my life, I owe it to a quality public education.
That education happened because people I didn’t even know had decided, at the local level, to build schools, to pay teachers, and to provide the supplies needed to educate the children in their schools, including me - even though those people didn’t know me, either.
I thought about my education when I heard that Gov. Greg Abbott wants to do away with school property taxes.
Now I, like most people, am not a fan of taxes, property or otherwise. Abbott, who graduated from a public high school, says the state can cover that cost “right now.”
That phrase bothers me - what happens when the budget surplus is gone? What happens to public education when there is a downturn?
As much as I don’t like property taxes, I like even less the idea of school districts being at the mercy of the State of Texas - especially with its dismal record of adequately funding public schools up to now.
The Texas Constitution requires the legislature to fund public education, but the state abdicated that role long ago.
The state has been chipping away at local control of schools, of government, and of zoning. Taking the funding mechanism for public schools away from the public opens the door to even more of the heavy hand of state government than exists now.
Our schools already have a long, detailed list of state mandates they have to follow. Imagine what will happen if all funding comes from the state.
Good bye local control.
When you pay school property taxes, it’s appealing when you see propositions that reduce or eliminate them. Beware, it’s a devil’s bargain. You’ll still be paying school taxes, it just won’t be to the local school district.
The State of Texas prides itself on low taxes, but our legislators are masters at hiding taxes. Some of this is in the form of “sin taxes.”
Setting aside my disdain of smoking, Texas gets $1.41 of every pack of cigarettes sold.
Manufacturers of bourbon pay the state a tax of $2.40 per gallon produced. Restaurants pay the state a gross receipts tax on alcohol sales of 6.7 percent plus an 8.25 percent mixed beverage sales tax.
But even “non-sin taxes” apply.
When you fill up your car, the state takes 20 cents per gallon.
You pay a 6.25 percent tax to the state when you buy a car. Then you have to pay the state to license that car.
The point is, your property tax bill may be the most honest document that exists in the entire Texas taxation system. You know exactly what you are paying and to whom.
So for me, and I don’t even have kids in school, I’ll take my school property taxes, for no other reason than to pay it forward - someone did the same for me.
But there’s another good reason — to keep the controls of local schools at the local level.
If my school property tax goes away, I’ll still be paying for schools in every gallon of gas, every bit of electricity I use, every time I order a drink in a restaurant. And collectively we all lose control.
Randy Keck is the owner of The Community News and currently serves as president of the National Newspaper Association Foundation.
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