The latest threat to public education in Ohio?
Just minutes after joining Butler County's Fairfield Board of Education in January, anti-school tax activist Arnie Engel already was clashing with fellow members.
About the same time over in Warren County, Jennifer Miller - a rookie Mason Board of Education member and self-described "Christian conservative" - also had a short honeymoon before the verbal battles began.
In Hamilton Township, new Little Miami school board member John Stern was the only "no" vote in February against putting a $62.5 million bond issue on the May ballot. His vote ignited a verbal firestorm from fellow board members and some jeering by residents.
And last week in Monroe, first-time school board member Mike Irwin read a statement at a crowded school board meeting describing Monroe Superintendent Arnol Elam as a "schoolyard bully." Irwin, a retired former mayor of a small Maryland city, claimed he was "verbally berated" in a recent executive session.
This week marks the six-month point for all four of these first-term school board "outsiders" - all of whom are part of an aggressive political movement that accuses public school systems of wasting money and overtaxing property owners. Some loudly proclaim their allegiance to the Hamilton County-based Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes and North COAST, its suburban branch.
The COAST philosophy: new taxes for public schools should be limited to no more than the increased costs of inflation
Their critics are fierce.
"I think they are people who are using the public face of an anti-tax platform to try to achieve their long-range goal, which is to dismantle public education in America," says Little Miami Board of Education Vice President Mary Beth Hamburg. "Getting COAST sympathizers elected to school boards is one strategy to achieve that and people who value education should be extremely careful who they vote for."
Yet their supporters are loyal and have voted in numbers strong enough to get them elected.
"I have a list of 16 board members in 14 districts that I consider our supporters," claims Engel, who built his reputation in Fairfield by battling school taxes. "But some of them do not want to come out of the closet."
The new board members vary in style and can differ in political philosophy once topics stray beyond school spending.
None of them care for the "anti-school tax activists" label opponents have hung on them - even though some have campaigned for years against school levies.
Some - like Irwin - are quiet about their views and have distanced themselves from COAST. But so far, COAST-friendly candidates have not gained majority control over any local school board. The activists hope that will change.
Some of the new board members openly talk about using their footholds to recruit more like-minded candidates. They say more and more voters are beginning to share their belief that school taxes are too high, that unionized teachers and other employees are overpaid, and that schools waste money.
Groups such as COAST have given Greater Cincinnati a statewide reputation as a hotbed for anti-tax activism, says Scott Ebright, spokesman for the Ohio School Boards Association. "I don't think there has been the attempt to organize elsewhere in the state as we have seen in Southwest Ohio."
The rise of anti-tax activists on school boards reflects "the harsh realities of Ohio school finance," Ebright says.
Three Ohio Supreme Court rulings have found the state's method of funding public schools unconstitutional. Schools depend too heavily on local property taxes. So it isn't surprising that frustrations are reshaping local school boards.
"Schools before have not been under this sort of scrutiny," Ebright says.
Marianne Culbertson, 13-year-veteran of the Mason school board, frequently has sparred with Miller during public meetings.
"She is not constructive in her comments and does not offer constructive criticism," Culbertson says. "I am concerned about this trend of anti-tax board members and I think Jennifer Miller's agenda is a personal one."
Fairfield school parent Karin Duke says the same about Engel.
"He seems to have a personal agenda and it isn't about the kids. It's about Arnie Engel, who I think is using the school board as a political stepping stone to a higher office," she says.
But Fairfield resident Marc Conter voted for Engel. He says the thousands who elected him "support his efforts and those of the other people like him."
"I like the fact that he is watching over the school budget," Conter says. "Before Arnie, we had no watchdog over the district's finances."
E-mail mclark@enquirer.com
posted by Kathie Bracy at 8:19 PM
<< Home