I'
SPOKi
9, 2004
11
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 5B • Thursday, September 9, 2004
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Robin Hood
plan is still
tealing
T hree years ago.
West Orange
Cove C.I.S.D.
challenged Chapter 41
of the Texas Educa
tion Code, common
ly known as Robin
Hood, claiming the
system constitutes
a state-property tax,
which is forbidden
by the Texas Consti
tution. The fight has
„ fmm the shadows and now has about
risen irom
300 school districts on the plaintiff side.
Although the districts involved do not have
identical reasoning, they all believe the sys
tem has failed and is unfair. The system is
not only unconstitutional; it is undemocrat-
‘ courts do not abolish Robin
■ must take immediate
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Hood, the Legi
action to reform it.
The main problem with the Robin Hood
plan lies within the state’s passive role in
primary funding. According the Coalition to
Invest in Texas Schools (CITS), roughly 55
percent of funding comes from local sources,
namely the property tax. However, the maxi
mum amount a district can levy on property
within the district is S1.50 per S1 (X) in value.
Many school districts in Texas cannot gener
ate enough revenue, even at the maximum tax
level, to fund the maintenance and operations
of their schools because of low’ property val
ues. Rather than using a system of state aid,
the Texas Legislature has decided to first see
how much money can be taken from wealthy
school districts and given to these poor dis
tricts, hence the name Robin Hood.
The state does not have a right to this mon
ey. Property taxes are local taxes: They are
levied by independent school districts to fund
management and operations of the schools
in that area. Requiring schools to send any
amount to the state would constitute a tax
levied by the state, which is illegal accord
ing to the Texas Constitution. The fact that
the excess revenue goes to another school
district is irrelevant it w’as not raised by
the recipient district. It is a portion of rev
enue paid by property owners of one district
to support their children’s education. How
ever, as Chapter 41, section 41.002 states, “A
school district may not have a wealth per stu
dent that exceeds $305,000.” Therefore, not
all of the money that citizens invest in their
children’s schools is guaranteed to be spent
on their children’s educations.
That quote appears on the first page of the
bill. For a government to pass any law tell
ing its citizens how much money they are
allowed to have is essentially communism.
This law forces equality by taking directly
from some what they have worked hard to
achieve and redistributes it elsewhere. Fur
thermore, it hinders the ability for any district
to progress. Why would any school district
want its property values to rise if extra profits
cannot be kept?
To determine how education should be
funded, politicians ask first whether funding
should be based on adequacy or equity.
To summarize these two concepts, ad
equacy refers to how much money is needed
to meet the basic goals of public education,
while equity asks whether funding is being
distributed fairly. One must think logically to
answer this question. Adequacy means giv
ing every student the appropriate tools to suc
ceed — equity is an undemocratic concept.
If a district does not have sufficient sourc
es for providing an adequate education to its
students, the state must step in to help, rather
than allowing one district to take money
from another. There are better sources of
money in Texas. For example, only one-
fourth of the motor fuels tax revenue goes
to state funding for education. According
to. the Texas Comptroller’s Office, the mo
tor fuels tax generated roughly 2.8 billion
dollars in 2003 — one fourth of that is not
even $1 billion. Moreover, a Political State
Report article covering the issue states the
“recapture districts” make up only 12 per
cent of Texas, whereas the recapture recipi
ent districts constitute 85 percent. There are
not enough wealthy districts to balance the
poor districts, and there are better and more
sufficient sources of funding.
Abolishing the Robin Hood plan is not
part of a right-wing conspiracy to maintain
social class boundaries. Few, if any, school
districts in Texas are seeing the benefits of
this plan. Equity would be nice, but is not al
ways possible. Adequacy is the democratic
solution. This is a land of equal opportunity,
not equal outcome.
Adam Scharn is a junior
political science major.
Pace Design • MATT RICNEV
Why vote?
Students rejected an increase infees y but they were raised
L ast spring, students voted on a proposed increase
in the Student Services Fee and, already hurt by
tuition increases, they wisely voted the measure
down. But those who backed the fee slipped in an
increase over the summer, against the wishes of the
student body.
It seems that some decision-makers failed to use their
brains when coming to this decision. The administration
should scour their budgets for spare money and solicit
donors for support instead of relying on student
fees to fund renovations and programs. At
minimum, the University should try to /
make up for what it is planning to do. /P
The increase seems small, just 29 cents per credit hour and /
for most students, it shows up as just an extra $3 on their
bill. According to internal memos supplied by the Depart
ment of Student Affairs, this should increase revenues
from the SSF by about $300,000 this year. This increase
does not require a referendum like that in the spring
because the maximum fee, $145.83, does not exceed the
$150 cap. If it did, it would require a vote of the student
body. The student body soundly defeated the proposed fee
increase this spring, as it did the spring before. Obviously, the
student body does not want to pay more in student services fee
without changes in the way those fees are currently spent.
But there was still a need to fund state-mandated salary
increases. These increases will be funded by the cur
rent increase, according to Assistant Vice President
for Student AfTairs Tom Reber. But they could have
also been funded out of the SSF Reserves, which
according to Reber, is usually kept at S3 million.
This amount is deemed to be sufficient for meeting
operating needs of those who use the fee for several
months. There are several programs that are projected
to be funded from fee reserves as well, to the tune of
more than $2 million.
The first of these programs
is the new Readership
Program, which will
require $250,000 for the
year unless alternate, non
fee funding is found. In fact,
if the program continues, it
will likely be submitted as
a request to the Student
Services Fee Ad
visory Board
(SSFAB)
for its recom
mendation this
spring, according
to SSFAB chair
Jim Carlson.
Aggie
Nights is also
projected to
receive $90,000
from fee reserves, despite the fact that the inclusion of Aggie Nights in last
year’s fee proposal seriously hurt the referendum chances for success.
Although the decisions of those on the SSFAB to support these programs
is questionable, the decision to make two of the biggest planned expenditures
were not made by the SSFAB, but by senior administrators, over the last few
years. The memos also include using fee reserves for renovating Cain Hall for
use by Student Affairs and office furniture for its new home. The renovation of
Cain is estimated to cost $1.2 million, and the new office furniture $800,000.
The idea of renovating Cain, which is on the Campus Master Plan hit list
for demolition, is only acceptable as long as the University remains commit
ted to using it for the next 15 years as planned. The reason Student Affairs
wishes to relocate there and needs
furniture for the move is due
to bad planning over the
past decade. According to
Reber, the vice president
of student affairs’ office
is spread over five loca
tions, some of which are
borrowing office furniture
from other departments.
The situation should
clearly be rectified, but not at
the students’ expense. A&M
students will not derive any
direct benefit from new office fur
niture or from the Cain Hall project.
That is not to say that the projects are
not useful, just that the wrong people
have been tapped to pay for them.
President of Aggie Watch Mark
McCaig agrees.
“This is an inappropriate use of
these funds. Paying to renovate a
building on a demolition list is not
a student service,” McCaig said
Why should students and organi
zations that use the Student Services
Fee be penalized for bad decisions by
past administrators? The reserves of the
Student Services fee is meant as operat
ing reserves for programs funded by the
fee or to help fund programs that come up
that were not originally considered, such as
the Readership Program.
Although the spending that is recommended by the SSFAB
may be questionable, it is still going to programs used by students
at some level. They have not been recommending spending for
capital projects. The University, by using the fee reserves, avoids
spending a couple million of its own dollars, which are meant to be
spent on such projects. The state set up the Permanent University
Fund and allows universities to collect tuition for capital projects
such as building or renovating buildings. The Student Services
Fee was not created as a means to shift the costs of capital projects
to students anymore than what they already contribute. But that is
exactly is what is happening.
At this late date, it may not he possible to fully replace fee
funding, but there should at least be an attempt to minimize the
amount spent from reserves on the projects. This Univer
sity, and others like it across Texas, must stop
viewing students as a never-ending money
tree, one that allows them to fund what
ever they feel like whenever they feel like.
This school is a service provider, one run
by the state to meet a public policy goal of providing higher education. Perhaps
administrators would do well to think about the quality of service they provide
before assuming that they have the right to charge monopolistic prices.
David Shoemaker is a senior
management major.
DAVID
SHOEMAKER
MAIL^CALL
Red, White and Blue Out
will give faith in Aggieland
In response to an Sept. 8 mail call:
Mr. Walker should be commended for reminding
us about the significance of Saturday's game. I was
terribly disappointed when it was announced last
month that the previously planned Red, White and
Blue Towel Out was being replaced with commemora
tive Sept. 11 editions of the 12th Man towels. While
this noble effort will benefit the Fallen Patriot Fund, it
is frustrating that we will not repeat our magnificent
accomplishment during a nationally televised game.
I admit that the summary released in the Aug. 23
Aggie Hotline stated, “At the request of Sept. 11 sur
vivors and several members of the NYPD, FDNY and
numerous Aggies currently serving in the military,
this event will be replacing the Red, White and Blue
Towel Out that was planned for the game.”
So, perhaps we do not know the full story here.
However, that should in no way hinder the student
body from proceeding with an impromptu Red,
White and Blue out. As I recall, the original Towel
Out planned for a reversal from 2001; first deck was
red, second deck was white and third deck was blue.
Wouldn’t it be spectacular to at least see the east
side of Kyle Field pull this off?
Show us what you're made of, old Ags. Give us
faith in the future of Aggieland.
Tonia (Dousay) Grigg
Class of 1998
Don’t ruin the original day
by attempting to repeat it
Sept. 11 is a date, just like June 19, Dec. 7 or
Nov. 18. Every date holds some meaning to some
one due to birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, etc.
While I understand that Sept. 11, 2001 holds an
even greater, unified significance to Americans
because of the terrorist attacks on New York, that
period in time and the months that followed were
special. Americans renewed their patriotism and
love for their fellow Americans.
Red, White and Blue Out was born from that
love. The event was a simple action that created
profound effects and cannot be repeated. Attempt
ing to re-create that moment, either with colored
towels or shirts, would devalue the message of the
original statement.
So, I suggest to anyone who wants to display their
pride and patriotism on Saturday or any day: do so
with your thoughts, words and actions. As to anyone
who wants to recreate the event as a means of forget
ting about the Utah game, today we stand as mem
bers of the 12th Man if our team needs us, and Sept.
22, 2001, we were here when our country did need
us, not three years later.
Joey Mims II
Class of 2003
Corporate sponsorship
cheapens school rivalry
Well Ags, the Athletics Department has once again
come up with a brilliant idea to boost publicity and
make more money. For those of you who are not
aware, our rivalry with The University of Texas is now
brought to you by State Farm Insurance.
Isn’t that spectacular. We now have an official
sponsor for our historic rivalry. Just when I think
things can’t get any more different around here, Bill
Byrne hits us with another one.
What’s next, Ags? The Bud Light Court at Reed
Arena, or how about Kyle Field brought to you by Gal
lery Furniture? We can all go to the game and see if
we can get on the Dodge Jumbotron from your seats
on Cingular's second deck.
The point I am trying to make is that little changes
like these tend to lead to much bigger issues down
the road. We already have to put up with the Athlet
ics Department’s new spirit band that has made a
complete mockery out of the Aggie War Hymn.
If I would have told you 20 years ago that the War
Hymn would be played using a bass guitar and a rock
drum set by someone other than the Fightin’ Texas
Aggie Band, you would have called me crazy. Well
here we are, folks; that is now a reality. Just imagine
where we will be in another 20 years.
I love this school more than most anything, as do
most of you, and that just makes it that much harder
to see where we may be headed. Some of the chang
es that have come over the last four years I have been
here have been beneficial to the University as a whole,
but others like these are just plain ridiculous.
Rob McClelland
Class of 2004
Opinion drawing missed
the point of the column
In response to a Sept. 8 graphic by Ivan
Flores:
Although the subject of Ivan Flores’ controversial
drawings has been broached before, I think Wednes
day’s drawing demands discussion. Women are often
objectified in every type of medium, so I no longer
find it surprising that The Battalion chooses to por
tray women as sexual objects in Flores' drawings.
However, today’s drawing was completely misrep-
resentative of the nursing mother. Breast-feeding is
a nourishing act that strengthens the loving bond of
attachment between mother and child. The draw
ing portrayed the nursing mother as a sexual object
and seemed to taint the vocation of motherhood and
make it less beautiful.
The drawing is also inappropriate as an accom
paniment to the article. While the article was in
formative and non-biased, the drawing adds bias by
suggesting that breastfeeding is indeed a sexual act,
thus swaying readers toward an opinion they other
wise might not hold.
Amy Sattler
Class of 2006
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters should
be 200 words or less and include the author's name, class
and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right
to edit letters for length, style and accuracy. Letters may be
submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid student
ID. Letters also may be mailed to: 015 Reed McDonald, 1111
TAMU. College Station, TX 77K43-1111. Fax: (979) 845-2647
Email: mailcall@thcbattalion.nct