Separate But Equal? Part 1

Separate but Unequal

This will be series of entries about a local issue concerning my school district's bond referendum. Bonds are financing vehicles where the state or local municipality sales financial instruments called Bonds that are typically tax free to the buyer of the bond. They have lower rates of interest (which is why states like to use them) but for the investor in a certain income bracket, their taxable yield (actual interest earned) is higher because the interest is earned tax free. For example, a tax free bond may pay an annual interest rate of 3%, but because the likely buyer is wealthy and pays a higher tax rate, he will invest in these bonds (buy them) for the 3% return because on a tax basis, the bond would really be paying 6% interest. Bonds are backed by the credit rating of the issuer of the bonds. In this case, the municipality's credit rating. Because municipalities have the ability to tax their citizens, they're revenues can be adjusted in order to meet the cash flow needs of they're programs, unlike a commercial or public company that can only price they're product for what the market will allow. As a result, municipalities generally, though not always, have high credit ratings and a higher credit rating means a lower rate and a lower rate means a cheaper source of capital. Ok, got that? Good. Now lets move on.

A bond referendum is a request from the government body to the voting public to borrow money for various purposes. In this instance, the public is voting on whether to issue (borrower) $412,000,000 to upgrade local schools as well as build several new schools. You can see the request here.

Generally speaking, I usually always vote yes to bonds because I believe that we have a communal responsibility to everyone in a civilized society. I pay a lot of taxes every year, more than most earn on a per capita basis in my state. As someone fortunate enough to have a higher income, I have a responsibility to give back to my community for my good fortune. I have no problems with this.

The particular bond in question here is for schools and I'm all for good public education. It's one of those things that we all benefit from whether we have children or not. Studies have shown that the higher the population's education, the higher the income and the lower the crime rate. A well educated populace attracts employers and improves everyone's standard of living. That is a fact.

However, on this referendum, I have to vote no. Why would I vote no for school bonds that will certainly benefit the larger community I live in? That will give more children a chance in life? I have to because within those bonds is a rather sinister provision outlay to create separate schools with separate entrances on main school campuses.

According to the Bond snippet explanation provided by a group called "Vote YES For Kids", the bonds would raise $25,500,000 for what is called "autism wings" on school campuses that would utilize separate entrances for autistic students. According to the project the bonds language it states "This funding will include facilities for approximately 48 special needs students with Autism as part of the new Airport Area High School campus. Special classrooms and student support facilities will be included along with a separate entrance for this area. There are three schools with that will include this language. Each one is about $8,500,000. These are separate "wings" as they call them and are located on the same school grounds as the general education schools. The county is currently using a central school for its classic autism population in the middle of the city and it was thought that these wings would bring the students closer to they're individual neighborhoods. That's good. However, for some reason I cannot seem to get answered from anyone connected is why they created separate entrances. This separate entrance really bothers me. Yes, it could cut down on bullying perhaps and make it more efficient moving from the general to the autistic side, but I'm not sure.

What does a separate entrance broadcast to the general population of the school though? That is my bigger concern as is the dignity and human rights of the autistic population to be treated equally.

Wikipedia

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, which overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, by declaring that state laws that established separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This victory paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement.

Much of the ninety years preceding the Brown case, race relations in the U.S. had been dominated by racial segregation. This policy had been endorsed in 1896 by the United States Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that as long as the separate facilities for the separate races were "equal," the segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment ("no state shall... deny to any person... the equal protection of the laws.")

The plaintiffs in Brown asserted that this system of racial separation, while masquerading as providing separate but relatively equal treatment of both white and black Americans, instead perpetuated inferior accommodations, services, and treatment for black Americans. Racial segregation in education varied widely from the 17 states that required racial segregation to the 16 that prohibited it. Brown was influenced by UNESCO's 1950 Statement, signed by a wide variety of internationally-renowned scholars, titled The Race Question. This declaration denounced previous attempts at scientifically justifying racism as well as morally condemning racism. Another work that the Supreme Court cited was Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944). Myrdal had been a signatory of the UNESCO declaration.

Brown is undoubtedly the most famous of a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases that dealt principally with the efforts of civil rights activists to promote the interests of the people they represented.

To be continued....

Comments

[leo]

I agree with Kimberly, bring back some of the old vids, also loved the family ones.

Just want to know, where's the sweater?

[suzanne]

I want to know if the colored bars are spinning in direction You chose, or if it is a right-brain/left-brain trick.
The day I first saw this, the boys brought home pencils imprinted with "Great schools benefit Everyone!" Made me very happy they are in a school/community that includes them.

[CS]

Suz, the bars were moving in the direction I chose, in unison and represent the difference and unity of the spectrum.