Huntington Herald-Dispatch – Over the past few months, I’ve been all over the state talking to parents, teachers, firefighters, local elected officials from both parties and small-business owners about the harm that would be done to our state if two constitutional amendments on the Nov. 8 ballot are approved.
Read the full op-ed.
Amendments 2 and 4 would take power over important local schools and public services away from voters, communities and education experts and give it to partisan politicians in the Legislature. The all-but-certain result will be layoffs for teachers and emergency responders, larger class sizes, longer wait times for 911 calls and more political fights in the classroom. To stand up for local control, for our schools, and for the seniors, workers and families who rely on local services, we have to vote No.
Amendment 2 would remove nearly a century of constitutional protections that give voters the ultimate say over local funding for schools and public services and give that control over local revenues to state lawmakers. The Legislature has already made clear their plans of what they’ll do with their newfound power over our school and county funding: give out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts to out-of-state corporations.