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 Exercise 20.4
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Write a news story based on the following information, which is from an article in the Star-Herald of Scottsbluff, Neb.:
LB 662 was scheduled for first-round debate today in the Nebraska Legislature by special order of Speaker William Nichol of Scottsbluff.
The bill would require the state's 650-plus Class I school districts to consolidate with larger districts. Class I districts offer classes only through the eighth grade. Class III districts offer classes in kindergarten through high school.
Sponsors of the bill are Dave Landis of Lincoln, Vard Johnson of Omaha and Peter Hoagland of Omaha. They contend that the reorganization would provide a more equitable tax base. The bill is also supported by the Nebraska Association of School Boards, which generally favors consolidation.
Proponents of the bill say that Class I districts tend to have lower tax levies.
Sue Ewing, a board member of the Cedar Canyon Class I district southwest of Gering [and in the Star-Herald's circulation area], and other Nebraska Panhandle residents joined an estimated 300 opponents of the bill, who journeyed to Lincoln [the state capital] hoping to influence senators last week.
Today's vote will determine whether the effort won any senators over.
Mrs. Ewing and other opponents of the bill contend that it will not lower property taxes as promised.
Mrs. Ewing said that in Scotts Bluff [two words] County, the average levy for Class I districts is about $1.90 per $100 valuation. School taxes in Class III districts
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average about $2.40 per $100.
Mrs. Ewing was quoted: "It looks on the surface that Class I's get a real tax break," she said. "But the real bottom line is dollars per household."
According to Mrs. Ewing, the average taxpayer in a Class I district in Scotts Bluff County pays $2,274 in educational taxes compared with $1,288 for taxpayers in Class III districts.
She said: "We tend to have more valuation with fewer kids." It was also noted that the disparity includes non-resident tuition, which Class I residents pay to send high school students to Class III districts.
The bill would allow Class III school boards to maintain smaller schools. But few opponents believe this would actually happen. Mrs. Ewing quoted some of the bill's opponents who lived in districts that had already been absorbed by larger districts. She said they told her that they got "shabby treatment—they were sent the most untrained teachers, the oldest books."
Other area residents who went to Lincoln last week were Cedar Canyon board president Russ Worthman and member Gary Grasmick, Lake Alice board member Jim Merrigan and Jack Preston, a past president of the Rural School Board Association.
Mrs. Ewing was further quoted: "If you lose your local control, you might as well close the school. There were probably 300 rural patrons roaming the [state capitol] halls. I hope we did some good. We won't know till they [the senators] push the buttons [to vote]."
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2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education