Ales Rarus

Pennsylvanian legislators have developed a plan for reducing school taxes. The alternate source of revenue would be slot machine profits. In order to take part in this program, called Act 72, school districts must opt in and lose some property tax revenue. The deadline for opting in is May 30. For various reasons, many districts are giving Act 72 a pass. I don't blame them.

It's a pretty moronic idea. Instead of relying on community support, in the form of property taxes paid by those living within district limits, Governor Rendell wants state schools to rely on what amounts to a stupidity tax. What a swell idea. Let's ride on the backs of people willing to foolishly piss away their hard-earned money on one-armed bandits. Whata fantastic way to fund education.

It's a self-defeating venture. Either we'd teach kids to see gambling as the losing proposition it is, thereby losing future slots slaves, or we'd leave them in ignorance of the dangers of gambling in the hopes that they'll squander the fruits of their state-funded education to feed the system.

Sadly, it is often the case that the people who can least afford to gamble are the ones who are more likely to do so. Not only does Act 72 not ease the burden on people in poor districts, it helps the government to take advantage of them. Here's the situation in a nutshell.

• There are great funding disparities between school districts in the state.
• Poor districts are funded by proprty taxes in poor neighborhoods and rish districts are funded by property taxes in rich neighborhoods.
• There is a poor success rate for people trying to escape poverty through education. There is a high drop-out rate and a tendency for those who fall through the system's cracks today to be the tax-payers in the same district later.
• Raising property taxes in poor districts would be like trying to draw blood from a stone.
• It would be political suicide to suggest that richer districts help out poorer ones.
• Pennsylvania's solution? Take from the poor what they foolishly are willing to part with voluntarily - gambling money.
• The result? The rich continue to fund and reelect those in power and keep their money from touching the unwashed masses while the poor make themselves poorer and shoulder more of the educational funding burden.

There is a much better way to fund public education. Put all school taxes into an account for the whole state. Distribute funds from that account according to need, not affluence or influence. Unfortunately, no legislator is likely to be bold enough suggest such a change. Assuming he'd ever get elected, he'd never get reelected. The affluent want their money helping their kids only. Try to change that and you'll be a political pariah. I pray that some day someone in government decides that helping people better themselves is more important than retaining power.