EducationNews.org - A Leading Global News Source - More taxes for Michigan public education is like a Ponzi scheme

EducationNews.org - A Leading Global News Source - More taxes for Michigan public education is like a Ponzi scheme

Our system of funding public schools is broken.

Yet, the race that is on to extract more tax dollars from those who have yet to lose their homes and jobs to protect the status quo borders on a Ponzi scheme. There is a clear attempt to use our children as pawns to generate additional tax support for fraudulent investments in a broken system that protects what was vs. what needs to be.

Our system of funding public education is dysfunctional and need of a systematic overhaul. The governor and legislature know this and have avoided the advice of studies and recommendations from distinguished organizations to address the structural funding crisis facing our schools, including: The Center For Michigan (http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/), Business Leaders for Michigan (formerly Detroit Renaissance) (www.businessleadersformichigan.com), Citizens Research Council (www.crcmich.org), Mackinac Center (www.mackinac.org). In addition, Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed a bipartisan Emergency Financial Advisory Panel, co-chaired by former governors William Milliken and James Blanchard and stacked with knowledgeable Lansing insiders, that offered recommendations on how best to avoid ongoing budget crises like Michigan is experiencing now. The governor never acted on her panel's recommendations.

    Avoiding these reports and asking for new taxes is perpetuating an intentional deception on the public. Like a giant Ponzi scheme, as long as there is new money coming into the system, the scam can continue. It is when we stop feeding the status quo with new tax dollars that the system, like a Ponzi scheme, seizes up.

    Asking for new taxes without reform is a fraudulent investment in a system that will not make us competitive in the global economy. Without serious reform of the system, it is like pouring new money into a glass with a hole in the bottom and wondering why it can never be filled.