Seasoned tourists know the games. It’s the rubes who are the easy marks.
I learned that lesson about 40 years ago, during my first visit to New Orleans and the French Quarter. I was approached by one of the Quarter’s “colorful characters” and lured into a sucker’s bet.
“I bet you I can tell you where you got dem shoes,” the man said in that thick accent unique to the city.
I looked down at my Nikes, which I had purchased at the Edgewater Mall in Biloxi, and calculated the odds.
“OK,” I said, holding out the dollar I wagered on his answer.
The man rubbed his chin, mostly for dramatic effect, and seemed lost in thought. In the next moment, his faced brightened.
“You got dem shoes on the 600 block of Decatur Street!” he answered merrily, snatching the dollar bill from my hand and bounding on down the street looking for another agreeable visitor to shake down.
A good chuckle and a lesson learned were well worth spending a dollar on, I figured.
So I know a con when I see one.
That’s why the whole notion that Legislature, dominated by Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Phillip Gunn, are serious about “fixing” K-12 education in Mississippi has all the marks of a con job.
These two hucksters, along with many legislators, have never expressed much of a real interest in improving our educational system, especially when it comes to finances.
But as more and more people began to worry about the neglect we have shown our schools, the pressure has mounted on the state to make a serious effort.
Faced with that backlash, the politicians have devised a plan to replace the state’s funding system, The Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP, for short), with a new plan. After funding MAEP just twice in 20 years, they are looking to lower the bar on what is expected of them.
Toward that end, they spent $250,000 on an education consulting firm to provide the framework for this new plan. A dummy bill was submitted before deadline and the House and Senate education committees will fill in the details in the coming weeks.
Based on Monday’s briefing, when legislators were given an overview of the hush-hush plan, this is the sort of con that would make a French Quarter huckster blush.
Essentially, the Legislature is passing the buck by shifting much more of education funding to local government.
One way to do that is a repeal of the “27 percent rule.” That rule says communities cannot be required to provide more than 27 percent of the total funding for schools, which means that the state is responsible for about three-quarters of the funding.
By removing that pesky rule, the Legislature can crow about how it has “done something” to increase education funding without raising taxes to do it. “Ain’t that great?” they’ll crow.
Meanwhile, the financial burden will fall more heavily on local school boards, who will be required to make up for the loss in state funding.
Unless the plan is revealed as a fraud and legislators are shamed into backing down, if you own a home, a business or an automobile, you’re going to notice a jump in your ad-valorem taxes. In fact, it could be a big, big jump, depending on where you live.
Meanwhile, the Pontius Pilates in Power, having washed their hands of the whole affair, will return to the important business of slashing taxes for big corporations and gutting state agencies.
Gunn and Reeves, along with the partner in hucksterism, Gov. Phil Bryant, are running a con. Unlike a visit to the French Quarter, we can’t ignore them and just walk on by.
Taxpayers are their captive audience.
“I bet I can tell you where you got dat school funding?” they will say.
But it’s not funny anymore.
And the wager is going to cost us far more than a dollar.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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