Another frontal attack on public education

This is not the first time that we have questioned what two Oakland County members of the state House of Representatives are either drinking or smoking. We refer to the recent proposal by six House members to eliminate school district property taxes for homeowners who do not have children attending public schools.

The two representatives we single out from the pack are Republicans Matt Maddock from the Milford area of Oakland County and Republican Shriver of the Oxford area. Maddock has established himself as not just far right but hard right when it comes to his performance as a House member and the proposals he backs. Writing him off as MAGA does not do him justice. In the case of Shriver, Christian Nationalist probably captures him best. One has to wonder who puts the likes of these two into office. But we digress.

Here’s what the GOP pack have recently introduced.

If it can make it out of the government operations committee, which is doubtful, starting in 2027 any household that does not have children in public schools would have that portion of their annual tax bill reduced by 40 percent. Then, in future years, the remaining amount would be reduced by 15 percent annually until 2031 when they would pay no property taxes in support of local public schools.

Any household not using the public schools, including those with children in private schools, would end up not paying taxes to support local public schools.

By their own estimate, 72 percent of homeowners have no children in the public schools, which has always been our guesstimate for the Birmingham-Bloomfield area.

As expected, a couple of pro-public school groups have already come out in opposition to the proposal.

Obviously, taking this kind of revenue away from the schools would devastate what we now know of the public education system.

On a purely philosophical basis, this type of thinking undermines what is referenced as the overall common good of the community. At any point in time, we all pay for services in a community that we may not directly use but from which we still benefit because these services contribute a value to the overall community. In the case of public schools, the overall value of homes in a community are directly impacted by the quality of public education offered to our children.

We cannot think of a more frontal attack on public schools, and are embarrassed that two clowns backing this are from Oakland County.