Saint Louis Public School officials and campaign staff laid out their plan to push passage of Proposition 1 on the April 5 ballot at a campaign kickoff at the district’s administrative offices in downtown St. Louis on Monday, March 7. A simple majority is needed to pass the initiative.
If passed, Proposition 1 would increase the operating tax levy for the Saint Louis Public School District by $0.75 – the first such increase in 25 years. That equates to an additional $71.25 per year for the owner of a $50,000 home or $107.25 per year for the owner of a $75,000 home.
This increase would generate an estimated $27.8 million in new revenue each year for the district and charter schools in the city.
If approved by voters, Proposition 1 funds would be used to continue offering early childhood education, expand character and alternative education options, improve safety and security equipment and personnel, and offer more competitive salaries to teachers and staff.
Charlene Jones, Proposition 1 campaign manager, laid out campaign strategy to a crowded room of district staff and supporters, campaign volunteers and media. She said the campaign will send three mailings – two to all registered voters in the city and a third to 92,000 frequent voters. She said the campaign has opened a 20-phone phone bank and a speaker’s bureau, with speakers already visiting neighborhood, ward and business meetings. The campaign plans 11 days of radio ads, as well as print advertisements in “all of the neighborhood newspapers,” she said, but not the Post-Dispatch.
She said the Saturday before the election, April 2, campaign staff and volunteers will pass out sample ballots endorsing the proposition. The Sunday before the election, April 3, campaign staff and volunteers will address church congregations and then gather for a rally at Vashon High School. Rallies also are planned for businesses, labor groups, those who speak English as a second language, senior citizens, neighborhood groups and parents, and clergy.
She said that the campaign will staff 91 poll workers on election day, as well as work the phone bank and have vans cruising the city with loudspeakers blaring a “get out and vote” message.
The campaign’s challenges were evident at the rally, however, where two speakers gave the wrong date for the April 5 election before being corrected, and a third speaker gave the wrong name for the proposition before correcting herself.
There are five initiatives on the April 5 ballot, all of which call for voters to approve taxes or a bond issue – including Proposition E, which asks votes to reauthorize the 1 percent city earnings tax, which provides the city with nearly one-third of its revenue.
Several of the campaign’s public supporters spoke at the event, including honorary campaign co-chairs Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones and 11th Ward Alderman Thomas Villa. Both stressed the value of funding the district’s early childhood education programs, as Proposition 1 would do.
“Every dollar you spend on early education, you get $7 in return,” Tishaura Jones said. “As treasurer I know something about investments, and you can’t get that kind of return on the stock market.”
Villa spoke in the most dire terms.
“It’s important we don’t kid ourselves,” Villa said. “If we lack the intestinal fortitude to invest in these kids, we are a failed city.”
Charlene Jones listed other supporters of the campaign. Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, is serving as campaign treasurer. She said Comptroller Darlene Green supports the initiative, as do elected officials or ward groups from 22 of the city’s 28 wards. 6th Ward Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia attended the rally in support, as did License Collector Mavis Thompson.
District Superintendent Kelvin Adams also spoke at the rally. “We are incredibly committed,” he said, “in seeing that all the children in the district get the resources they need to succeed.”
