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This is a tale of two schools. School A has small class sizes where the individual needs of students can be met by well-qualified teachers and aides, classrooms and restrooms that are in good repair, air conditioning and furniture that provide a comfortable learning environment, digital technology and up-to-date resources for students to use, and learning materials and supplies provided for all students.
School B has 30 or 40 students in every class, classes taught by noncertified instructors, classrooms with holes in the ceiling and broken desks, restrooms with broken toilets, classrooms with temperatures reaching 90 degrees or more on a daily basis or with air conditioners that were donated by teachers or parents, inadequate technology and no infrastructure to support new technology, textbooks that are at least 10 years old, and learning materials and supplies donated by parents.
Given the choice, which school would you send your child to? Which school would give your child the best chance at receiving a quality education?
I want my children to attend School A. Unfortunately, most students in Hawaii are stuck attending School B, unless their parents can afford to send them to a pricy private school. But why should that be the only way to a quality education in our state? Why can't all of our children have those same opportunities? Don't all of our children deserve a chance?
Today, we have a unique opportunity to do something about this, an opportunity to provide a quality public education for everyone. Absentee ballots are arriving in mailboxes across the state. On the back side of the ballot is a question asking voters if we will amend the state constitution to allow for a surcharge on investment properties to fund education. Absentee voters can do the right thing today and vote yes. Everyone else can do the same at their local polling place on Election Day. Vote yes on this constitutional amendment and we can work to make School A the reality for all of our children.
Now, there are deep-pocketed special interests who have been very active in spreading misinformation and propaganda against this constitutional amendment. They say things like: "the wording is too vague," "there's no guarantee the money will go to education," "it will take money from the counties," and "it will increase the cost of living for all of us." All of that is simply not true.
The wording is as specific as can be for a constitutional amendment. This is a change to the state's rulebook, not a law. It will allow for a law to be created which will contain all of the details. During that process, all of us will have the chance to share our concerns with our state legislators so they make sure the law has the details we want. They've already stated that their intent is to only target investment properties (not owner-occupied) valued at over a million dollars, and we can hold them to that.
There is a guarantee that the money will go to education. It's right there in the wording of the amendment. If the money goes anywhere else, it would be a violation of the constitution.
The counties will not lose a single penny. They will still have the authority to collect and use property taxes. This amendment simply allows for an additional surcharge on investment properties that would go to education.
And, this will not increase the cost of living. Actually, research has shown that areas with higher property taxes have lower housing costs and lower costs of living for local residents. Why? Because right now wealthy investors buy up the land and homes for investment purposes, paying virtually nothing in property taxes, which limits the supply of housing for local families and drives up costs. Higher property taxes actually remove that incentive for those wealthy investors to buy up the land and homes, thereby lowering costs for local residents. And this is not some radical socialist propaganda; it is modern research from leading economists across the nation and here in our state.
So please, think about the school you want for your children, and vote accordingly. Vote yes on the constitutional amendment.
* Mike Landes is a social studies teacher at Lahainaluna High School and is the Maui Chapter president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.