PROPOSAL WOULD LET MAJORITY RULE

JEFFERSON CITY -- Touting the concept of "one man, one vote," supporters of a proposal aimed at making it easier for school districts to pass bond issues testified Tuesday before a House committee.

A proposed amendment to the state constitution offered by Rep. Joan Barry, D-St. Louis, would allow for a simple majority of voters to approve bond issues. A four-sevenths majority is required during municipal, primary and general elections, with a two-thirds majority needed during all other elections.

"Allowing for a simple majority is a matter of fairness," Barry told the House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education.

Barry said Missouri is one of nine states that require supermajorities to pass bond issues.

Supporters of Barry's proposal claim supermajorities give "no" votes more power than "yes" votes.

Margi Cook, a member of the Mehlville school board said 105 local bond issues won simple majorities but failed to pass in districts throughout the state over the last five years. Mehlville, in Barry's suburban St. Louis House district, has failed to pass a bond issue in the last four attempts. The least supported won 52 percent of votes cast.

"I strongly believe weighted voting is wrong for school bond issues," Cook said. "It is unfair for the minority in the community to decide for the majority."

Many schools need bond issues to finance capital improvements to maintain aging facilities or build new schools to handle growing enrollment.

Kelly School District Superintendent Don Abner told the committee his district has outgrown its buildings. However, the district has been unsuccessful in its last two bond issue attempts. One garnered 49 percent; the last one 52 percent.

The district has been forced to house students in temporary classrooms at considerable cost, he said.

While community support for the district is strong, Abner said, voters don't want a heavier tax burden.

"People are saying, We know you have needs; we know you have problems; but we don't want to pay higher taxes,'" Abner said.

Often , he added, it is hard for the district to explain the issue to voters.

"Taxes in general and the school funding process are very difficult to explain to our residents," Abner said.

More than half a dozen education groups, as well as the Missouri AFL-CIO, endorsed the proposal before the committee.

Barry offered an identical amendment last year. It passed in the House and won approval from a Senate committee, but a threatened filibuster on the floor of the Senate killed the proposal in the closing days of the legislative session. Two similar proposals were heard by the Senate Education Committee last week.