Editorial

Midterm election offers several ballot issues

Nationally the midterm election on Nov. 4 is big news. The balance of power for the U.S. Senate is up for grabs, as are all members of the House of Representatives.

But in Missouri neither of the U.S. senators are up for re-election. The only statewide official on the ballot is the auditor Tom Schweich, a Republican, who faces third party opposition but no Democratic opponent.

Eighth District voters will choose a representative, and there are legislature and local contests.

But ballot issues, statewide and local, are gaining more of the attention this November. Here is a recap of the issues you will see on the ballot Nov. 4.

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended so that it will be permissible to allow relevant evidence of prior criminal acts to be admissible in prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim under eighteen years of age?

If more resources are needed to defend increased prosecutions additional costs to governmental entities could be at least $1.4 million annually, otherwise the fiscal impact is expected to be limited.

Constitutional Amendment No. 3

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

require teachers to be evaluated by a standards based performance evaluation system for which each local school district must receive state approval to continue receiving state and local funding;

require teachers to be dismissed, retained, demoted, promoted and paid primarily using quantifiable student performance data as part of the evaluation system;

require teachers to enter into contracts of three years or fewer with public school districts; and

prohibit teachers from organizing or collectively bargaining regarding the design and implementation of the teacher evaluation system?

Decisions by school districts regarding provisions allowed or required by this proposal and their implementation will influence the potential costs or savings impacting each district. Significant potential costs may be incurred by the state and/or the districts if new/additional evaluation instruments must be developed to satisfy the proposal's performance evaluation requirements.

Constitutional Amendment 6

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to permit voting in person or by mail for a period of six business days prior to and including the Wednesday before the election day in general elections, but only if the legislature and the governor appropriate and disburse funds to pay for the increased costs of such voting?

State governmental entities estimated startup costs of about $2 million and costs to reimburse local election authorities of at least $100,000 per election. Local election authorities estimated higher reimbursable costs per election. Those costs will depend on the compensation, staffing, and, planning decisions of election authorities with the total costs being unknown.

Constitutional Amendment No. 10

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to require the governor to pay the public debt, to prohibit the governor from relying on revenue from legislation not yet passed when proposing a budget, and to provide a legislative check on the governor's decisions to restrict funding for education and other state services?

State governmental entities expect no direct costs or savings. Local governmental entities expect an unknown fiscal impact.

The city of Cape Girardeau will vote on a proposition to extend the sales tax portion of its fire tax. Here is the language:

Shall the City of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, extend the imposition of the City's existing fire sales tax of one- eighth of one percent (1/8 of 1%) beyond its current expiration date for the purpose of providing revenues for the operation of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Fire Department? This one- eighth of one percent (1/8 of 1%) sales tax extension shall expire on December 31, 2035.

The Southeast Missourian has published stories on these issues. Locally, the fire sales tax and the Constitutional Amendment No. 3 regarding teacher evaluation have led to much discussion and passionate opinions.

The election is one week from Tuesday. We hope you will take time to review these issues and make your voice heard on Nov. 4.

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