LETTERS: PHILOSOPHY WAS REASON FOR MOTION

To the editor:

I wanted to write this letter to clear up any confusion over action in the Missouri House Budget Committee last week to remove $1.5 million in funding for the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School.

Acting alone, I made the motion to have funding for the vocational school taken from the budget. This was not a partisan conspiracy aimed at Mary Kasten as some have tried to imply. I was not orchestrated by state Rep. Joe Heckemeyer as Peter Kinder tried to imply in his rather crude column Sunday.

My motion was made on philosophical grounds. Nothing more, nothing less. Traditionally, state capital-improvement funds have not been used to construct school buildings in this state. Whenever a school district wants to construct a new building, it goes to voters with a bond issue. That's how we do it in St. Louis. That's how is should be all over the state. We have over 500 school districts in Missouri and simply do not have the resources to be paying for buildings in individual school districts. A few buildings have received some state funding in recent years, and efforts have been made to fund others. As a longtime member of the Budget Committee, I have consistently opposed such efforts and will continue to do so in the future.

If you want to blame someone, blame me. My action was not directed at Kasten or the people of Cape Girardeau. My action was taken in the name of responsible budgeting.

STATE REP. TIM GREEN, 73rd District

St. Louis