Our Voice

The recent school elections in Saline County were interesting.

Some were surprised that Benton School District patrons passed the 6.5-mill increase its administrators were seeking for improvements to all schools. The measure passed, 1,901 to 1,734. The total vote represented 22 percent of the district's registered voters.

A similar measure for a Benton property tax increase was defeated in May 2007 by a count of 1,617-1,315.

In the Haskell area, voters in the Harmony Grove School District defeated a millage proposal that would have raised the district's tax rate 2.3 mills to pay for a football program and a stadium. The vote was 482 votes against the tax increase to 472 for it. Those totals meant 38 percent of the registered voters in the school district went to the polls.

Voters in the Harmony Grove district defeated an identical proposal for 2.3 mills in September 2007 by a 262-244 count. That proposal also would have financed a football program for the district and a 1,250-seat stadium.

Some people involved in the two elections were happy with the two outcomes and others were not. Still, we were pleased with certain aspects we saw in the two tax elections.

In Benton, for instance, the supporters of the tax proposal believed in the district's need for the additional funds to pay for improvements to district schools, so they went out and educated people about the proposal and asked them to join them.

Coming back so soon to ask for the tax increase angered some voters. In fact, 117 more "no" votes were cast this year. But, supporters picked up 586 additional votes, so the measure passed.

In Harmony Grove's district, nearly twice as many voters turned out. Little campaigning went on when the measure was on the ballot in 2007, but this time, supporters mounted a drive to educate people about why they believed adding football to the district's extracurricular activities was important.

One bright spot we heard about was the campaigning by some senior Harmony Grove students. They made signs showing their support of the millage increase and waved them from a location across from the school each morning as drivers approached.

Granted, some opponents came back with their own campaigning, but we liked the fact that these seniors were supporting a proposal they felt would help their school, even though they would not be around to reap the benefits.

Another positive aspect that evolved from the Harmony Grove millage defeat is development of talks in the community about other ways to develop a football program. Mayor Jeff Arey said one tax opponent came to him and said he was against the tax, not against having a football program.

Finding a different way to achieve a goal is certainly a healthy sign of community involvement.

We applaud all those who voted in the school elections for taking their civic responsibility seriously. The next time voters will have an opportunity to exercise their rights at the polls will be the May 20 primaries. We hope the trend of increased turnout continues then.