Colorado voters reject raising taxes to support education

Unions have destroyed the quality of education that we once had. Many teachers are intelligent, hard working, caring individuals that care for their students. Then there are the so-called teachers, that because of the unions work rules, cannot be ferreted out and thus remain as a drag, both intellectually and financially, on the whole system.

After Katrina, New Orleans had a chance to rebuild their school system. They chose to privatize a good portion of it and it appears to be working well. Maybe this is a lesson that is worth spreading nationwide. Colorado seems to have begun the process of enlightenment.

Excerpt: In what could be a harbinger of the 2012 election, Colorado voters Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have raised nearly $3 billion for education by temporarily increasing state income, sales and use taxes.

With 59% of the projected vote counted, Proposition 103 was trailing 65% to 35%, the Associated Press reported.

The debate over the measure closely mirrored recent rancor in Washington over the question of whether more spending will revive a moribund economy or slow down a nascent recovery.

A likely swing state in 2012, Colorado is a particularly interesting place to see which argument voters cotton to. Its population is well-educated, with more than one-third of residents older than 25 holding at least a bachelor’s degree. But the state’s unemployment rate has been stuck around 8%, and a solid share of the electorate finds taxes distasteful, passing a major tax-limitation measure in 1992.

If Proposition 103 had passed, individual and corporate tax rates would have temporarily jumped from 4.63% to 5% and the sales and use tax rate from 2.9% to 3%, the Associated Press reported.

Read full LA Times article here.