Education Action Alert

JCPS Suppresses vote on school tax hike

Why Action Is Needed

On May 21, 2020 JCPS proposed a 9.5% property tax increase for public schools. Proposed tax increases over 4% are subject to voter recall. If 35,615* signatures are presented to the Jefferson County Clerks office by July 11 the proposed tax increase can be rejected by voters. If those signatures are not received by the deadline the 9.5% tax increase will be implemented without public input. A group named No JCPS Tax Hike (nojcpstaxhike.com) collected more than 40,000 signatures and submitted them to the Jefferson County Clerks office before the deadline to ensure the proposed 9.5% increase would be voted on by Jefferson County taxpayers. JCPS initiated an investigation as to the legitimacy of the signatures on the ballot and challenged the petition and filled a lawsuit to prevent the issue of the tax hike from being placed on the November ballot for voters to either accept or reject. Jefferson County residents have reported receiving phone calls from individuals refusing to identify themselves or the organization they were affiliated with asking if they had signed the petition. JCPA (Jefferson County Teacher Association) President Brent McKim told WDRB** the union hired an analyst with New Albany, Indiana-based HALO Group to review the petition submitted to Holsclaw’s office against a copy of a local voter registration file. Jim Walters reported in The State Journal*** "JCPS is paying $575,000 to a Danville-based firm for a public relations campaign to boost pro-tax efforts in the largest school district in a state which the Money Geek ranks sixth in the nation for personal bankruptcy filings during COVID-19."

  •  * https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/education/2020/05/21/jcps-approves-tax-increase-starting-petition-period/5231102002/
  • **  https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/jcps-board-will-challenge-certification-of-anti-tax-petition/article_69c45e78-e1a5-11ea-a349-372265434835.html
  • ***  https://www.state-journal.com/opinion/jim-waters-district-adding-spending-insult-to-tax-injury/article_91e91c76-e6c4-11ea-aea7-436f4c7bfad8.html

Why is JCPS going to such extreme lenghts and spending so much of the taxpayers money to prevent people from voting on this issue?

All You Need To Know

the strategy...

Stop JCPS from blocking public vote on 9.5% property tax hike.

The fastest, easiest most effective step you can take is to share the post you found on Facebook that brought you here on your Facebook page. Send links in messenger or email…. they may not see your Facebook post. People are far more likely to notice posts, messages, and emails from someone they personally know rather than a random pop up anonymous post. AND they will be far more likely to share it with their friends and family….. 

Use a hashtag for greater engagement.     #nojcpstax 

You will definitely notice and remember a face far longer than a talking point.  Take a selfie holding a sign in your own words saying something like “I signed the No JCPS Tax Hike (nojcpstaxhike.com) petition. I want to vote on it…. BUT SMILE… (I had a rough morning). Post it on your Facebook page. People can connect and relate to a person…..a face….. a smile. It is so much more effective than a plain post. The more these selfies show up on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the more people will become aware, connect and identify with the smiling faces holding the signs.

If you have taken steps 1 and 2 you are doing more than 98% of the city. Congrats good and faithful citizen. You have shared with friends and family. You have shared all over social media. Hopefully there is a growing conversation happening in Jefferson County. Step 3 next level sharing is a powerful, effective and can yield fast and dramatic results.  Take that selfie photo and start to email it to politicians, the school board members, metro city council. It isn’t necessary to write anything (I would suggest you at least consider a brief note.) Just that selfie holding up the sign will speak volumes. It will say this issue is important to you and your think they should be aware that your voice and vote are important to you… AND them.

Email those selfies to  WDRB, WHAS, WAVE, WLKY. Send that selfie to your favorite (or all) local reporters or radio show host. When the media finds their email boxes full of hundreds or THOUSANDS of selfies…… they will not only notice….. they will report as well. It takes very little effort, but has the power to change minds to allow a vote on this issue.

Don’t forget phone calls…

Stay in touch with Louisvilleliberty.com and the good people at nojcpstaxhike.com. 

Much of the information we share is from people just like yourself. Any information you share with us regarding liberty infringement is completely confidential, investigated, and verified.

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