Levy Campaigns on Steroids

In states where educational leaders rely upon the passage of local tax levies to help fund their public schools, the closest over the years they have come to engaging in mortal combat is waging levy campaigns.  As anyone who has been involved in these campaigns can attest, they can become extremely emotional and divisive.  Today, however, we are facing something even more insidious.  We are facing levy campaigns on steroids.  The daily vitriol now being generated by our political system is much more damaging to the health of our communities and future of our public schools than periodically asking citizens to increase their taxes.  In an insightful conversation with Derek W. Black, the Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law, he explains how the landscape for public education has changed and then suggests a pathway for navigating through the turbulent waters heading our way.