By Charles Wolfe
The Associated Press
FRANKFORT - If the General Assembly decides to raise taxes, legalize casino gambling or do something else to raise money, it apparently will get some of the impetus, and much of the political cover, from the education community.
A statewide coalition of school superintendents and school board members has been beating the drum for greater school funding for most of the last year - well before Gov. Paul Patton began warning of a $500 million shortfall through the next year and a half.
The Kentucky Education Association, which claims to represent more than 30,000 Kentucky teachers, plans to march on the Capitol on Feb. 12. The issue is money, especially for school salaries and benefits. Meanwhile, school districts are having to make plans for layoffs and program cuts, generating more public discussion.
Now comes the Kentucky School Boards Association, which enjoys its own share of influence at the Capitol.
The association's board of directors said recently in a three-pronged resolution that the governor and the General Assembly should revamp Kentucky's tax code. Implicit is the argument that Kentucky should base its taxes on segments of its economy that can be relied upon to grow.
The same resolution calls for an unspecified increase in the cigarette tax - currently 3 cents per pack, second lowest in the nation - as a way to deter youth smoking and raise money as well.
The third prong of the resolution is a backhanded endorsement of expanded gambling - the first time the school boards association has put itself on record on that subject.
Its resolution calls for the governor and legislature to "explore options for recapturing" the money that Kentuckians are now plunking down in casinos in neighboring states.
The idea is that "Kentucky taxpayers are spending money to fund Indiana schools and Indiana roads and Illinois schools and Illinois roads," said Alicia Sells, the association's director of governmental relations.
As for political cover, the school boards association promises to "work with its members and within local communities to support legislators as they make difficult decisions for raising the revenue necessary" for schools.
Ms. Sells said the board "felt it was important to make a statement to legislators that they are willing to support them if they run into trouble at home."
She said the association's board purposely avoided making detailed recommendations in its resolution. It sets no target for a cigarette tax increase and proposes no specific changes in the tax code.
Nor does it presume to suggest that the state ought to plunge into any particular form of new gambling - slot machines at racetracks, for example, or casinos at large hotels.
The school boards' proposal to recapture gambling money is worrisome for opponents of such ideas. "I don't think they're really analyzing what's happening in other states," said Howard Beauman, executive director of the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems, formerly the Temperance League of Kentucky.
The league and other antigambling groups argue that a further expansion of gambling - an expansion beyond the state lottery and the horse tracks to which legal gambling has been confined - would be immoral but also bad economic policy and potentially ruinous for many small, local businesses.
The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has endorsed expanded gambling, as has the Kentucky League of Cities, both of which were a blow to the opponents.
Now legislators have the added pressure of a faltering economy and a perceived urgency to do something, anything, and do it quickly.
"It creates for me a fear that it may be done too hastily and not well thought out," Mr. Beauman said. "If the state is going to consider gambling expansion, I think we need to do some very extensive studying first before we just jump into it. ... Without a restructuring of our tax system, we need to realize it's not going to be the solution to our problems."
SEE CINERGY IMPLOSION
Animation from Enquirer photos
Video from WCPO 
Galleries: Implosion | Crowd | Aerial shots |
Views from Kentucky
CINERGY IMPLOSION STORIES
Cinergy Field down in 37 seconds
Cleanup begins today, will take months
No hitches, no errors
New skyline already earning praise
What's next for the Riverfront?
Partiers impressed by implosion
Fifty-five years that shaped Cincinnati's riverfront
TOP LOCAL HEADLINES
64th homicide tops 15-year record
Vandals strike Nativity scene
Former contacts respect monitor
Experimental treatment may give boy 2nd chance
School is out, but reading class is in
PETER BRONSON COLUMN
Heart surgery for a city
AROUND THE TRISTATE
Tristate A.M. Report
Hometown Heroes: Helping others full-time job for trio
School kids broadcast news
Good News: Students do chores for charity
Obituary: Frank David Bergstein, 85, longtime inventor
You Asked For It
Congrats
OHIO
Ohio towns look for ways to save
Wright brothers ensured preservation of prairie
KENTUCKY
Woman recounts struggle in essay
Ala. church: No misconduct from priest
Rabbits plentiful for Ky. hunters
Educators support tax changes to help fund their schools
Ky. guard member in Rose parade
INDIANA
Report: Indiana needs to rethink funding for higher education
Gas tax increase among Indiana laws beginning in 2003
Robert O'Bannon Jr., 71, brother of Ind. governor, dies
