Nick Jimenez

Constitutional issues make a real difference

Here's a surprise: Early voting begins tomorrow. Or at least I'll bet it's a surprise to a lot of Texans.
   This is one of those elections we hold every couple of years that are seemingly designed to confuse and discourage voting. It's called a Texas constitutional amendment election, but it is really an exercise in determining just exactly who are the determined voters.
   You have to be determined to exercise your citizenship if you want to vote intelligently in these all-too-frequent efforts to patch up the state constitution. On today's editorial page is the Editorial Board's list of recommendations on the 19 constitutional amendment propositions. The voter, of course, can determine his or her own ballot, but the recommendations are an attempt to shed some light on the issues and give our reasons for a choice. Separate editorials in the coming days will further explain our choices. In this kind of election, I figure, voters need all the help they can get.
   The ex-Confederate soldiers and post-carpetbagger politicians who wrote the state's constitution distrusted central government; they disbursed power over all political kingdom come. That might have been fine before the turn of the century (the 20th, that is), but it makes life and government awfully tough at the beginning of the 21st century.
   There have been attempts to rewrite the constitution, but they have come to naught due to the politics of the thing. ("I'm shocked, Rick, shocked.") The upshot: Voters are asked to go to the polls from time to time to fix problems that ought to be fixed in the Legislature, but can't be because the constitution won't allow it.
   There's a case for putting matters up to the voters. Among the proposed amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot is Prop. 15, which would dramatically alter how the state funds roads and highways. But voters will have few clues from the ballot language as to the importance of the decision being made by the voter.
   Fighting for old schoolhouses
   In fact, the ballot language on propositions rarely explains the story behind the story. Take Prop. 13, which would allow school districts to donate old school houses for historic preservation. It's a small item, but hugely important to the folks in the Hill Country.
   The Friends of Gillespie County Country Schools are banking on Prop. 13 to save 12 small rural school buildings, the only ones left in the county of scores that once dotted the area. Most are more than 100 years old. And there are others in surrounding counties.
   The schoolhouses, many consisting of just one room, are key pieces of Texas history. Lyndon B. Johnson attended Williams Creek School near Stonewall. "This is the school where LBJ declared during recess that he was going to be president," says Ronni Pue, chairman of the Friends.
   The school buildings are intricately linked with the heritage of the Hill Country. German was the language of instruction for many years at Williams Creek School before teaching changed into English. The schools were the pride of immigrants who valued education. After school consolidation in the last century, many ceased being schools. They have found new life as community centers and gathering places as rural life has resurged. They still, however, are school property because the constitution prohibits school districts from donating land or buildings. And in the trendy Hill Country - Gillespie County has 300 bed-and-breakfast inns alone - communities can't afford to buy the old buildings and land at auction.
   One schoolhouse site, Pue says, is valued at $1 million. "You know they'd tear the building down."
   The Friends know the biggest obstacle they face is lack of voter awareness. So they have mounted an election campaign: a parade float featuring a little schoolhouse with folks playing pinochle and checkers and kids playing. It's hardly a media circus.
   Prop. 13 deserves the support of the voters. That proposition is important, as are all of the amendments on the ballot. The election deserves the focus of the electorate even during a critical moment for our country.
  
   Editorial Page Editor Nick Jimenez can be reached by phone at 886-3787 or by e-mail at jimenezn@caller.com
  
  

 
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