politics

A lot of people here are vastly overestimating the grade level of material they read. Most newspapers write between a 6th and 8th grade level. NY Times is around 10.

Most politicians also use speeches targeting a 6-8th grade education, for the same reason. Trump speaks somewhere around grade 4.

Laws/bills targeting higher than that, particularly when placed on the ballot, are usually done so to gatekeep the general populace (other people have already posted examples). It's rarely due to technical requirements.

From the national literacy institute:

54% of U.S. adults read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level

Source:

NLI literacy statistics

Good.

The more important something is, the clearer it should be. I want a drunken toddler to understand this sht.

You gotta be really careful with this type of stuff.

Ohio passed a law that allows its current government to "clarify" the way issues are written on the ballot. Conveniently, it was done right before the vote on anti-gerrymandering. This anti-gerrymandering issue intended to select a fair cross-party committee for redrawing districts, but was re-phrased as a wordy and confusing blurb mentioning "unelected individuals" and "without accountability". The issue did not pass. Which was the goal.

Can someone pass the memo to political columnists?

"Judge strikes down motion denying trump admins attempt to stop the prevention of denying immigrants from striking down denied attempts at prevented..."

Fucking OUT WITH IT. USE YOUR WORDS.

Texas already adopted something like this!

You see, when school districts ~~purpose~~ propose a bond, they are talking about selling bonds in exchange for money. The bond measures ask that you approve them selling x dollars worth of bonds which will be used for very specific purchases, such as computer equipment, roof repairs, and HVAC maintenance. In general bond measures don't raise your taxes because the district already purchased the bonds; this is a request to use what's already been paid for.

On the other hand, districts all across Texas are also trying to pass VATREs, which is a measure asking voters to approve a tax increase to fund the school district. This raises the money that's used to pay salaries, fuel buses, buy teaching supplies, and literally keeps the lights on. Most of the time, if not always, VATREs are a property tax increase. There are considerable exemptions available, including a standard exemption provided by the state that's paid for already by the school districts.

The wording for these proposals are very confusing, including the wording for VATREs, which presents the rate increase as x cents on every dollar per $100. What this really means is that when a district requests a 5¢ increase over, let's say, a 3¢ existing property tax, they're proposing a tax rate increase from 1.03% to 1.08%. These rates typically only affect homeowners whose houses are valued somewhere over $165k, and cost most homeowners a couple dozen dollars per year. But, in return, the school district stays open, teachers stay employed, and schools are less likely to shut down (although Texas is always working on new ways to shut down public schools).

So, VATREs increase taxes, minimally, and are at a flat rate which means that more expensive homes contribute more, thus leveraging high-income earners to help low-income learners. Bond proposals don't increase taxes, and make sure that the learning happens in safe environments. Bond funds CANNOT pay salaries, and VATREs CANNOT repair roofs. But of course, the ballot measures use very confusing language, as all ballot measures tend to. So the state uses very simple language to inform voters. On every school district website, a message must be posted that literally includes these words, verbatim, bolded and in all caps, notifying that the school district

ADOPTED A TAX RATE THAT WILL RAISE MORE TAXES FOR MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS THAN LAST YEAR'S TAX RATE.

And every ballot measure, regardless of tax rate changes, is prefaced with these words

THIS IS A TAX INCREASE

The bonds that are not tax increases? Every single one is prefaced with THIS IS A TAX INCREASE.

Because in Texas, we'll make sure that our education system fails our voters, and then try to ensure that our voters fail themselves. Because it's not enough for school districts to fight hunger and ignorance, we also have to fight the state.

What's with the grade scale for reading? Is 1st grade like 7 years old? So 8th grade level is how a 15 years old should be able to read?

If voters can't understand materials written at a 12th grade reading level, the education system should be improved to fix the problem rather than dumbing down society to account for it.

This seems like a good thing.

Wouldn't help, the median reading and comprehension range of Americans is 5th grade