To the editor:

I had to chuckle when I saw the recent article in the Call wherein the Lindbergh school board president and the Lindbergh National Education Association president fell over themselves patting one another on the back for the great job they did shoving a 65-cent tax increase down the throats of the district’s beleaguered taxpayers — “Board of Education, Lindbergh teachers pleased with direction of school district.”

Vic Lenz, current board president and himself a former Lindbergh teacher and current president of the National Education Association’s Missouri lobbying arm, the Missouri School Boards’ Association, crowed about how these collaborative tax-raising efforts are part of the Lindbergh district’s “culture.”

And LNEA president Scott Fleming couldn’t help but refer to the desire to raise the residents’ tax burden as a visionary pursuit.

What a quaint way to describe manipulating more money out of the taxpayers’ pockets.

The Lindbergh school board has additional former school teachers — Don Bee — as well as a professional politician — Vicki Englund — who I’m sure were more than happy to relieve the taxpayers of their hard-earned money.

Since the majority of the aforementioned 65 cents went to paying off the teachers’ union in the form of higher salaries, it will be interesting to see what stories board members tell their community when they have to ask the taxpayers for more money in 36 to 48 months.

Rich Franz

Concord

Editor’s note: Rich Franz serves on the Mehlville Board of Education.