THE LWV Positions on Local Issues
LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
Adopted 1996, Revised 1998
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
local government and/or governmental
units or changes of jurisdiction which will improve
services to citizens and provide
economy of government financing. Citizen participation and
public review are essential in any
plans or changes in government jurisdiction or
organization.
LAND USE
Adopted 1973, Revised 1998
1
use policies that reconcile the
conflicting demands development and environmental
preservation which are in the long term
public interest.
2 To achieve these goals, urban
growth and land use policies should ensure land use
consistent with physical attributes and
capacity of the land, environmental protection
and wise use of resources should
include:
3 Intergovernmental
and interagency cooperation and coordination;
4 Planned,
balanced and controlled economic growth and population distribution;
5 Adequate
and balanced transportation systems, including mass transit;
6 Control
of the extension of utilities and roads, including expenditure and timing, to
satisfy environmental protection in
areas of development;
7 Preservation
of open space, both public and private;
8 Land use
consistent with land capability, environmental protection and wise use of
resources to provide equal
opportunities for access to housing, employment and
education;
9 Preservation
of natural resource lands (including significant farmland, forests, unique
scenic, ecological or historical areas)
and protection of land subject to natural
disasters (hillsides, flood plains,
wetlands, etc.);
10 Citizen
review of all development proposals, both private and public, affecting the
county to ensure consideration of
social and economic needs and consistency with
public policies and plans;
11 Balancing
of public versus private rights and regional and local rights.
Adopted 1991, Revised 2001
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
free public library system is essential
for an educated and economically healthy community.
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
increased accessibility through
building new branches and keeping neighborhood branches
open and increased quality of the
collection.
FAIRNESS AMENDMENT
Adopted 1991, Revised 2000
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
of local civil rights ordinances to
include protection from discrimination in employment,
housing, and public accommodations
based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The
endorsement is based upon the League of
Women Voter's principle that no person or group
should suffer legal, economic or
administrative discrimination. Protection from discrimination
is a basic human right. Citizens need a
clear legislative statement that our community will
not permit individuals to be deprived
of their opportunities for employment, housing, or public
accommodations based solely on their
sexual orientation or gender identity.
CONSENSUS ON LOCAL HOUSING RESOURCES
Adopted 1991
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
suitable, desirable, and affordable
housing should be available for all in our community
without discrimination as to economic
status, race, color, creed, ethnic origin, familial status,
sex, age, or physical or mental
handicap. Therefore, the League supports constructive
governmental measures to guarantee
freedom of choice for all in the rental or purchase of
housing, private or public.
Although the local Housing Codes
represent the minimum standards only as to what is safe,
standard, and sanitary housing, but not
necessarily decent and desirable, the League
believes that the local Housing Codes
must be enforced. However, the League urges that
those portions of the relevant Housing,
Zoning, and Building Codes that act as impediments
to housing rehabilitation and/or
in-fill opportunities be modified or administratively waived, on
a case-by-case basis. Also,
uniform Housing and Building Codes.
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
households displaced by community
development must be protected by safeguards,
including open meetings and adequate
communications with those affected. These should
not only be outlined in written
regulations, but also enforced in spirit as well as deed.
Recognizing that every person not only has a legal right but
also a human right to live
in a decent, affordable home and a
suitable living environment, and;
Recognizing the diminishing role of the Federal Government in
supplying funds,
subsidies, and incentives for the
creation of an adequate supply of affordable housing,
and;
Recognizing the rise of the number of homeless, including the
increase in families with
children due to the above problems as
well as economic and social problems, and;
Recognizing the need to provide people with increased job skills
and education levels.
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
governmental and private initiatives
which will increase the development of permanent,
affordable housing for both renters and
homeowners and which will provide support
programs in the areas of health, social
services, education, and employment necessary to
encourage individuals to move toward
self-sufficiency.
FINANCING PUBLIC EDUCATION
Adopted 1970, Revised 1994
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
sources of revenue for the public
schools. School budgets must at least include provisions
for inflation induced increases in the
cost of supplies, construction and teacher salaries.
Adequate financing should provide for
all day public kindergarten in all schools of
County.
Taxation should be commensurate with
the financial needs defined above.
The local school board should have more
fiscal autonomy and more local control over the
raising of revenue necessary for our schools.
CONSENSUS ON OPTIONAL SCHOOLS
Adopted June 1990
The purpose of optional
schools/programs in the public schools should be to enhance the
quality of education available to all
children and to support the regular programs by:
1. Providing choices of teaching
strategies 'or special curricula;
2. Meeting student needs beyond those
addressed in the regular program;
3. Serving as pilot programs for ideas that
might possibly be incorporated into the regular
program.
The following criteria should be met in
establishing an optional program school:
1. Professional staff should document a
need, taking into account parental and student
requests.
2. Ongoing per pupil expenses taken
from the general fund should be equitable (i.e. fair)
in relation to regular program costs.
Outside funds (such as federal) should be used
whenever possible.
3. Admission policies should be based
on specific criteria which reflect clearly defined
interests and needs. Parents and
students should be oriented to and counseled
about the option before the student is
admitted to a particular option. The degree of
parent involvement should not be a
criterion for admission.
4. Optional schools/programs should be
equally available to all qualified applicants and
conform to school system goals and
requirements for racial composition.
5. Personnel (both certified and
classified) should meet the academic and experiential
qualifications unique to the program
and should be philosophically committed to the
program.
Optional schools/programs need to be
evaluated on the basis of the purpose and criteria
stated above as well as on the basis of
meeting system-wide and program-specific goals.
These evaluations need to be shared
with the public.
Optional schools/programs should be
terminated when evaluation indicates that the purpose,
criteria, and goals are not being met
or when the program itself can be incorporated into the
regular program.
SCHOOL OBJECTIVES
Adopted 1987, Revised 1994
The League of Women Voters of
Louisville and
school system objectives for
organization and administration in order to secure and sustain a
quality program of public education in
this community:
1. Flexibility in the educational
programming within each school in order to meet the
different needs of all children.
2. School attendance zones which
provide for socioeconomic as well as racial
integration.
3. Citizen involvement and
administrative responsiveness to citizen concern.
4. Fair racial, social and geographic
representation on school boards, site based
decision making boards and advisory
boards.
5. Increased administrative
decentralization and increased local school autonomy.
6. Fiscal soundness, collecting revenue
efficiently from all available sources, and
efficiently using the money collected
with informed community input.
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS SELECTION
Adopted 1987, Revised 1994
A specific, detailed, written procedure
for the selection and review of instructional materials
(including computer and other
electronic programs) is a necessary and important safeguard
for the educational process, since to
inhibit the use of instructional materials is to inhibit the
learning process. Attempts to
circumvent the review process constitute a denial of the rights
guaranteed to all under the First
Amendment of the U. S. Constitution.
The appropriate policy and appropriate
instructional materials selection should expressly
state:
1. That a child not be penalized in any
way if his parent does not give permission for
his/her use of supplementary material;
2. That parents other than the original
complainant have the right to appeal all decisions
of an individual school's review or
site based management council's review committee;
3. That all parents of students in all
affected schools must be notified in advance of
cases to be heard by individual school
or central review committees;
4. That there be a specified period of
time during which a decision of a central review
committee will remain in effect before
a rehearing may take place;
5. That instructional materials must
remain available until the review process is
complete;
6. That criteria and procedures for
designating student and parent representatives on all
adoption and review committees be of a
general nature;
7. That criteria for teacher
representatives on these committees specify a requirement for
teaching experience within the subject
or course area;
8. That the policies be patterned on
the recommendations of professional organizations,
such as the National School Board
Association Advisory Service and the American
Library Association.
DISCIPLINE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Adopted 1983, Revised 1994
The goals of discipline in education
are:
1. To create a climate in which
teaching and learning can occur.
2. To help the learner develop
effective, acceptable behavior with concern for his/her
own rights and the rights of others.
A school system's discipline policy
should include the following characteristics:
1. Consistency of rules/consequences
with the stated educational goals.
2. Participation by administrators,
teachers, parents, students in developing the general
policy, rules and procedures.
3. Well-defined rules and well-defined
consequences for breaking the rules, so the
relationship between behavior and the
consequences is uniform, consistent and clear.
4. Rules/consequences geared to
developmental level; opportunities for exercising
individual responsibility according to
level.
5. Emphasis on good school and
classroom management.
6. Emphasis on instruction appropriate
to each student's needs.
7. Procedures in accordance with equity
and due process.
8. Positive communication of policy,
rules and procedures to all concerned.
The League emphasizes the importance of
continuous in service and support services for
teachers and administrators to enable
implementation of non-violent disciplinary strategies
which are consistent with the
educational goals. The League opposes corporal punishment
and seeks and sustains its permanent
elimination in public schools.
ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN
Adopted 1984
If children are found to be abused
and/or neglected by their families, the League of Women
Voters of
family unit, or should that goal appear
to be unachievable, those children should be placed in
programs seeking to provide permanent
homes. In addition, the League of Women Voters
supports those programs which seek to
prevent dependency placements. Justice for
abused and neglected children means
timely action with the child's best interest as the
central focus for decision making.