Vicki Voldal Rosenau, Valley City

The scheming in Bismarck to spend public money for private-school tuition should have ground to a halt on Jan. 6.

That’s when the release of a new statewide poll confirmed what many folks already knew: By an overwhelming majority, the people of North Dakota do not want their tax dollars paying for private-school vouchers. North Dakota United sponsored the DMS Research poll, which surveyed 600 North Dakota voters and showed 68 percent opposing the idea.

Moreover, the polling showed 67 percent of voters do support increased state funding for public schools.

How much more unequivocal could the people’s message be? Clearly, voters want this Legislature to scrap plans for sending public money to private schools, and do a better job of funding our budget-stressed K-12 public schools.

Will legislators respect the will of the people? One politician promoting public funding for private schools (Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck) has already questioned the poll’s soundness.

But there’s a simple solution. If Sen. Axtman is unwilling to act according to this poll’s emphatic findings, she should place the whole question on the ballot for an official vote of the people. It is instructive to note that last November voters in Nebraska, Colorado and Kentucky soundly defeated voucher ballot proposals.

The same result will occur in North Dakota.

Meanwhile, this Legislature should not proceed with shifting public money to private schools via other stratagems, including funding for school lunches, “education savings accounts” and “marketplaces” of education-related services.