Column for November 23, 2006

School bonds are NOT "for the children"

"But it's for the children!" we are constantly told. If you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it. That is exactly what was learned from Nazi Propaganda Minister, Paul Joseph Goebbels. That tactic is being employed on a daily basis in American politics. The Goebbels Technique, argumentum ad nauseam, is basically repeating the same falsehood until it is accepted as truth.

In May, Johnstonians will decide yet another bond issue for the school system. Just this past week, the bond amount was announced as $99 million. Fortunately, the bond will not be anywhere near as large as the one that the Wake County voters just passed. Ours will be only about ten percent of theirs. None the less, there are still falsehoods associated with most bond issues.

Never believe the lie that we will not have to raise taxes in order to pay for a bond. A bond is merely another expenditure on top of the other obligations we already have or will have. A single issue may not trigger a tax increase, but there are always other factors in budgets. Budgets are not static, they are dynamic in nature.

If charter schools can exist on just the funding per student and absolutely no funding for facilities, then our traditional school system can obviously find better ways of fiscal management. I was listening to a charter school administrator recently speak about how their group runs two different schools, they have multi-million dollar construction going on, and they do it all with less staff and for less money than our government run school system.

Some easy problems to solve with our alleged overcrowding are simple. First, we need to abandon the concept of smaller class size as being superior. What we really need is discipline of those students. Unfortunately, the younger teachers and administrators are products of the same undisciplined system themselves, and therefore do not demand better behavior.

Other simple issues that will lead to better fiscal management are simply to cease the education of students who do not belong in this country to begin with. I have had enough of my tax dollars going to support those who are here illegally while others who wish to come to this nation through legal means are languishing away, hoping for their opportunity to enter this nation.

Charter schools typically use far less staff than do regular schools. Only about 50 cents out of every dollar we pay in taxes go to the classroom in public schools. The average is much better in charter schools, which are lighter in administrative costs. When we have multiple principals, redundant administrators, and pay our Superintendent of Schools more than we pay the Governor of North Carolina, there is a problem.

As taxpayers, we should demand accountability in our school system instead of writing off the costs as being "for the children". For far too long, liberal mindsets have allowed the taxpayers to be shaken down for more money for more and bigger schools, smaller class size, and more staff. Instead of the children becoming the beneficiaries, the true beneficiaries are the labor unions such as the NEA. The largest educators' labor union and their ilk benefit from power, increased union dues from larger staff numbers, increased spending, and the protection of incompetent teachers.

Tell a lie long enough and people will believe it. It is not for the children. It is for the education of our children. There is a big difference. The former is an emotional tug; the latter is rational and evokes responsibility. Is the purpose of our schools to produce children or to produce an education within children? Is it to give a palatial indoctrination or is it to provide an academic environment in which children can learn?

My vote will still be a resounding NO. When my tax dollars are spent wisely and miserly, then perhaps I will change my opinion. We obviously have ways that we can be much more effective and creative with our tax dollars and cut wasteful spending and administration. Unfortunately, it is doubtful that we will have the resolve to change a broken system or ignore the propaganda machine.

Don't even get me started on the idea that the Communist Manifesto calls for universal government administered education…and we are answering that call.