Sounded Good at the Time...

In Wake County, NC, the School Board is debating how high they can go on their bond referendum [article 1, article 2] so that voters will go for it on November 7th. Bring it on a little at a time. (Sounds like putting a lobster into a cool pot of water and turning up the heat slowly, with taxpayers in the role of the lobster.) Well, parents are already up in arms about their children being bussed around the county. So, you’d imagine that they’d really be enraged by this. Think again. As a North Raleigh resident put it in article 1 above, “I'm not thrilled to raise taxes, but the people are coming. We have to do something about it…That's money well spent.” (She was probably even straight-faced when she said it.)

What she forgets is that taxes are being raised on every property owner, even couples like us who have no children. Gee, I just love paying for our neighbors’ children learning such useful skills as how to feel about two and two or mastering tree-hugging so they can become the envirowhackos of tomorrow. Meanwhile, our police and fire personnel are underpaid.

The bond referendum will pass, of course. Too many people are committed to “That Hillary Woman’s” idea that “It Takes a Village…”

One proposal that has been put forth to keep taxes lower is changing at least one school to a year-round schedule (nine weeks of classes followed by 3-week breaks, with no long summer vacation). It’s a schedule more in line with our modern times, not the mostly agrarian society that spawned the original set-up. But no, this will not do. In fact, the idea is so unpopular that, as one parent put it in article 1, “I'm willing to dig deep into my pockets to make sure that doesn't happen.” Pardon me, but I think that’s MY pocket you have your hand in.

The big issue that’s getting missed in Wake County and across the nation is, as Stossel pointed out, government (“public”) schools. If everyone who had children knew that he/she would be responsible for the total cost of that child’s education, i.e., that they could no longer force their neighbors to pay for it, I suspect we wouldn’t be having this mess going on right now. The issue of how much to tax wouldn’t exist.

(By the way, did you know that having the government in charge of our children’s education is a tenet of Communism? It’s true. Check out the Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx and Engels. That way the government is pretty much in charge of whatever goes into your child’s brain. Think about it.)

Another thing I would like to see is a switch away from using property tax as a way of getting revenue for schools. Of course, if all schools were privatized, this issue would be moot, since only the parents of children attending the school would pay (unless people wanted to donate money to their local elementary, middle, and/or high schools just to show support for local education).

Ah, the Black Hole that is our Government-run Education System. All hail!

Copyright © 2006 A.C. Cargill

Two factors seem to be driving the bus: 1) Balancing the number of students per school to prevent overcrowding in areas that experienced a growth boom (including Apex) and 2) Maintaining socioeconomic balance by ensuring that students in “affluent” neighborhoods mingle with those in “less fortunate” ones – a rather subjective standard (“less fortunate” might mean your kids still use last year’s iPod).

The first is an economic necessity brought on by people demanding that the government educate their children. The second is a high-sounding idea that shuffles children around like checkers on a board so people can pat themselves on the back and say, “Look at how fair-minded we are.”

Of course, there is a bright side to busing.

For the children:

• Conditioning for adulthood (commuting an hour or more daily to and from work).
• Preparing for a career in road design, studying the roads they travel – day after day after day.
• More time to listen to tunes downloaded on their iPods.
• Extra sleep time (they might wake up missing their lunch and a few other things, though).

For local business:

• Selling lots of colored markers, easel pads, and sticky notes to draw up new busing plans.
• Charging Mom and Dad’s credit cards for replacing all the stuff that went “missing” while their little “checker” – uh, child – slept on the bus.

How about stopping the checker game and recognizing that our kids have friendships and other associations (sports teams, etc.) that would be lost with a move, even at the elementary school level? Nah, too rational.

We could always turn the table on school board members by busing them all over the county – one year here, one year there. That should keep them on their toes, especially if they just bought a house to be near their office.

As for proposing a “school toll” on new residents, they already have one. When they buy a house, they pay next year’s property taxes at closing. Most of that goes to Wake County Schools, at least according to my latest bill.

Also, not everyone has children. Yet, if they own property, they have to pay property taxes. We are, in essence, forcing our childless neighbors to pay for our children’s education. Gee, how equitable.

Here’s a thought: Privatize schools. No more treating children like checkers in a game of “fair-mindedness.” They might even get an education.

No wonder homeschooling is becoming popular. Jump. Jump. King me!

Copyright © 2006 A.C. Cargill

If you’re asking why you should care, think about the money your child’s school needs and other legitimate uses for taxes. Further, think about what YOU could do with that money.

Guess who the Executive Director of the museum is. Yep, Patrick Woodie, a former Alleghany County commissioner. Seems like Woodie wrangled a new job at taxpayer expense. Simple for someone used to collecting a taxdollar-funded paycheck. Of course, he claims it’s all for the county residents, after several expensive attempts to bring manufacturing back to the county failed. Tourism is the answer. Works every time. Well, sort of. The museum will take a dozen people in Sparta off the unemployment line AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE. Whoopee.

This definitely falls under the classification of “What Were They Thinking?” Of course, the answer is: “They Weren’t”!

With government pork at an all-time high, this seems to even the most spendthriftiest among us to be a real head-scratcher. I guess if Alaska can get $200 million to do with as it pleases (originally for building the now-infamous “bridge to nowhere” to connect Ketchikan to Gravina Island, a community of 50 people that has no roads), then us tea drinkers can have an edifice housing the finest bric-a-brac around.

Woodie claims that getting money from taxpayers (both state and federal) will jiggle loose the private donations. Just because it hasn’t worked in the past…

I’m all for people having jobs but don’t see this as a solution. It also begs the question: If the Kamms want a home for their “children,” why don’t they fund it?

Further, why is the Gold LEAF Foundation using funds wrested from the tobacco industry for this porkish homage to tea? Sounds like a small town I knew in California where they used tobacco funds to pay for having live reindeer at their Christmas Festival.

So much for helping counties, including Wake, that have watched their economies go up in smoke when lawyers were successful, after decades of trying, to get tobacco companies to pay for the poor choices of their customers, putting many tobacco farms out of business. Too bad the tobacco farmers couldn’t get FDA approval of tobacco as a food additive like the soybean growers did.

Gotta go now. It’s teatime.

Copyright © 2006 A.C. Cargill