Hal & Jon
As a commissioner I’ve often pondered what allowing the ELECTED school board to tax for their budget would do. In the past (and to a lesser degree the present) commissioners across the state have been against this (because they were vast owners of property). But as the demands of public education continue to escalate faster than our ability to pay for it with no revolution (not a typo) in sight, I’m inclined to want them to face the public as they tax.
Countless millions are spent every decade as school boards and commissioners square off in court or mediation over “how much” should go to the schools. In truth, the great majority of this “responsiblity” is mandated, albeit in a murky way by the legislature.
At least giving them the taxing power avoids the ludicrous face off between the two locally elected boards and forces the school boards to face the public as their expenditures rise.
In truth, however, this is a wonderful shell game the legislature is playing to avoid dealing with their lack of leadership on the failures of public education and the current massive expenditure of money caused by Easley’s smaller class size mandate. Removing 10 kids from classrooms across the state means you have to build more schools regardless of growth. It also means all the cafeterias and libraries that were built to accomodate current populations are now overbuilt because the schools will have fewer students in them. Again, lack of foresight, lack of vision, lack of responsibility.