The arrogant, self-centered demands for taxpayer money have frequently been on display recently. But this Lee County schools assignment takes the award for most shameful. From Carolina Journal’s David Bass comes this story: (emphasis is mine)

 

Freshman Republican lawmaker Mike Stone says his daughter was “used against” him when a public school teacher instructed her and her classmates to contact elected officials in opposition to budget cuts.

The result: a hand-written note imploring Stone to “put the buget (sic) higher dad” so that her school wouldn’t have to forgo field trips, be unprepared for end-of-grade tests, and lay off teachers.

“The truth of the matter is, they baited my daughter on what to write,” said Stone, who represents Lee County in the North Carolina House. “It was totally inappropriate for an 8-year old to be used as a lobbyist in Raleigh.”

The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed a $19.6-billion budget last week that restored some funding to public schools, including preserving teacher assistant jobs, but Democrats have blasted the spending plan for its cuts and implored Gov. Bev Perdue to veto it.

Lee County superintendent Jeffrey Moss said that the writing assignment at Tramway Elementary was appropriate and only directed students to write their state representative, senator, and the governor “in support of public education.”

 

It’s a crystal clear acknowledgement that Big Education– one of the most powerful special interest lobbies in this state —  is about MONEY, not children.  And it comes on the heels of Orange County Schools’ blatant political  lobbying — ahem, excuse me, the Schools’ “information” campaign.