O'Connor: The Senior Conservative
by Dick O'Connor
January 7, 2002
The $26.6 Billion Education Bill is in the Mail. Pay it!
In the year 2002 we are going to spend 26.6 billion dollars on schools for grades K through 12. And the liberals say that the figure is not enough. Senator Kennedy (D-Mass) wanted to spend 33 billion. This is in addition to the amount spent by property taxes paid to the individual states to support education in each state. In our local District, for instance, teachers and administrators are asking for a referendum to raise property taxes about $500 more per year just to compensate for their overspending in the past. And they still do not have a projected balanced budget! The teachers and administrators say that 26,6 billion is not enough because, if they start to use it (and they will), teachers must agree to accountability, which they do not want to do. Testing each year to measure student progress and examination of tests by federal authorities to see why some teachers are failing to improve student performance while others are successful is not what the unions want to promote. This is a form of accountability and responsibility, which the teacher's union has fought desperately to avoid. One question remains: shouldn't the teachers have been doing this all along? What happened to the axiom that the individual states would educate their young? This is just another step toward the federalization of our schools, which is not recommended by our Constitution.
But it is too much money for the unionized teachers to pass up. They will still try to remain as irresponsible as possible, and the federal administrators of the 26.6 billion had better closely supervise the rules to make certain that accountability is established and enforced. Perhaps this will let us weed out some the lazy, bad teachers. Lord knows we have some, particularly in the inner cities. And there are also some saints who should be idolized.
Historically, education problems have not been solved by additional money. If they did respond to more money, we probably wouldn't have some of the situations we have today. On the other hand, we find the teachers who really want to teach, who are selfless and always concerned about better learning methods.
Both liberals and conservatives seem to be celebrating this bill-----maybe it isn't a waste of taxpayers' money after all. We'll see. Anytime politicians from both parties agree on a spending bill, and are congratulating each other; you can bet the taxpayer is taking it on the chin!
There are a few items that the bill should have addressed. Patriotism and love of country could have been included. It doesn't have to be a bending of history in any way. Of course we have made mistakes. What nation hasn't? But teachers should not spend an inordinate amount of time on the mistakes of history. The mistakes should be taught, examined and discussed from the point of view of not repeating them. They should not be discussed as grievous sins that need reparation. The glorious events (Bunker Hill to the conquest of Afghanistan), should also be discussed, dissected and reveled in to inspire love of country. This could have been a requirement of the Education Bill, but it is not. Pity!
Open your pocketbooks good people. The federalization of education is here! You are about to lose the local control of your schools. And you are going to pay for the privilege!
Permission granted to publish or broadcast this column in whole or part with attribution to WebToday.
©2002 WebToday
4.9¢ long distance from WebToday: Online sign-up takes about two or three minutes