Education in NC

The North Carolina legislature is at it again. Once more, they are wrestling with budget concerns, once more, they see education as a place to make cuts. I am seriously wondering how many of these buffoons made it beyond sixth grade.

Instead of looking to trim the fat by slashing important programs like More at Four and Smart Start, both early education programs with a proven track record, the legislators need to look at some of the real culprits. There is plenty of waste in the system without penalizing the children that need services the most.

The first place to cut is obvious. Charter schools are nothing more than a sham education system developed solely to serve elitist parents that feel their children are too good for public schools. Sorry, but if the public school isn't good enough for your child, then you pick up the tab for sending them to some form of alternative schooling. Not one cent of taxpayer money should be used to fund private education.

Another effective cost cutting measure would be to eliminate the absurd number of administrative positions. If one administrator can't handle the demands of 500 students, they aren't doing the job they are trained and being paid for. The primary job of many assistant principals appears to be collecting their paycheck. Sorry, but that isn't effective use of tax dollars.

The school calendar also needs some attention. Teacher "work days" are another example of a system gone amok. Nationwide the average number of "work days" is six....until recently, it was twenty in NC. That number has since been reduced to fifteen, but that is still more than double the national average. Mountain schools are struggling to meet the required 180 days of classroom instruction and yet, they are required to take "work days" during good weather that could be better utilized as classroom days.

It fascinates me that NC schools start their school year a month before public schools in NY and PA....and yet they can't manage to fit in the required classroom days even with an extra 30 days penciled in to the calendar. Lest you are one of the fools that thinks NY and PA are nothing more than concrete jungles where every child is within walking distance of the school, I have to inform you that you are sadly mistaken. Many areas of NY and PA are as remote, if not more so than the "wilds" of western North Carolina. The weather is also a far bigger issue in the northern states, but they have learned to adapt. Yes, they are forced to take a snow day on occasion, but they don't close down the minute the local forecaster predicts a single flake of snow.