Hey! All you guys in line @ the unemployment office! Let’s talk about education!

 

Bobby “BOOM BOOM” Etheridge says we need to dump MORE money into public education.   We’re getting THIS from the state Democrat Party and its house propaganda organ, The N&O.

Yet, in response, we’re getting THIS and the sound of crickets from NCGOP HQ in Raleigh.

Some members of the GOP leadership in the General Assembly have tried to play defense against the Democrats’ education lies — ahem — charges.  Our budget is only one percent lower than what Bev Perdue asked for.   GREAT!  That line of defense works wonders when we’re trying to paint Bev and her buddies as big spenders.

Let’s talk about the grossly obscene tax burden that North Carolinians are bearing.  Oops.  Our boys — and gals — have been in charge on Jones Street and didn’t do ANYTHING about that. 

Let’s talk about Bev and Black and Basnight helping to win North Carolina a ranking of 44th out of 50 for quality of business climate.  Oops.  Our boys — and gals — have been in charge on Jones Street and didn’t do ANYTHING about that. 

Why can’t we talk about how little relevance spending per pupil has on student achievement.  If spending more per pupil was key to student achievement, then the public school systems in DC, Atlanta, NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit should be among THE BEST in the country.

Let’s talk about how North Carolina took ALL of this Obama stimulus money in 2009 to pay for extra teachers and assistants.  The money was good for two years.  The state had NO PLAN in place to pay for these people when the federal money ran out.  In 2011, the money ran out and those new hires got laid off.    Let’s talk about how the GOP majority behaved responsibly, instead of leaving those people on the payroll and continuing the tradition of deficit spending.

Let’s talk about the 1400 employees at DPI making five and six-figures a year, while many teachers are having to take second jobs to make ends meet.  Let’s talk about the flood of standardized tests draining passion from students and teachers in the classroom.

(Let’s also talk about the six-figure DO-nothing  job that Bev gave BOOM BOOM after Renee Ellmers sent him home from DC.  THAT money could have been put to much better use in a classroom somewhere.) 

Here in Moore County, a few years ago, the superintendent filled a position for an “assistant superintendent for curriculum design” which paid $150,000 per year.  The job HAD been vacant for three years.  (The school system did not fall apart while that job was vacant.)  THAT money could have been better spent in the classroom.

Why not talk about a focus on quality instead of quantity in the debate on education spending?

While the Dems are trying to extract more money from our pockets to pad a hopelessly-broken public education bureaucracy,  NCGOP needs to talk to voters about how to put more of our money BACK into our pockets.