Growing Our Party

What do schools really need?

For most educrats, the answer is simple: money, money and more money. Over the last eight years, their demands have been met. The amount of revenue to the k-12 system has more than doubled over that span, while student population has increased at less than one-seventh that number.

What we need is professional fiscal restraint from conservative school boards. Unfortunately, there are very few conservative school boards because most conservatives do not want to run for an unpaid, local political office that provides little public recognition and many headaches. Conservatives have abandoned the schools to the liberals, who see it as a bastion for creating more liberals and running the type of government control of citizens they want. As a result, most of the volunteers in our schools that could/would run for the school boards don't have the fiscal or social responsibility to recognize the limits of government spending that must be in place for education.

We all wonder why so many different local taxes for school districts. Bonds, budget overrides, K-3 overrides, adjacent ways taxes, capital overrides, CTE taxes, career ladder taxes, desegregation taxes, and, until recently, excess utility taxes. Add on fees for band, art, music, drama, debate, science labs, and sports, plus a student activity "fee" for every kid, and before long, it is a lot of additional money out of the pockets for taxpayers beyond the State of Arizona taxes for education.

It is time to tighten our belts in education. We can no longer afford $200,000 a year for a superintendent. We cannot afford four or five associate superintendents. We certainly should not be spending an additional $20,000 a year for "supplemental" retirement for the highest paid employees in the school district (they already get funding for a liberal state retirement program). Why are we spending a $1,000 or more per month as a car allowance for selected school district employees? We would be better off just paying mileage rates for use of their cars for company business like everyone in the private sector does.

If you are thinking you may want to run for political office, consider the one office that daily directly affects more people than any other elected office - the governing board of your local school district. Get down to your local school and/or school district and get involved. Volunteer your services and prepare yourself to bring fiscal and social responsibility to our schools.

Stop the mad dash to spend more and more and create an academic atmosphere that encourages student achievement for all of our children.