County should spend for schools

I attended the first public hearing on the county budget a few weeks ago and read all the letters on the subject in The Eagle. Almost all were critical of the Madison County Board of Supervisors and the possibility of even a very small tax increase.

The current recession is often given as the prime reason to reduce taxes.

The lion’s share of the budget always goes to the schools.  It appears to me that virtually all the recent budget critics do not have children in our school system. None have mentioned that the state has reduced funding to our schools by $935,000.

The superintendent has slashed the school budget by almost that amount but has asked the board of supervisors to make up less than 8 percent ($73,000) of that amount with local revenues.

Yet some budget hawks argue that that is not enough. That 15 people losing their jobs (as the superintendent has proposed)  is not enough. That more crowded classrooms and fewer teacher aides (probably our best education bang for the buck) is not enough.

There is more, but you get the idea.

The most closely watched measure of taxation in the county is the real estate tax. There are 9,000 such bills sent each year. $73,000 amounts to an average of about $8 more per bill.

It is worth noting that the county actually took in less real estate taxes ($9,011) last year than the year before according to the county Web site.

No one doubts that we are not in the midst of a severe recession and some people are struggling to pay any tax bills.

But the way to an improved economy is not simply by slashing budgets. As the new U.S. Department of Education secretary said the other day, “If we want to stimulate the economy, we need a better-educated workforce. That’s the only way, long-term, we’re going to get out of this economic crisis.”

Those who think that a $877,000 cut in the school budget is not enough may wish to recall that if they attended public schools, others paid for their education many years ago with the expectation that they would help pay for the next generation’s education.

Today’s students will do it for the generation that comes after them. It’s a responsibility that comes with being a member of a community. Even if you don’t have kids in school, we all benefit from having an educated populace.

Our state government has dropped the ball on our kid’s education in unprecedented fashion.  I think making up $8 is not too much of a burden to ask to allow something of a semblance of normality to continue in our school system.

(Guest columnist Robert Legge, who runs a dried-flower business, has closely followed education issues since the first of his two children entered school. He lives with them and his teacher wife in Etlan. Contact him via e-mail at .)