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 Stop Playing Politics with Our Children
by Tom Campbell
February 8, 2007
Sometimes children become pawns in political games. Regardless of the justification this is unnecessary, unproductive, and unforgivable. An obvious example is the tug of war between the Wake County Commissioners and the Wake School Board.
At some level this game is being played because of the governance structure of public education. The LEA (local education agency or school system) is charged with instruction, administration, and oversight of the education process for each student. They also are involved in determining how many classrooms are needed and which students attend which schools. But they have no funding authority. Money comes from the state and counties, establishing an ever-present tension between the three.
Wake, like many of our state’s counties, is increasing school population rapidly; about 7,000 new students showed up for school this year. No one argues that there is enough space for current and projected populations. County Commissioners in most all the 100 counties are reluctant to raise taxes. School administrators, faced with the problem of too many students and not enough space must satisfy their legal and moral requirements of adequate facilities. In a growing number of instances administrators are opting to convert schools to year-round calendars, because such a calendar allows the same building to accommodate between 20 and 30 percent more students.
Wake school leaders wanted a major bond election to build new schools. County Commissioners objected to the amount of the proposed issue because it would cause significant tax increases and, after much back-and-forth discussion, a consensus package of almost one billion dollars was put to the voters. As part of the agreement between commissioners and school board members, many schools would be converted to the year-round calendar. Parents, faced with losing the traditional summer vacation, objected forcefully. The bond issue passed, but not without opposition. Now the County Commissioners want to change the deal, withholding funding for year-round conversions and even talking about putting another big bond issue on the ballot this fall. What happened to the joint agreement? The answer is easy: politics.
Here’s a simple solution to this age-old tension. Turn all matters of school facilities over to the County Commissioners in each of the 100 counties, since they want control. They will purchase the land, oversee construction, maintain the buildings and furnish them to the local school systems. If there aren’t enough classrooms for students, parents can complain to commissioners. If the buildings they build are not adequate, they will also hear those complaints. If there are court cases that result from not providing adequate classrooms the commissioners can deal with them. This removes our school boards and administrators from focusing on buildings and allows them to do the job they are supposed to do, educate our children.
One way or another we have to stop the political pandering going on between counties, especially Wake County, and the school systems. It is unfair to use our children as pawns in ugly power struggles.
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