The Rock Hill school district just wrapped up another year's budget approval process. Now I love a little late night budget work session as much as the next gal, but boring or not, a question continues to nag at me every time I cover these things: Why does nobody speak up about how their tax dollars are spent?
Not one business owner showed up during this process to say, "Please don't raise my taxes this year." Not one elementary school parent raised their hand to say "Please keep the programs in my child's school." Nobody was happy about how the money was being spent, nobody was mad, nobody said anything at all.
This baffles me. For a community that clearly has strong opinions about their elected officials and the way their schools and government are run, why did nobody say anything when they had the chance?
To their credit, a number of principals attended all of the budget meetings. They were there to listen and to make sure that they knew what would be happening within their schools.
But there were no parents, there were no business owners, there were no concerned citizens of any kind. One person showed up to speak at the public hearing, but he decided not to because he was late and didn't want to be rude. I have gotten only one phone call about the budget, a lady today who wanted to know how to reach her elected officials. That one lady said she was worried about how they are always raising taxes here. I can't believe she is alone.
Is there really no one who has anything to say about this?
Education - Misleading Statistics?
Only those students scoring proficient or advanced are considered at or above grade level. Scoring "Basic" still means the student scored below grade level, even according to SC standards. Statewide results for 8th grade students are particularly alarming, considering that in every subject except Science, SC has lost ground, scoring worse than 4 years ago! The SDE and local school districts can spin it anyway they choose, but the bottom line is the average per pupil expenditure is over $11,000 and we are nowhere near our goal to be in the top 25 states nationally by 2012. SC public education is horribly broken, despite the efforts of some wonderful teachers. I served on the School Improvement Council of a Fort Mill school and have been researching education issues for quite some time - lipstick or no, we are not preparing our K-12 students to succeed in college or life. Time to DO something about it! Melissa Melvin