Well,
public schoolteachers, they are at it again. “They” are our intrepid public
servants under the Gold Dome, who siphoned $100 million out of the state budget
for tax credits so parents can avoid sending their kids to public schools in
Georgia.
In their inimitable wisdom, they have decided public schools are the pits — or
as our esteemed Secretary of Education in Washington, Betsy Devos opined, a
“dead end” — due to the problems of poverty, apathetic parents (assuming there
are two), gangs, drugs, transiency, discipline, enough red tape to cover the
Great Wall of China, kids who carry a sense of entitlement bigger than their
book bag and a host of other matters you must deal with when not teaching to
the test as mandated by a bunch of out-of-touch bureaucrats.
Somehow, I have had this nagging feeling that you didn’t cause these problems
and that you haven’t figured out a way to shut the door on issues that extend
beyond the classroom and are not of your own making. Maybe this one falls on
our society and maybe the intrepid public servants who are hosing you and the
public schools should spent a little more time trying to solve some of these
problems instead of running away from them and taking our tax dollars with
them. Or, maybe the sun will rise in the west.
Now, they have decided it might be neat-o if we all went back to having
everyone take the summer off, like the good ol’ days and forget local control
and local conditions. One size fits all school systems. Actually, I suspect
this wasn’t their idea at all. This one is the brainchild of the tourism
business in the state. It is easier to accommodate their needs instead of them
adjusting to yours.
State Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, was the chief co-sponsor of Senate
Resolution 1068, that has established the (inhale) Senate Study Committee on
Evaluating the School Year Calendar of Georgia Public Schools (exhale.) In one
of those quirks of fate that can only happen in politics, Gooch was then
appointed chairman of the study committee by none other than Lt. Gov. Casey
“Bad Policy” Cagle, who whispered the good news to the senator’s
cufflink.
Sen. Gooch said he is worried about starting school so early these days because
of the danger to student-athletes and the cost of air conditioning the district
school buildings — maybe a $100 million tax credit would help — and the cheap
labor — my words, not his — that students provide resorts and tourist
attractions in the state.
“We look forward to hearing from all key stakeholders on how this shift would
impact our public schools, students, parents and the tourism industry,” said
the senator.
The Georgia Travel Association hailed the Senate’s effort “for taking steps to
fully examine Georgia’s school start date and its impact on the state’s tourism
industry.” The organization’s executive director Kelsey Moore, said, “We look
forward to working with this committee to take a comprehensive look at an issue
that has a significant impact on our students, families and communities.”
OK, schoolteachers, a test: Did you notice anywhere in either announcement
where our intrepid public servants or the touristers mentioned you? What do the
schoolteachers think of the idea? Who cares? This isn’t about you. This is
about the tourist industry’s bottom line.
Angela Palm, the Georgia School Boards Association’s policy and legislative
services director, notes that “every time this proposal has come up, it’s been
related to economic development and tourism, it’s not been related to
education.”
Noted economist Milton Friedman once declared “the business of business is
business” and that the only social responsibility of business is “to increase
its profits.” For the senator and the GTA to claim otherwise is putting
lipstick on a pig.
I have no problem going back to the old way. I got a pretty fair education in a
public school with three months off, except for the day I missed class when
they covered punctuation. I also understand capitalism. I was an officer of one
of the largest corporations in America. Nobody needs to explain bottom lines to
me.