As I sit each morning and listen to the garbled pleas of elderly spokespeople and parents of children, I cannot help but wonder if stupidity is merely a natural phenomenon of human nature or whether indeed people strive to be as imbecilic as they possibly can.
I have to wonder, because the current budget woes of the state, though perhaps tight and frightening to the services we have come to expect on an annual basis, are in my mind the result not of lower-than-expected revenue collections as the nimrods in this community seem to want us to believe, but rather are the result of a tradition of waste and fiscal irresponsibility that, were the public to spend enough time to become familiar with, would cause a real scandal for the ages.
I say this not as a person separated from the hullabaloo but from the point of view of a classroom teacher, and a person who has dedicated his life to the service of the community in the form of the education of our youth.
It seems to me that instead of raising the rate of taxation that this state imposes on its citizenry, perhaps we ought to consider the idea of forcing publicly funded institutions and agencies to be fiscally responsible and ethical with what they have been given. I don’t think even the most conservative Republican in this state would object to paying more taxes to support government programs and agencies that were utilizing their budgets soundly but simply were not funded to the level necessary to properly carry out its mission. That, however, is not the case.
Instead of encouraging responsibility and thrift, our mid-level bureaucratic leaders here at the University and in Salem seem to think that waste is the way to go. I believe the only way to combat this is to force the state to live within its means by refusing to bolster an already obese budget.
To the next person who dares complain to me that our schools are faced with imminent and drastic cuts in faculty, resources, etc., I would advise you to take a close and serious look at the budget of the districts in this area. Not only do you not have to be a CPA to recognize and be baffled by the extraordinary waste that dominates the public schools of this state, but I would suggest that were you to spend any time at all looking over how and where funds are allocated, you would come to nearly the same conclusion that I have come to: You could cut the budgets of the school districts in half and they would still have more than enough funds to run, should they opt to use those funds wisely.
But hey, in this community, the idea that funds ought to be allocated in a responsible manner is, after all, quite an offensive notion. So, as a classroom teacher, let me encourage you all to vote no on Measure 28.