Welcome Back, Kirk!!

Dear Friends,

Things have been a bit hectic lately and this editor has been a bit slack

in posting.  And I apologize for that. Here is a column by Irene Smith's favorite person,

Kirk D. Smith.  I will admit it should have been posted weeks ago.  But better late than never.

It's still relevant!

Welcome Kirk back by leaving comments! 

Sheila

In Search of Liberty - Another Installment of the Truth!

Ah yes, the annual county – school budget wars have begun! We have an out of control Superintendent whose mastery of extortion and intimidation tactics has no limits! We are witnessing another embarrassing national head-line news story brought about by our illustrious Superintendent abusing students and tax payers! I am concerned. What impact will this have on the potential BRAC families relocating to Lee County?

Currently we have our local educational collective actively indoctrinating our young elementary students to embrace bigger and more expensive government! Our third graders understand the tax and spend wishes of our Progressive Democrats actually guarantees the teacher’s dues to the National Education Association that ensures the money laundering back to our local Progressive Democrat Party continues unabated.

Now our masterful progressive comrades, manipulative RINOs and so-called Independents here in Lee County all want the temporary sales tax increase to become permanent! How quaint. You stupid taxpayers don’t need that additional 1 penny per dollar taxed! You already have more than enough money! There is no evidence that the highest gasoline prices in recent memory is having an affect on your family budget, nor are the higher food costs biting into your discretionary spending habits.

Clearly there is a direct correlation with increasing taxes and spending that will result in academically better students. The highest expenditure in dollars per student in the United States is the Boston city school district, which spends $16,879 per student (in 2005 dollars) with a stellar graduation rate of 57%! In second place nationally is the New York City School district whose expenditure of $15,455 per student (in 2005 dollars) produces a graduation rate of 45.2%!

Of course graduation rates mean absolutely nothing when it comes to the student’s academic abilities. You know the ability to read, write and do simple math? Unfortunately, our military and institutions of higher indoctrination have to conduct remedial basic skills classes, adding costs, in order to train a student with abilities to handle higher technical and academic work. This certainly will ensure Chairman Ty continues his employment on the tax payer’s dime.

In reality, we can no longer afford the additional extravagance that our local public educational collective insists we embrace. Here are some suggestions to help us reduce costs:

May I suggest that we terminate the English as a Second Language (ESL) program that places a drag on our academic progress through higher costs? I notice the public enrollment notices in the The Sanford Herald as well the letters going out to parents are in both English and Spanish. A local school publication, The Broadway Beat is in English and Spanish. Could someone explain that for me? Why are we as a school system aiding and abetting criminal activity by making life easy for the residents who are here illegally?

By communicating to our community in “English Only” our educational collectives will cut back on advertising, paper and reproduction expenses by 50%! Terminating programs like ESL will help reduce staff costs. Also liquidating the ESL building will help reduce maintenance costs. Did you know we have a building dedicated exclusively to ESL assessment?

Back in 1992, our family returning from Germany was in the process of buying a home here in Lee County. While waiting for the closing, we were staying with a family friend in Cumberland County and driving our two sons to school each day. Because of living “out of the district” the school bureaucrats actually considered charging us “out of district tuition!”

Now here is a novel idea. Why don’t we run each parent registering their student through the federal E-Verify system? For each family not eligible to be here, charge them out of district tuition. This will help offset costs that our schools incur teaching students who don’t speak English. Or better yet send the bill to the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh in order to help reduce the additional cost on us, the local tax payers. Perhaps Mexico could pay us in oil that they are pumping out of the Gulf of Mexico.

Teach someone to turn off the lights at the Southern Lee High School Campus. For years we drive by there late at night noticing that the sports fields and high school building are all lit up, with no one using the facilities! Why are we the taxpayers paying for this waste of electricity? Who is paying the carbon credit off-sets for this blatant waste of energy?

Let us terminate the Mock United Nations that annually occupies the Lee County Civic Center. Having observed this academic behemoth, I noticed that this endeavor disrupts the academic calendar by consuming time, money, and resources. This farcical attempt to inculcate internationalism produces students that have no clue to this rabidly anti-American world body. A world body which is totally made up of non-elected bureaucrats from a number of nations that actually hate the U.S.! Are we aiding and abetting international hatred or hating the United States is acceptable in our educational collective?

We can eliminate the various junkets all over the country by requiring our leaders to use some of those expensive lap-tops to attend conferences via the internet. This will eliminate the need to buy carbon credits to off-set airline and ground travel to the various venues around the country. Of course as a tax-payer, I am still waiting for a response to the question put forth back in November: Who paid for the Peroria, Illinois “Caterpillar Junket” for our astute community and educational leaders?

Feel free to mull over these suggestions. If you, a property owning taxpayer, have any other recommendations, we look forward to hearing from you.

In the meantime, I shall remain, In Search of Our GOD Given Liberties!