Today's Moore County Schools (MCS) crisis is a shortage of bus drivers. To paraphrase the author of this The Pilot piece, "Funding is not the reason there is a bus driver shortage. Rather, it is caused by a lack of teaching assistants due to state funding cuts."  That is, MCS needs more money.

School board member Betty Wells-Brown noted that other school districts have, for many years, successfully managed their bus driver shortages by requiring support and maintenance staff members to drive, when needed.  We support this remedy as it solves the problem without adding more bodies to the payroll.  However, we are highly skeptical that we will not soon see a budget increase request with multiple reasons for why it is "so badly needed," pushed by the usual torch 'n pitchfork brigade (most/all turned out by Superintendent Grimesey) demanding action "for the children."

Read: Moore Co. Schools will require support staff to obtain bus licenses because of driver shortage

The commissioners were subjected to the usual set of appeals to emotion (vs. fact-based, logically sound arguments). We submit that when TEN OF MILLIONS OF OUR DOLLARS are subject to confiscation by way of increased taxes, the only​ thing the Board of Commissioners should be considering is hard data. Parading photos of children holding signs reading "I am important" are perhaps more indicative of the Moore County Schools' lack of compelling data than of anything else.

Do we need new schools? If yes, are new public schools the best solution? Is the school system and its Rubber Stamp (the Board of Education) choosing property wisely? Is it wasting money? Is it looking at the best options for construction? Is the idea of the ACC a gamble or is it based on solid research backed by hard, objective data? These are all important and worthy questions that have real answers. It is the Board of Education's duty and obligation find them and make that information public. It has not done that. It is negligent and repeatedly passes the products of its incompetence—its lack of due diligence—to the Board of Commissioners. After all, it's much easier to get re-elected when you can force the commissioners to be the "bad" guys instead of defying the Great and Powerful Bob.

The Pilot's story: Commissioners Give Green Light to Elementary School Funding Plan

Technically, The Pilot is calling for the Board of Commissioners approve new bonds to increase the budget of the Moore County School District, but since bonds are paid for with taxes, our blog title is accurate. As there is little or no increase in student enrollment (depending on the data examined) and the school district has not been forthcoming with the information concerned activists have requested (is it hiding something?) the "need" for more of the citizens' private property is anything but clear.

Further, Sheriff candidate Steve Adams* is proposing a plan to save millions of dollars from new schools construction projects. He asserts that Moore Co. should create a general contractor "company" within the county's government, rather than contracting one in perpetuity. Rather than be bound by the details of a contract, a city employee could flex plan details on-the-spot (ex., if the plan calls for 500 walnut doors but a supplier finds oak doors at $200 less, a contractor must pass on the opportunity so as not to breach the contract, thus loosing $100K). Additionally, he is proposing a plan to earn millions of dollars for the county, as part of his bid for sheriff. Both proposals are sound objectively enough to deserve serious study, and those studies can be done quickly.

Whenever you hear the call for immediate spending of the citizens' money, you should be skeptical. So The Pilot's editors asked the seemly rhetorical question, "If not now, then when?" Our answer is, only if the school district stops stonewalling requests for information and proves the need for more money, and only if the county studies Mr. Adam's proposals and finds they are not feasible.

*this is not an endorsement

Amid all the accusations, innuendo and strong emotions, we want to get to the bottom of things and know what's really going on. We heard one thing in the Zumwalt Zone (Quis) and read something else in the Haymaker [Moore County: Saul Alinsky. Screaming Mommies. School funding. (And Quis is RIGHT.)].

Are Moore County Schools officials in need of money or are they misappropriating/mismanaging what they have?

If you have a usable information, put it in the "Comments" section, or send it to [email protected] if you desire confidentiality.

The more control one seizes, the more dictates one must issue. We see this in government all the time. In this case, the state (theoretically) pays the' salaries of teachers in the government schools. How do the Masterminds in Raleigh ensure that money isn't being "misused"? By dictating class size. However, this compounds the problem because it still funds based on the number of students in the county, not on the number of required teachers. For example, if the limit is 20 students per class but a school has 21, the state funds the county for one teacher but it must employ two. It must also find room for another classroom and that is not funded by the state.

We propose the state get out of the dictates business and leave such problems to county government to solve. Local control and local accountability.

Story: Senator Pledges More Funding For Class-Size Reductions

If school boards all got their money from their counties, this wouldn't be a problem, would it?

Read the story: Lawmakers to consider taking away school boards' power to sue for more funding

I like the idea of little English-speakers (K~4) becoming bilingual in the normal course of going to school. Why not? And since Spanish is the predominant language in this hemisphere it is a logical choice. I'm also a proponent for making English the official language of the US and restricting all federal documents/Websites to English, teaching logic and critical thinking to elementary and high school children—such as is part of the ciriculum of Sandhills Classical Christian School, and teaching them solid, market-based, basic economics.

So I like the foreign language immersion idea, but "intelligence guided by experience" with the U.S. education system has generated two questions:

   —What does this program cost relative to the rest of the county? There is something inherently wrong about demanding that citizens with no children pay (or lose their property) to educate the children the rest of us made. That is a debate for another time but the moral obligation of the school board and the county commissioners to exercise severe frugality with the taxpayers' property is most certainly germane to this discussion.

   —Who are the "native Spanish speaking teachers" and from whence did they come to West End Elementary? That is, do they come with a political message? Are they part of an organization with a much larger, anti-American agenda (ex., La Raza)? I'm not suggesting or implying they are because I have no information one way or the other. I'm simply very familiar with the tactics of the Left and am firmly asserting that we must examine cost and agenda before we leap on the Good Idea Fairy's train.

What if the program is not more expensive and the teachers are great, America-loving immigrants? Then I ask, why not make this an option for parents? What do you think? What do you know about this West End Elementary's program?

Read The Pilot's article: Elementary to End Spanish Immersion Program

Submitted by Skeptical Thinker

What do you think? This is unquestionably another consequence of the government running schools, but is this plan a proper way for the NCGA to deal with this particular problem? Read the story and decide for yourself.
Legislators Announce Bill to Reinstate NC Teaching Fellows Program