Lunch Break
Let us pretend. If you were told that you could save $15 per week by lying and there was no possibility of getting caught, would you lie? Would you do it for $30 or even $45 per week? No, forget about the tort lawyers, they lie for big bucks; this is about the common man. We’re referring to school districts’ free- and reduced-price lunch (FRL) programs.
Years ago, when an honest man sat on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, he tried to have an audit done of those receiving FRL money. Larry Gauvreau was denied that opportunity. It turns out it’s illegal to check on the information offered on the application for the tax money. So, would you lie if you knew you wouldn’t be checked on? More than that, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has good reason to let those numbers increase, even if they’re fairly certain a good portion of them are fraudulent, because there is extra money in poor students. So why would you want to prove they’re not poor? What a game! And the students know it. They will tell you it’s a game that parents and students play to scam the system.
Let us credit Congress and the CMS administration and school board with intentionally stealing and lying to mislead the general public. One can wonder why Congress would do that and I suppose that is one way to pay off the poor to get them to vote the correct way. More likely is the possibility that some advocacy group has their influence involved. Perhaps the teachers union sees this as a way to get more money. There are other possibilities, none positive.
Beyond the results of spending the money is the result on education and statistics.
By using the ratio of FRL recipients (these days referred to as “economically disadvantaged”) as an indicator for income, CMS is able to say there is a particular ratio of poor students to non-poor. Then they use that ratio to explain educational results. They use that ratio as an excuse to spend money in certain schools and to request money to remedy certain situations, to supply extra teachers for select schools. So the bureaucrats, in concert with the school board, scam the system. They know as well as the students that the number of students technically qualified for FRL is wrong. But if they told the truth they would lose the crutch of statistics, which they use to support their money-wasting habits.
Need I go on? Mr. Larry Gauvreau tried to get the truth out. He was stonewalled and berated for his persistence in seeking educational results and fiscal responsibility. What does his replacement do? Let’s just say Superintendent Peter Gorman likes her and it’s not because she’s a woman. Unfortunately, no one else since Gauvreau has cared enough to bring up the fact a bulk of the FRL program is a scam.
So when you read about more and more poor students and test results and woe is the CMS system, ask yourself this: What is the truth? Well, you’ll never find out because the CMS bureaucrats don’t want you to know.
Property taxes are due shortly. CMS needs to spend more of your money. But it’s not for what they say, because what they say is based on whether or not people will lie to collect their $15-per-child per week lunch money. And the district is wholly content to support the fraud.
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