Education Lobbyist Hypocrisy
This morning I attended the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum where County Commission Chairman Trevor Fuller spoke on behalf of increasing our sales taxes by ¼ percent. Also there was the principal of the new Commonwealth Charter High School, to speak about his new school. Among attendees was Bill Allen of MeckED, I presume, a non-profit lobbying group and Tim Morgan, a CMS board member.
The principal spoke first about the focus of his school being on those who are at risk or have left public schools. They look to serve those who are working, are care-givers, mothers, mothers – to – be, fathers, and any who would like to continue and get their high school education but are not easily served by the normal public school system, being too old or too far behind. He cited various statistics about how well the program had succeeded in other places where he had worked.
Bill Allen of MeckEd asked him whether or not his is a for profit company. He talked around the answer but it appears so. After the meeting I had the pleasure of Mr. Allen’s conversation where he pushed the idea that for profit schools are a bad idea. This, I believe, is the epitome of some of what is wrong with our country, trying to make the idea of being for profit as being part of the evil empire.
Let us be clear: Mr. Allen works for a non-profit which lobbies for, among other things, more money for teachers but only, it seems, for public school teachers. When I asked who funds his group, he refused to say, only that it is private individuals. Now that is cute: he works for private individuals who fund him to lobby the government for more money, which they will take through taxation from private individuals and for profit companies, but he doesn’t like the idea of a public school being for profit. Just what part of profit doesn’t he like: the part where for profit businesses build the public schools, the part where for profit companies build the water systems to supply the schools water, the part where for profit companies build the buses or the part where for profit companies issue bonds for schools? Maybe he doesn’t like the part where CMS has for profit companies tear down perfectly good schools to be rebuilt with only one or two more classrooms. The list is long of the for profit part of CMS. I suppose he doesn’t like any of that.
Mr. Allen certainly doesn’t like the part where charter schools might profit. What; please tell me, is so sinful about that? Maybe the part where there is enough money in the per pupil funding method to leave enough for a profit. But why not have a profit? With North Carolina’s per pupil funding approaching $9000 per student per year, a 20 student classroom would accrue $180,000 in revenue. Since teachers don’t receive anywhere near that amount, about $50,000 per year, that leaves $130,000 for overhead and other expenses. With a 10 room school, that is $1.3 million to administer the school. With a 40 room school, which many public schools are; that would be $5.2 million for administration. That seems a bit excessive. Maybe Mr. Allen should focus on the waste in public schools instead of worrying about some small charter school making a profit.
But let me leave Mr. Allen and go to the BOCC Chairman. First, he needs to be in a revivalist’s tent. I’ve seldom heard so much talking and so little said. In essence he wants a ¼ percent increase in the sales tax to go to the public school system for teachers. This tax would raise about $26,000,000, which split among 18,000 teachers, would give them about $1300 each. When asked how much the county taxpayers give CMS already, he said about $500,000,000, but he doesn’t know how much goes to teachers. Let me go a different way, $500 million split among 18000 teachers would be $27,000 per teacher. That, plus what the state gives teachers would give them quite a raise, but Chairman Fuller isn’t asking where the $500,000,000 goes, he just wants more. Why? Perhaps he is courting the favor of the teacher’s association in his reelection campaign.
To help him and the other politicians who can’t see the forest for the trees, I suggest a complete audit of CMS by an accounting firm from outside NC. They should examine the books of CMS and to see what they’re really doing with their money. Because from my point of view, $180,000 per classroom is too much, and the teachers aren’t even getting half.
Back to the charter school. There are some who argue that Charter schools are taking money from the public school system. Well, they are. But they are also taking students which mean the public school system doesn’t have as many to serve – the money follows the student. What is so terrible about this? Yet in the minds of some, public schools must have control over all the money and the students! Why? Why should public schools not have competition? Competition makes everyone better. And if the purpose is educating students, some competition will be good for the entire society.
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