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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2010
Named the best weekly editorial page in the nation for 2007, 2008
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
our views
Govt, recession
just starting
T HERE are some signs
that the relentless reces
sion may be hitting bot
tom. But that does not mean a
“recovery” is under way, or that
there is no pain left in the econ
omy.
There are still a lot of foreclo
sures and suits on debt where
people can’t pay. Unemployment
continues to be high. Many small
businesses are closing, or just
barely hanging on.
But the worst pain may be yet
to come. Most local governments
are just now feeling the full impact
of the recession. Although city,
county and school revenues have
been down, that will get worse
before it gets better.
For one thing, the Obama
“stimulus” money is running out.
Although those dollars did virtu
ally nothing to help Mainstreet
America, they did prop up local
governments with artificial
money.
Now those local governments,
especially school systems, are
having to make decisions that
they had postponed since the
ObamaMoney is going away. That
means deeper cuts.
In addition, the slow response
to high property assessments by
county assessors is finally being
corrected. While the assessors
were always quick to hike assess
ments during the boom years,
they’ve moved like a sloth to lower
them during the downturn.
A public backlash, however, is
forcing them to finally lower those
high property values. This means
a lot of county digests will actually
shrink this year.
That will force local govern
ments to either hike the millage
rate, or to cut more spending.
So the end result of all this will
be continued pressure on local
governments for two or three
more years, even if the economy
in general starts to recover.
Such a long downturn is coun
ter to what most governments per
ceive as their job. Governments
like to grow, add services, add
programs, and set new rules.
But now there is a backlash; the
public isn’t much for larger gov
ernments and it certainly doesn’t
like tax hikes.
This pressure bumping against
the financial pressures of gov
ernment is going to create a lot
of problems over the next 12
months.
Get a soft saddle, it’s going to be
a bumpy ride.
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875 • The Official Legal
Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher &
Advertising Manager
News Department
Angela Gary Associate Editor
Jana Adams Mitcham Features Editor
Brandon Reed Sports Editor
Kerri Testement Reporter
Sharon Hogan Reporter
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letters
Says teacher retirement
doesn’t come from
general fund
Dear Editor:
I would like to clarify for your readers a comment
you made in your May 12, 2010, editorial entitled
“BOE sends message to administration.” You stated,
“Why should someone get to double-dip taxpayer
funds when the system is laying off a slew of teach
ers?” 1 believe you are misinformed on the source
of funds from which teachers draw their retirement
pay.
This is NOT money drawn from the general fund of
the state tax revenues and thus from taxpayer funds.
This money has been contributed by the teach
ers themselves out of their own paychecks every
month to a retirement fund, which is matched by
employers, much the same as someone who works
for a company which contributes to a 401 K. This
fund is invested so that the Georgia Retired Teachers
may draw a retirement based on a formula which
includes years served and salary earned. Implying
that this money is a draw from the tax coffers is a
common tactic used by those who wish to give the
general public a misconception about the “windfall”
which some citizens seem to think teachers are
unjustifiably making at their own expense. This tac
tic was just recently used by the Governor to try to
stir up the general population against retired teach
ers receiving their guaranteed COLA.
This retirement pay has never and will never
come from the general budget of the tax revenues.
The fund has been so well managed by its trustees
through the years that, even though the fund took a
gigantic hit in the recent stock market woes, it is still
very solvent and will be able to continue to provide
the promised funds for a long time to come. The fact
that this large sum of money sits there where the
legislature and the Governor can not get their hands
on it, only serves to infuriate people more when they
think it is the reason for the budget deficit. As far
as teachers being able to retire after 30 years rather
than meeting some sort of age requirement, again,
this has no bearing on the state budget or the local
BOE budget. In fact, a part-time, retired teacher costs
the school system nothing in benefits or retirement.
I would challenge anyone who thinks that a
teacher, retired or otherwise, is earning more than
what they deserve, to spend one day in a school.
See if you are up to the challenge. See if you can
meet the expectations of the students, their parents,
the school administration, and the BOE to be all
things to all children under the conditions we find in
schools today. These expectations are not being cut
back just because of budget cuts. You may find a few
“over paid and under worked” teachers in the world,
but I find many more to the contrary. As a friend
of mine who is not a teacher once said, “Teaching
years should be counted like dog years.”
Sincerely,
Sue Pinion
School protestors aim at the wrong target
DOZENS of parents and students showed up at
Cobb County’s Allatoona High School last week to
protest the dismissals of their favorite teachers and
coaches.
The educators have been
told by school administrators
that their contracts will not
be renewed for the upcoming
school year, a move that was
forced by huge cutbacks in
the school board’s budget.
It is a scene taking place not
only in Cobb County, where
more than 570 positions are
being eliminated, but at school
systems large and small across
the state.
tom
crawford
At Allatoona High, even the
football coach is being dis
missed because of budget pressures. When that
happens at a Georgia high school, you know the
budget-cutting is getting serious.
The Allatoona crowd was directing their protests
at the local school board, with one student telling a
reporter: “I believe this is a proper way to fight for our
school and to fight for our teachers.”
Actually, it isn’t.
I understand the frustrations of parents and students
who are angry about what’s happening at their local
school. When these citizens sign petitions and stage
protest marches on their local school board, how
ever, they are missing the point.
Local school boards must deal with the loss of huge
amounts of funding because of education cutbacks
that have been made in recent years in the state
budget. These reductions in school spending were
the result of a deliberate decision made by the state’s
political leadership.
Gov. Sonny Perdue and the controlling major
ity in the General Assembly believe strongly that
our wealthiest citizens and corporate CEOs should
get tax breaks. Legislators have voted every ses
sion to approve dozens of these tax exemptions for
Georgians. Perdue has signed them into law. These
tax breaks, as they have accumulated over the past
five or six years, have drained hundreds of millions of
dollars from the state treasury.
Georgia’s constitution requires the governor and
the General Assembly to adopt a balanced budget.
When you are losing so much money in revenue
because of tax breaks, you have to cut spending to
meet the legal requirement to balance the budget.
Perdue and the legislators decided that many of
those spending reductions would come from public
education. In order to balance the budget, Perdue
recommended cutting $200 million or $300 million
a year from the formula funding that the state would
normally send to local school systems. Every year,
legislators have voted for budgets that incorporate
those spending reductions.
That leaves school boards with the alternative of
raising property taxes - and some systems have
already reached their legal limit on that - or cutting
budgets. Because the largest part of their budgets
go for personnel expenses, they have to eliminate
teachers’ jobs.
Parents and students who are unhappy about teach
ers being laid off should address their complaints and
petitions not to the school board but to Perdue and
the members of the Georgia House and Senate.
What Perdue and the General Assembly did was
completely legal. They are empowered under the
constitution to determine how much each Georgian
will pay in taxes. They are also empowered by the
constitution to decide where the tax money that is
collected will be spent.
Parents can question whether the Legislature should
have approved all those tax breaks requested by spe
cial interest lobbyists, or whether lawmakers should
have made such deep spending cuts in education.
But the governor and the General Assembly had
every legal right to make those political decisions.
Perdue won’t be mnning again for governor, but
there are candidates to replace him who think we
should be spending more on public education. There
are also candidates who agree with the reductions
that have been made in school funding. Parents will
have the choice as to which of those candidates they
want to put in the governor’s office.
The same thing applies to the people who sit in the
Georgia House and Senate. Every parent should take
the time to find out who their legislators are and how
they have voted on education issues, then make their
choice at the polls.
In short, people who are unhappy about teacher
dismissals and school closings will have the chance
to address that problem in the upcoming elections.
That’s the beauty of a democracy.
Tom Crawford is the editor of The Georgia Report.
He can be reached at tcrawford@caDitolimDact. net.
Class of 2010 has big
challenges ahead
I N the coming days, a slew of gradu
ations will hit local high schools.
Somewhere around 700 young men
and women will leave high school and
begin the next phase of their lives.
Multiply that across the nation and there
will soon be hundreds of thousands of
young people
vying in a shrink
ing job market,
or for restricted
slots in colleges
and vocational
schools.
Times have
changed since
I tossed my
graduation
hat so many
years ago. Not
since the Great
Depression has
the future looked
so limited for
those just starting
out in their adult lives. From the economic
turmoil to the political cesspool that defines
our times, today’s graduates must be anx
ious about their own future.
And yet, among today’s graduates are
some of the best and brightest young people
I’ve ever seen.
I’ll use the Jefferson High School Class of
2010 as an example. (Before the parents of
other local high schools get in a tizzy, yes
I know your children are probably just as
bright and promising — but what’s written
here are kids I know directly, many from
first-hand experience.)
The JHS 2010 group is among the most
remarkable assembly of students that I’m
aware of. The class has collectively been
awarded over $1 million in scholarships out
of a pool of 160 students.
This class is heading out to a variety of
colleges: Duke, South Carolina, Georgia,
Georgia Tech, North Georgia and Mercer
among others. Some are entering college
honors programs; several have earned full
scholarships.
Among the boys, there are at least three
Eagle Scouts. Among the girls, there are
some of the most talented young women
I’ve ever seen.
This class also has its share of top athletes
and musicians and thespians, a collection of
well-rounded, gifted kids.
This class also seems to work hard, to
strive for something more than just getting
by. They have dreams larger than them
selves.
And it’s a diverse class; black, white,
Hispanic, Indian, Asian... a very different
portrait from the traditional mral school that
defined my era.
Most of all, they’re a class of good human
beings. Polite. Kind. Respectful.
I certainly don’t know all the kids in this
year’s class, but I know enough of them to
recognize that it’s an unusual assemblage of
talent.
Maybe I’m a little envious. My own high
school career was nowhere near the stan
dard set by these young people. I was a
terrible student; lazy, ornery and more inter
ested in athletics and girls than anything I
found in a textbook. (That wasn’t true of
many of my classmates, who have risen far
in life because they worked hard and had
talent.)
The sad thing now is that such an accu
mulation of talent is facing some daunting
times. It will, to a large degree, be up to
them to fix the mess my generation has
made.
They will have to pay the bill for all the
massive government spending my genera
tion has created and clean up the blood
from ill-advised conflicts.
They will have to find a way to disarm
rogue nations that we are today playing dip
lomatic footsie with.
They will have to reshape the status quo
that governs much of our life in a political
system that is inept.
They will have to fight the trend toward
greater government interference in our lives
and re-establish the virtues of liberty and
self-reliance.
To see what is happening in the nation
today is discouraging, until you look at the
promise on the faces of the JHS class of
2010. Here is the kind of talent and leader
ship the nation needs.
Godspeed to them and their peers across
the nation. Their leadership can’t come
soon enough.
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson
Herald. He can be reached at mike@main-
streetnews.com.
mike
buffington