09/22/2024
This is long.
Private school.
It is used as a liability against me.
If my children attend private school, then I am not fit to speak of the importance of public education.
It doesn’t matter that I have a bachelor’s degree in child development from Meredith College, a masters degree in education from UNC-CH (yes, I finally got in) and a PhD from NC State in Educational Research and Policy Analysis.
Of greater offense is that several of my children attend or have attended boarding school.
What’s worse than private school?
A very expensive private school.
This line of thinking undermines public education and the philosophy is used nowhere else.
We are perfectly content when people choose private colleges over public universities or private hospitals over public hospitals.
Both things can exist together and one should not undermine the other.
I can utilize my education and recognize that the constitution should be upheld and that public education- a free and appropriate one- is an obligation of the state.
It’s pretty simple.
The real question is why does the state not hold up their end of the bargain?
Why do county commissioners get pushed by school boards to pay more and more to fund their rural schools?
If I were them, I’d go straight to the top and march my a double s right up to Raleigh.
Ask them how a half billion in tax payer dollars is going to benefit your community when there is no private school in your county?
Ask them why your community is responsible for subsidizing the private education of children from wealthy families in wealthy counties.
Ask them why they voted for a bill which gives 40 million dollars a year to subsidize the private education of families who earn more than $250,000 per year.
Ask yourself if you are happy to see your hard earned taxes be funneled to private schools that your children (if you have any) will never access because of where you live or maybe because your child has a disability.
How can it be school choice if the school never chooses you?
How can it be school choice if there is no school from which to choose?
Welcome to eastern North Carolina, I tell you.
I have never shied away from sharing my truth.
I have two children in boarding school and a freshman at N.C. State. They each spent nine years in public schools in my rural community on the Albemarle Sound.
My youngest son has special needs and is in his seventh year of public school. He is ten years old and will be in this system until the spring after his 22nd birthday.
Collectively, my four children have thus far spent 34 years in the public school system.
In the end, we will have put in 46 years total.
Tell me, how many years of public education does a family need to utilize to have a voice?
I have become a stronger advocate because of my exposure to that well funded private school.
Compared to their peers in wealthy counties, my children are behind them in foreign language, math and science.
Public schools in the state of North Carolina have not been created equal.
Look at the courses available to a student at Broughton High School versus Bertie County High School- both public schools, one with dozens of AP classes and one with two.
It wasn’t until my big fish became small fish and went from the top of their classes to average students.
It’s not about teachers.
It’s not about dedication or indoctrination or adults who have some sort of hidden agenda.
It’s about money.
It’s about schools who can’t find qualified teachers because those teachers can make so much more money in wealthier counties.
And for those of you who support vouchers and say that “funding should follow the child?”
North Carolina Senator Phil Berger believes, “It makes no sense whatsoever for someone to say – and try to say it with a straight face – that when a child leaves the traditional public schools that the money should stay there.”
Whose money is he talking about?
If Berger is referring to tax payer dollars, I would ask him about the citizens who don’t have children?
They don’t utilize public education- at least not in a personal way.
Shouldn’t their portion of the money “follow them?”
What about people who don’t pay taxes- should they be denied access to a public education or funding?
What about the people that pay a lot of taxes? How are they rewarded?
What if we agreed that public education is an amazing thing that we the people believe should be accessible to all because it’s written in our state constitution and because we want to grow a workforce of competent and independent adults?
Should people be forced to send their kids to public school?
I don’t think so.
Should people be given an option- a ballot referendum- to give their yes or no to their taxes being used to fund private schools?
I believe so.
Did you know that a referendum as such has NEVER passed in this country yet multiple states have voucher programs because legislators have single handedly decided it’s what they want?
Have you ever wondered why legislators make $13,000 per year?
While they may encourage you to believe their piousness is a gratuitous showing of good will, I ask you to consider what may happen if the salary was $150,000.
Have you considered that legislators strategically keep their salaries well below poverty level?
What would happen if people could afford to leave well paying jobs and be a part of government?
Goodbye good old boys.
Yes, I have children in private school but I don’t expect you to pay their tuition.
I don’t utilize public transportation, but I don’t expect a voucher for my car either.
I do, however, ask you to ask your elected officials about their stance on vouchers.
Ask them why we don’t give public schools the same freedoms?
Money with NO strings attached.
Ask them how vouchers are going to help rural North Carolina where there are no private schools.
Ask them how vouchers for private schools are going to help special needs kids like my son who “unfortunately doesn’t meet the criteria” to attend.
Tell them about Todd Warner.
The second-term Republican state representative in Tennessee.
Todd Warner doesn’t believe his small-town constituents should be subsidizing the private education of metropolitan rich kids.
“I’m for less government, but it’s government’s role to provide a good public education.”
Talk about Jon Cross- an ardent pro-Trump fan and Republican state representative in Ohio.
Cross says, “Wouldn’t we be better off taking some money in our budget to fix the schools? I tell you what, I really like my public schools.”
Maybe they’re scared.
After all, Representative Drew Darby of Texas was one of fifteen anti-voucher Republicans targeted by Governor Greg Abbott in the last election.
Though Darby won his election, 11 other republicans- who were targeted solely because of their voucher resistance- lost their seats.
Representative Darby shared, “Without good public schools, these rural areas will wither- these communities exist because they have strong public schools. They would literally not exist without a good public-school system.”
Talk to your local representatives.
Ask them how spending a half billion tax dollars is going to personally help you?
Ask them to explain how it makes sense for rural constituents to pay for the private education of wealthy families in North Carolina’s largest cities.
Tell them to make it make sense.
And say it with a straight face.
BONUS: NC Legislator emails- https://www.ncleg.gov/Help/Topic/27
