Education Debacle in Georgia

Georgia is hurting for money. I know because I live here, I mean there, in Georgia. Georgia has decided to save money by furloughing large numbers of state employees including teachers, and there are rumors that at least three to six more days are looming in the near future.

So what is the big deal? If you do not have the money, you don't have the money. The big deal is that money could have been saved in how money is spent in schools, but they would rather take it out on the employees instead. That just goes to show you how bad our government is needing real leaders.

My public school system has fired numerous employees including support personnel for kindergarten (you know the grade level with 5 year olds who barely can blow their nose and tie their shoes), and they expect teachers to manage them alone and teach at least 20 five year old kids, who care more about their personal space and why so-and-so gets to play with that. They have reduced teacher and class supplies. They have reduced and taken away benefits that were once used to entice good employees. And now they are furloughing them and still expecting them to show up to work.

That's like you going to work and your boss saying, "Oh yeah, you are not getting paid for today, now get to work." And they wondering why people do not want to teach?

The flip side of the story is in how the school system is spending money. In the past five years, they built a palatial school board building, three high schools, several elementary schools, and a couple of middle schools. Millions of dollars spent on buildings that were over priced, under constructed, and in some cases unnecessary.

But we can't afford to keep good employees, because the governor and lawmakers need to keep making too much for doing so little.

Ah, government...are you surprised?

It's time to move money out of the poorly run public schools! It is time for a voucher system that will allow parents to home school or place their kids in the private school of their choice. It is time for a privatized education system.

But will the government in Georgia listen? The government that presides over one of the top school systems in drop-out rates, one of the lowest school system ratings, and an ever changing teaching curriculum. No, they want one more chance to keep Georgia sub par and uneducated.