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The Black Hole of Public
Education |
 November 12, 2004
- Whenever I hear of a need for more money to fund
public education, I envision a big black hole sucking away our tax dollars
to further line the pockets of useless UniServe directors. These
union employees are allegedly paid to bargain favorable teaching contracts
for the overworked teachers whose subsequent contracts charge them with an
impossible educational agenda based on faulty methodology and politically
correct ideas.
For the most part, teachers begin their educational careers idealistic and
excited about their role in the learning process. At first, money is of no
concern in the mind of a person who serves in the caretaker profession. It
isn’t long, though, before the rookies begin to realize that direct
instruction is frowned upon and that no significant amount of learning can
take place given the often impossible circumstances with which teachers are
faced. Low expectations, subsequent grade inflation, misbehavior all becomes
the fault of the instructor; not the students or the administration –whose
policy set the educational climate for the school. Only at this point do
teachers start complaining that no amount of money is worth the aggravation
that they are dealt while trying to do their job.
The public is catching on, though, with NCLB drawing attention to the
failure of the schools to produce and the purse strings being attached to
public accountability. So now the schools have to figure out alternative
methods to keep the money coming in to pay for teaching methods which are
cumbersome, unproven, and depend on an extremely small student teacher ratio
to be effective.
In comes eminent domain. What a unique way to make money. First you grab a
parcel of land with the excuse that it is for the public good (generally,
building or improving a school falls under this category). You sit on the
land for a few years and then sell it for much more than you paid. Even if
you make a mere $12 million, you are not breaking any laws if you can prove
that you didn’t purchase the property with the intention of turning it
around for a profit.
The San Diego Unified School District sure got a good deal when it took
possession of a piece of property formerly owned by San Diego-based West
RNLN, LLC, and later deemed, "unsuitable for a school and there is no other
school district use for it.” 1 This is using a favored status for a very
shady and completely wrong purpose –to make money. Martha Stewart just went
to jail for this type of dishonesty. It is essentially "gaming the market”.
They used their status under the law of eminent domain to work against other
people by taking their property for no other reason than to make a profit.
I’m tired of hearing how the schools need more money. I’m tired of the
public paying for their "habitual problem” with mismanagement and poor
educational practice. Let’s break up this monopoly.
School district sells 24.7 acres to Home Depot
for $30 million
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20041109-9999-1m9sale.html
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