Last Friday, I wrote about the $1 Billion budget shortfall the General Assembly was facing.
This morning, we were told it is even worse than we could ever have imagined. The pic to the left, currently on the front page of AJC.com and taken by one of their photographers, says it all.
Per State Senator (and Insurance Commissioner candidate) Seth Harp via AJC’s Jim Galloway:
I just came from a budget meeting with the lieutenant governor. Two-point-four now. $2.4 billion shortfall….This is for fiscal 2011.
Take everything I said Friday and amp it up about 150%. Apparently House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin has already told a the AJC’s Aaron Sheinin (in the first AJC report linked above) “If we don’t need to be doing it, we’re probably going to stop.”
This brings up an intersting point, one Tom and I have discussed here and in many other places quite frequently:
What, exactly, SHOULD the State be doing?
As a Minarchist, I tend to hold the line at roads (BASIC infrastructure), fires, and courts – and not much else. Doing this would shave something on the order of 75% or so OFF the current State budget – maybe more.
As a Libertarian, I also advocate ending the Drug War. Ending the incarceration of thousands of non-violent “offenders” who did nothing more than possess some non-explosive substance with the intent to ingest it in their own bodies would save the State MILLIONS of dollars – maybe even in the BILLION range. It would also free up law enforcement jobs that could then either be retasked to fighting actual crime or maybe even be eliminated outright, saving the State even MORE money.
Ending State involvement in Education would save the State $3 BILLION or so right there, though as I’ve said before, I don’t advocate an outright elimination right this second, as it truly would create a level of anarchy. In Georgia, it would also require a Constitutional Amendment.
Those are just a couple of quick thoughts from me though, what do y’all think?
1) non-violent offenders get out ASAP
2)Cut State involvement in education let the counties figure it out, sink or swim.
3)Use fuel tax for roads and their infrastructure, keep funds in the counties they come from.
Tim,
As I noted in the post, any such change to Education faces a Constitutional Amendment requirement – per the Ga Constitution, the STATE is required to provide a free adequate public education.
(FYI: For anyone interested, I took the time to type in the entire Ga Constitution as it existed last August. It can be found at http://www.swgapolitics.com/ga_constitution)
Now, there MAY be a loophole there that could provide some potential – but could also cause a massive backlash: The Constitution requires everything below the “college or postsecondary” level to be free and paid for via state taxes…
What if we changed the definition of “secondary education” down to 8th grade? Thus, all high schools at least would be private – and without a CA being needed.
All the State would have to do was have an office of education to verify counties are funding the schools based on property taxes collected. The same way is done now, Viola State funded free education funded entirely by the residents of the Sate
The State taxes come from property taxes paid locally, I believe there may be extra money, but property tax money is MORE than adequate.
State money for education currently comes out of the General Fund, which is comprised of SEVERAL income streams – not just property taxes. Locally education is funded almost exclusively through income taxes – but the State pays for teachers, some admins, some support personnel, and maybe several other things at the local level.
True, but property taxes make a free education funded by the State, step outside the box, it would save tons of money and force change, probably for the better. I’d have to see the numbers, but it could be easily done.
The State doesn’t have to do those things, they currently do them for control.
Under Tim’s locally funded plan education in poverty ridden SW Georgia would be a true adventure. Seems like Albany-Dougherty County Schools have enough trouble without being broke as well.
I understand, that athletics will be cut, as well as all other non-academic classes. But should they really have ever been in our schools? Time to privatize Athletics and such. imagine the money this will save!
The first parent that says, you mean I have to pay for my kid to play football should get slapped. YES, you need to pay if you want your kid to participate in athletics.. PERIOD.
Without outside funding many counties in Southwest Georgia couldn’t keep the lights on let alone buy football uniforms. I appreciate your desire for simple answers but you should do a little research before declaring the “Nelson solution”.
Wilson, Specifics please! I want to know what counties and the tax revenue earmarked education collected. I think you will soon realize you have been falling hook line and sinker for big government waste.
Tim:
Every public school teacher in the State of Georgia has their salaries paid by the State. Some counties add a “local supplement”, but many here in SWGA do not. Even among the counties that do across the state, the highest I know of doesn’t top around $3K per teacher. I *think* Lee County’s is on the order of $300 per teacher.
Call the average teacher salary $30K (low ball figure, since that is near the current starting salary for 1st year teachers) and you can see that even in the most prosperous counties in Ga, they only pay about 10% of their teachers’ salaries – and yet still often have property tax rates FAR above those found in SWGA.
BTW, I did my research!
I am happy with a minimalist school, that meets 4 days a week 8hr/day for students 10 for teachers. Imagine a teacher cleaning their own room and taking out their own trash. To hell with foreign language and drivers education, Band and creative writing courses.
Higher education is where you can take all the fluffy new age courses.
Schools are grossly filled with unneeded fluff. Feel good classes that don’t amount to a hill of beans! Maybe a student in the DCSS could get an education if we focused on educating a child.
Jeff,
You guys are still thinking inside the box, You need to do more with less. In a minimalist school, you are talking about fewer teachers, more para’s(money savings) and a lot less administration.
I have a vision that will get our education system back on track and on par with the nations around the world that are now kicking our butts.
The smaller counties would actually be much easier to accomplish this than your larger cities. And since we would eliminate all but a teeny tiny portion of education from the State budget, we should be able to up the % kept in the county for education.
Tim,
Can we assume you’re a product of the type of school system you describe?
Wilson, 4.0 in Grad school at Southern Miss – My parents taught me to think for myself long before the school system tried to brainwash me.
I fought the system tooth and nail, but did it my way, the schools wanted me to take “college prep” fluff courses, I took Agriculture and Construction, They told me I had to take 4 years of English and 2 of a foreign language, I took 3 English and 1 semester foreign language.
I graduated Cum Laude with a BS in Agriculture. My writings on Vocational education in the classroom have been published. If you want to go toe to toe bring it, but no name calling.
I bring a valid point to the table, you say not possible.. it isn’t possible to you because you fail to see the changes that need to occur taking place. You are in your comfy little box. Step outside, it’s a whole new world!
I’ll take that as a yes.
Tim:
Remember, you DO have the power to write up your education theory as a post here…
“Imagine a teacher cleaning their own room and taking out their own trash.”
He already did it’s the Little House on the Prairie model.
“Mr. Nelson,
As of 3/5/10, 2009 property tax dollars collected for education are as follows:
School $10,615,921.59
School Bond
$287,578.61″
From the desk of Susan Smith, I’m thinking with 10.5 mill I could run Lee County Schools for a year and give kids a proper education!