A few minutes ago, Jim Galloway reported on some numbers that sound scary. Someone sent out a memo today (I’ll get to who in a moment) that said that given the current budget crisis, either 14,000 teachers across the State would have to be fired or every single teacher in the State would have to take a 15% decrease in pay.
Fortunately, as he typically does when he can, Mr. Galloway also linked to the full memo so we could all read the entire thing.
After making such dire predictions, what does the author of the memo suggest the General Assembly do instead?
First, he says we should “identify and curtail the tax exemptions that are eroding the State’s revenues”. Then we need to “update our antiquated tax structure. (The level of state taxes has fallen as a percent of our total economy from about 6% in the decade of the 1990s to less than 5% today.)” After that, we should “improve the collection of the sales and income taxes that are now legally required”. Next, we should “consider some new taxes. (Thirty-three states have raised taxes to help in meeting their needs.)”. Finally, we should “recognize the value of a good education not only for our students but for everyone in Georgia”.
Now, if you’ve been following one particular group closely, like my friend Keith McCants over at Peanut Politics has, you might recognize a lot of those points. They’re pretty common talking points.
From Democratic Party of Georgia candidates and activists.
Yep, this is a classic scare tactic designed to minimize cuts to the single largest Department in the State budget – the State Department of Education. (Nearly $7 Billion of the Governor’s original $18 Billion FY 2011 budget went to this one Department.)
Let’s get one thing clear right now. No one in the Big Government Party WANTS to cut Education. None of them. Not off the record. Not whispers. Not even in their own heads will they ever consider wanting to cut education. Even us Libertarians who want to eliminate the State Department of Education completely don’t want to cut education – we just want to eliminate the State bureaucracy associated with it, and let parents and communities decide for themselves what kind of education they want their kids to have.
But when a single Department almost as big as the next two biggest Departments COMBINED? Yeah, it HAS to take a hit, whether or not anyone wants it to.
Will those cuts be as dire as the author of that memo seems to think? As I said this morning, anything is certainly possible at this point. Everything related to the budget is absolutely fluid right now. But political realities suggest that for ANYONE to make those cuts, knowing that teachers and their families make up the single largest voting bloc in the State, they must already be packing up their offices for a permanent move back to wherever they call home when the General Assembly is not in session. Because anyone who votes for such a drastic cut to teachers WILL be challenged, either in a Primary or a General, and it WILL be a fight that may or may not be winnable for the incumbent.
I’ll close with letting you in on the “secret” about the author of that memo. He works for a group called the Georgia School Funding Association – a group that by and large advocates increasing taxes to pay for education, despite “education” as a policy area being 57% of the State budget already.
But who is he? His name is Joe Martin.
His brother, Jim Martin, was the 2008 Democratic Party of Georgia nominee for US Senate.
