Dear Santa: Bring these gifts from the Gold Dome
In time for Santa to make sure it all gets delivered, here’s my Christmas wish list for next year’s legislative session:
– Meaningful tax reform: Soon, perhaps as soon as this week, a special panel will report its recommendations on making Georgia’s tax code more fair and efficient.
Don’t expect anything as radical as ending the income tax. But the preferred direction for reform in Georgia is similar to what’s being debated in Washington. Make taxes simpler with fewer exemptions and credits, flatter with fewer brackets, smarter with no taxes on business inputs such as energy.
And once you’ve done all that, set them as low as possible to fund the government we need, and nothing more. Which brings me to …
– Straight talk on the size of government and how we pay for it: We’ve just had an election in which Republicans won a statewide sweep and large legislative majorities by promising to cut government until it lives within its means.
But in the 2010 session, GOP leaders told us they were already cutting into the bone. They also said that a variety of fees, many of which look suspiciously like taxes unrelated to provision of a particular service, were necessary to balance the books.
Pick a story, stick to it. Don’t tell us at voting time there’s more to cut, and then tell us at cutting time there isn’t.
– Progress on school choice: There has never been a better moment to push for increasing options for parents and students (as well as teachers, who in many parts of Georgia face few, if any, employment choices). The education establishment had a lousy 2010.
There was the cheating scandal that exploded in Atlanta (and down in Dougherty County) and may lead to criminal charges for complicit teachers and administrators. There was the turmoil within the Atlanta and DeKalb County school boards, and the indictments of administrators in DeKalb.
In the meantime, school choice has broken through the ideological barrier and squarely into the public consciousness thanks to feature films such as “Waiting for ‘Superman.’”
The issue isn’t just for conservatives anymore, as parents in Compton, Calif., showed last week. How? They pulled the nation’s first “parent trigger” to mandate vast changes in a failing school. Out goes the old leadership; in comes a charter operator with a record of success in public schools.
It’s a transformative tool. It’s a tool you can imagine parents of APS students being eager to use at schools where some adults cheated kids out of educational opportunity.
Whether it’s with a parent trigger or by moving forward on more familiar measures, such as vouchers, let’s take some next steps this year.
– Good-governance measures: By all means, take another pass at zero-base budgeting and sunset reviews for state agencies. But let’s also consider changes such as moving to two-year budget cycles, which could allow for deeper examination of spending and less election-year pandering.
And if there’s any room left in the stocking, I’ll take a little seriousness: No stunts akin to pardoning dead celebrities (as Florida officials did this past week for the Doors’ Jim Morrison); no pounding the lectern railing against Washington with one hand, while the other reaches for every last federal dollar; no pointless intramural fights about things like pledges.
Act more nice than naughty, and Santa, and the rest of us, will thank you.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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50 comments Add your comment
d
December 10th, 2010
8:16 pm
I would argue that the public education system isn’t quite as broke as a lot of people make it out to be. Frankly, as much as “Waiting on Superman” pins the hopes of education on charter schools, it ignores a lot of research that shows charter schools over all are not performing better than traditional public schools. Please don’t get me wrong, I won’t argue that parents shouldn’t have choice in the education of their children, but I am worried about taking funding away from the public system and calling it “competition.” I’ll just say let’s compare a traditional public and private school in funding. Public schools depend 100% on tax dollars as provided for by the Georgia constitution. Private schools rely on tuition from the students enrolled. The competition argument basically says take away the only funding from one school and supplement the funding of the other. Hardly fair, but I’m not going to get into that debate more than I already have. I would argue in favor of tracking in the public schools. I would bet that the 15-year-olds who took the PISA in Shanghai (which just ranked the best in the world on this test) weren’t their future blue-collar workers. We have one track for education, and it’s worse in Georgia with even fewer choices for the class of 2012 than ever before. I had a classmate in some courses I was taking who was raised in Germany. She tested into their vocational track schools. She worked hard and retested into the academic track two years later. She wasn’t stuck there, but while she was in the vocational track, she wasn’t being compared to all of our students….. the academic track students were being compared to ALL American students. Which students do you think fared better? Why do you think so many international students come to our universities? Something is working in American education, but we really need to look at how we’re running the system as far as comparing ourselves to the rest of the world.
I am curious, and perhaps someone could enlighten me, since Nathan Deal is going to be taking an oath to uphold the state and federal constitutions, how can he ignore the fact that the state constitution calls K-12 education a priority for this state and it isn’t budgeted for first and everything else after. I don’t recall seeing anything else called a priority. I would argue constitutionally, K-12 should be funded fully before anything else, but I am open to opinions on that.
Observer
December 10th, 2010
10:10 pm
Kyle,
you are so sweet and innocent.
there aren’t enough lobbyists to explain it to the legislators.
rant and roll
December 10th, 2010
11:02 pm
Waiting for Superman is to Education what Fahrenheit 9/11 is to the Bush Presidency.
Both are “documentaries” with a preconceived conclusion.
The problem with education is not in the classroom – it is in the local and state Board of Education. How much tax dollars are spent paying for layers of bureaucrats that do little to improve education?
Vouchers will not guarantee the “best” education. The best private schools will not accept vouchers. Check out Florida – schools pop up and have little oversight. Parents return to public schools.
Michael H. Smith
December 10th, 2010
11:12 pm
- Straight talk on the size of government:
It is too big, too powerful and it cost more then should. Less GUB’MENT, more efficient governance.
– Progress on school choice:
Stop funding schools, start funding students. “Let the money follow the student”, not the school system. End the GUB’MENT education monopoly of the public school system.
– Good-governance measures:
Refer to first comment, read it again, again and uh… AGAIN!
And remember… Teddy, is watching us.
killerj
December 11th, 2010
12:05 am
I,d like to see more bone instead of a scratch.
Bring back "Babe Alley" to the Gold Dome!
December 11th, 2010
12:16 am
“-Straight talk on the size of government and how we pay for it: We’ve just had an election in which Republicans won a statewide sweep and large legislative majorities by promising to cut government until it lives within its means.”
“But in the 2010 session, GOP leaders told us they were already cutting into the bone. They also said that a variety of fees, many of which look suspiciously like taxes unrelated to provision of a particular service, were necessary to balance the books.”
“Pick a story, stick to it. Don’t tell us at voting time there’s more to cut, and then tell us at cutting time there isn’t.”
But Kyle, it doesn’t matter how conservative the Republicans say they are or claim to be, as politicians are just telling the voters want they want to hear. Everybody wants to talk tough about cutting the size of government and balancing the budget…..until it’s their favorite program or government entitlement that’s on the cutting block, at which point they’re as mad as hell that the suggestion was even made (”HOW DARE YOU even suggest cutting that program!). Voters get mad as hell when the budget is too high, voters get mad as hell when their favorite program is up to be cut and voters get mad as hell when politicians suggest raising taxes (or fares, or fees, etc) so that they can keep their favorite service (see our beloved MARTA as an example where everyone wants the buses and trains to keep running at a high frequency but no wants to pay the increased fares to operate and expand the service). Since we want it both ways, since we want to have our cake and eat it too, but can’t have it both ways and tend to get as mad as hell when were told that we can’t, we elect politicians who are more than happy to tell us that we can have it both ways when we really can’t so that they can keep power (those politicians in these parts tend to be Republicans because Democrats tend to be too stupid to even know how to tell voters what they want to hear to keep their jobs, while Republicans seem to know how to double talk really well at this immediate time anyway).
Ayn Rant
December 11th, 2010
5:59 am
Kyle’s wish list is the platform of every politician elected to federal or state office in the last 50 years. So, why do taxes get more complicated, governments get more exasperating, and schools fail to educate our children?
Clues can be found by analyzing Kyle’s writings. He doesn’t really want practical tax reform; he just wants tax cuts for the privileged (flatter tax) and elimination of middle class tax deductions. He doesn’t really want good governance; he just wants Republican politicians elected or appointed to every office in the land. He doesn’t really want good schools; he just wants school choice.
Kyle is a “conservative”. He wants his way or no way, but not a better way.
Lynn43
December 11th, 2010
6:07 am
Kyle, I would think that with your ancestor’s background in public education, you would put more value on it than to see it destroyed which is the priority of the leadership in power. You know about whom I speak when I say that she was the best teacher I had 1-12 and through three college degrees.
Atlantan
December 11th, 2010
6:15 am
Perhaps the problem with public education is a majority of the parents just don’t care. Not sure how you get them to care, but that is the biggest problem. I agree more school choice is preferable so those parents who do actually care have an option.
I’d like to see the Old Georgia Democrats aka the Georgia Republican Party get out of the business of taking advantage of perks and special access in order to enrich their own pockets (ethics reform) – see Sonny Perdue.
Tax reform would be great – emulate the state of Texas. Texas is the economic engine of America right now due to their low taxes and pro-business environment.
I’ll admit I still wish Handel had won…. Hopefully Deal will surprise us all.
Karl Marx
December 11th, 2010
6:56 am
REAL Tax reform from a tax reform panel that has mainly special interest groups represented ON the board AND headed by Sonny Oaky Woods Perdue. Yea right like that is going to happen. Lower taxes and smaller government is nothing more than platitude given by Republicans in this state. To them those are just words that have NO meaning. Long Live the Arts Council, especially if the Republicans have anything to do with it.
Danielle
December 11th, 2010
7:44 am
Nathan Deal is unstable, angry,and confused. If he can’t handle his personal affairs, how can he “deal” with Georgia’s economy? Smart people elected him because he has ideas of the “past”. Come on people, let’s wake up!!!!! You shouldn’t be making a “deal” with the future of our state.
dcb
December 11th, 2010
8:53 am
To D above I would agree with most of the thoughts. Two exceptions – first, when we talk about the funding of a private school student taking away money from the public schools, I for one don’t understand the argument. We say on the one hand that public schools lose the funding for that one student. But we never mention that there is one less student that is costing the public schools any money. If we were short little rear-ends in a public school classroom because of the loss to private schools, than perhaps. But we’re not. In fact, we’re still overcrowded in many cases. Take those students in the private sector and add them to the public school roles, and what would that do for the cost factor? More teachers, more support services, more facilities and who knows what else is in the equation. Let’s see figures showing us what the total cost would be to absorb those students and then compare that to the monies from the state supposedly lost by their current absence from the rolls. Also it is seldom mentioned but tax monies received would not increase if private school students and resulting costs had to be assumed by public schools. Those private school parents are already paying the state and local taxes. So where would the additional monies to pay those increased public school expenses come from? And second, regarding Deal and his priorities. While not a Deal fan (nor was I for the Barnes option), the fallacy in the argument about not fully funding K-12 education falls flat because of the word “fully”. To your point that “the public education system isn’t quite as broke as a lot of people make it out to be.” If not broke, I would ask you whether or not you therefore believe public education has not only been actually fully funded, but overfunded these last few years?
Michael H. Smith
December 11th, 2010
8:59 am
It’s gonna be a RED, RED, RED CHRISTMAS in Georgia
Kyle, do you think we should put the Donkey on the endangered species list in Georgia?
ATLANTA, Ga. – Democrats in Georgia are being forced to look inward as the party suffers one defection after another. Six state lawmakers have made the switch to the Republican Party, along with a handful of elected city officials. FOX 5’s Tom Haynes spoke with House Minority Leader Stacy Abrams about what’s happening to her party.
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/politics/newsmaker-georgia-democrats-20101210-es
Double Standard
December 11th, 2010
9:04 am
The schools need to down size, concentrating on teaching reading, writing, and math well, and drop all the other nonsense. Gym class does nothing to prevent obesity, the current obesity rates among children are proof of that, so eliminate gym and all school funded athletics. Let the parents fund the sports their children play, or do not field a team in that sport. Do not hire teachers just because you want them to coach, rather let the parents hire, at their own expense, the necessary coaches. Forget band, it is expensive and does nothing to educate in the three basic areas. China is racing far ahead of us just because they focus on the hard sciences and math in school. The State will fail to follow my advice, thus dooming America to lower and lower standards of living, as China and India make scientific breakthroughs that they will not share with us.
Michael H. Smith
December 11th, 2010
9:20 am
Two exceptions – first, when we talk about the funding of a private school student taking away money from the public schools, I for one don’t understand the argument. We say on the one hand that public schools lose the funding for that one student. But we never mention that there is one less student that is costing the public schools any money.
On your first point perhaps you don’t understand the argument because the only substance of it is a false one meant to protect the bureaucracy of the BIG GUB’MENT education monopoly. I agree with you on your points.
With the Republicans taking more control, the dream that many conservatives have politically fought to see become the reality in this state of letting the money follow the student, might soon happen.
The liberals and the non-union teachers union in Georgia will howl bloody murder, stomp their feet, tell every lie in the book and sue in federal court forever to keep the money and power of their BIG GUB’MENT education monopoly.
Road Scholar
December 11th, 2010
9:37 am
Kyle, you forgot the main Conserve rallying points of guns and abortions!
Seriously, nothing on ethics and proper investigations? ie Cagle.
Nothing on water, transportation, and jobs? And how we are going to fund them?
Eric
December 11th, 2010
9:49 am
Kyle, I agree with everything except your views on the state of public education. The issues in Atlanta-Dekalb systems are isolated and not indicative of the majority of school systems and those who work in them. We have a first-class school system in Georgia, and I’m sick of you and others bashing it without any real credibility or proof! Privatization of the schools is a horrible scenario!
@@
December 11th, 2010
9:50 am
I’m anxiously awaiting Paul Ryan’s ascension to Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. It’ll be nice to upend the “Dodd-ering” old fools and less than “Frank” discussions that exist today. With the two Pauls…Ron and Ryan…both arguing for fiscal restraint, one’s main focus being transparency…things are “bound to change.”
There was some leading Republican rep who was arguing for two-year budget cycles at the federal level. His reasons were the same.
Yessiree…things are looking up.
Michael H. Smith
December 11th, 2010
10:44 am
John Stossel’s ‘Stupid in America’
How Lack of Choice Cheats Our Kids Out of a Good Education
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338
Intown
December 11th, 2010
11:47 am
My wish is for Georgia and Metro Atlanta to score a complete and total victory on water in the 11th Circuit in March.
Scott
December 11th, 2010
11:53 am
As long as we are wishing…
How about REAL ethics reform. Limits on lobbyists contributions (no loopholes), full disclosure of said contributions, and how about the Governors assets being held in trust (which every one prior to Perdue participated in) while in office to avoid the shellacking we all got by Sonny. Smart government that spends money wisely and not for things that obviously aren’t necessary. Legislators that are statesmen who care about ALL of Georgia not which one can file the first abortion bill this session while our infrastructure crumbles around us.
Unfortunately…without strong ethics rules, it doesn’t look good
Prudent Man
December 11th, 2010
12:06 pm
The things listed here sound like what most would want. But sounds like a bit of it is asking things of government while at the same time asking government to shrink in size. Does size matter? If it’s effective, little, medium-size, or large govt. would be dictated by the markets? right?
Tax Reform: When our govt. relies on personal income for funding, there is no way it will have enough revenue to operate. There are simply too many services and not enough money to pay for said services. All the profits in the world couldn’t support our huge military. Not to mention our courts, schools, roads, bridges, airspace, environment, etc. If sales tax, income tax, plus the billions in various fees on service items (rental car tax, airline “segment” tax for example) cannot pay for our infrastructure, then our govt should look elsewhere. Why not raise revenue by duties and tariffs on imports like our Constitution says? Even during this great recession, there is no other country on earth that spends American consumers. So why not harness that fact to increase revenues? China charges a 35% tariff to sell a US tire in China while the US only charges China 7% tariff to sell a China-made tire in the US. For other products, the tariffs are even lower. If China wants access to our lucrative consumer markets, our gov’t should charge the Chinese, not the US citizen, for that access. The disparity in trade policy is completely the work of bi-partisan legislation and it benefits very few people in both the US and China.
Choice in school location: How about getting rid of these ridiculous standardized tests? We have had 10 years to look at these NCLB tests, even longer to observe such tests as the Iowa assessment. After 40 years, have the Iowa assessments ever helped anybody with anything? These tests have been rife with cheating from the get-go, and anybody with half a brain could’ve predicted this outcome. Lots of blaming of parents when these tests do not achieve their objective (which is often). These tests measure nothing about teaching or student aptitude. More teachers with higher pay and smaller classroom sizes would do far more to cure what ails public education, and for less money. If a person wants choice, private education delivers what would cure our public education (smaller classes, better paid teachers). For most people, this choice is prohibitively expensive. The CRCT tests are a complete and total failure and should be done away with immediately. In fact, the creators of those tests should refund the money for breach of warranty! Ask any public teacher’s opinion on them. Cutbacks in education for music, the arts, and humanities have strong correlation to increasing violence, erosions of the family, and increasing drug use.
As for good governance measures, … it would require a serious gift from Santa to rectify this dilemma. Why is Jim Morrison even in the news? Why does the media insist on covering substance-free news? Why the continuous D v. R/Con v. Lib/Left v. Right debate? Pigeonholing American opinion in such a manner makes people more controllable. A responsible media would air footage from Afghanistan and Iraq hospitals and battlefields. A true “liberal” media would show battleground footage. The only recent reports shown were Obama to Afghanistan to cut a fake turkey, and a tid-bit about how the US has been there longer than Russia was.
Radical solutions would be to end the Federal Reserve and put the power to coin money back into the hands of our elected representatives, a trade embargo on the Chinese, greater than or equal tariffs on all imports relative to exports, a complete rebuilding of US consumer manufacturing, and ZERO subsidies for any US business. A revamping of our transportation system should be prioritized, longer vacations and younger retirement ages should be business goals, and the notion that money = speech should be put to rest immediately.
Will Americans throw rocks at the Bush’s, Clinton’s, Obama’s, or other royal families when tuition increases? Or are they too medicated on Zoloft, busy watching football, or shopping on a “tax-free” weekend, cyber-Monday, or black Friday to risk a tazing by the police?
As the next 2 years unwind, it will be interesting to see if NAFTA-style (”bipartisan”) legislation is increased, if the Federal Reserve continues to expand its massive power, if China, Brazil, and other 3rd world countries are allowed unfettered access to our consumer markets while US access is denied to theirs, and if foreign policy continues to be dictated by Israel, with Iran as public enemy #1. Meanwhile, will American opinion continue to be shaped by professional kewpie dolls on TV and blathering men on the radio?
Dabir Dalton
December 11th, 2010
12:27 pm
Kyle school vouchers are nothing more then a conservative entitlement program. Your starting to sound an awful lot like a Democrat when you advocate for em…
It is what it isn't, that i,s it's not what it is.
December 11th, 2010
1:55 pm
The problem with edumacation today is that the educators are uneducated. The teachers have the greed and the lack of moral ascendency down pat, we need to simply educate them and everything will be fine. I would suggest the school of hard knockers, as depicted by the video, “hot4teacher” by Van Halen.
Got it bad, so bad. TeachersRpeople2 but sometimes your position does define you as a human being and teaching cheating is the stem of all bad apples in the barrel. Our society would be better off if we made a teaching career an object of desire like a doctor or a lawyer or an apprentice.
Teachers, You’re fired. (the don)
historydawg
December 11th, 2010
3:52 pm
It is interesting that school-choice advocates cite a variety of theories to support their claims: individualism, money following the child, even capitalism, etc. Ignoring the fact that less-government advocates like Jefferson were the first to demand public education for all students. The problem is that Americans (many on the right) have lost the sense of community that most Americans throughout our history have embraced. We demand rights but rid our minds and our pocketbooks of our responsibilities. Boortz, for instance, cites Jefferson in encouraging a distrust of government, but ignores Jefferson’s call to educate our neighbors. Why would the government support businesses that refuse regulation and are not proven effective? This is the exact reality if public (that means all of our) money is used to fund private education of an elite few. The advantages of the private schools stem directly from the ability to accept some students and reject others. This is un-American and more akin to the aristocracies of Europe. If we flood private schools with money and students (which they, of course, not stand for), the advantages are gone. Public school teachers are almost the only one’s who can see past the money: that when communities are divided and the most responsible of the community’s leaders leave the schools, the mission of public education has no chance of survival. Herein lies the republican goal of dismantling public education in Georgia.
What's holding you back?
December 11th, 2010
5:03 pm
So, what’s holding you back from getting your wishes, Kyle? Republicans have had control of Georgia government for 8 years… and now another 4-8 years. One has to wonder why those with utter and complete control for so many consecutive years fail to achieve anything – to say nothing of their own goals. Why is that Kyle? Why has your party achieved so little? Why?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 11th, 2010
9:25 pm
As long as the Repugs don’t turn Georgia into Kalifornia, New Yorkkk or Illinoise, I’m cool.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 11th, 2010
9:30 pm
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit rose to $150.4 billion last month, the largest November gap on record. And the government’s deficits are set to climb higher if Congress passes a tax-cut plan that’s estimated to cost $855 billion over two years. -Urinal
Sounds like we need a smaller government, don’t it?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 11th, 2010
9:34 pm
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and its European allies are prepared to impose additional sanctions on Iran if it does not meet international demands to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful, a senior U.S. official said Friday. -Urinal
Oh my gosh, I’ll bet the Iranians have gone to clutching their pillows in fear.
Uh, meanwhile, back on Earth, the Israelis are eating up Iranian’s nuclear program with worms, specifically a Stutnex worm.
obozo negotiates with a corpse.
Michael H. Smith
December 12th, 2010
2:34 am
Kyle, after a hundred years of dismal performance from the Democrats controlling this State it is totally laughable to hear ignorant braying over eight years of anything. The way it appears, the Republicans have ninety-two years remaining to get right all the Democrats got wrong in a hundred years, Dunkeys.
Digital Learning is focus of Foundation’s
Final Policy Briefing Luncheon of 2010
Senator Rogers, named a Champion of School Choice by the American Federation of Children, recently became a member of the national Digital Learning Council of the Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE). FEE is chaired by its founder, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Senator Rogers was honored in October as a Champion of School Choice for his leadership in helping two significant Georgia school choice bills become law: the Corporate and Individual Scholarship Tax Credit Program, which enables individuals and corporations to receive credit for donating to student scholarship funds, and the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program, which allows eligible students to transfer to the school of their choice so as to best address their special educational needs.
http://www.gppf.org/default.asp?pt=newsdescr&RI=1674
Let the money follow the student: Don’t let the dirty dunkeys hold Georgia’s school children HOSTAGE!
PS. Kyle, why is it that liberals always make a big boast about “freedom of choice”, until that choice frees them from government control and dependence?
Michael H. Smith
December 12th, 2010
2:52 am
I dare you to ask the question I posed to you as a blog, Kyle:
Why is it liberals always make a big boast about “freedom of choice”, until that choice frees them (or someone else) from government control and dependence?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 12th, 2010
6:01 am
Less than a week after his bipartisan deficit commission offered a package of tough tax hikes and spending cuts to stem the flood of government red ink, President Barack Obozo cut a deal with Republicans that would add a whopping $900 billion to the nation’s debt over the next two years. -Urinal
Alright, here’s the game plan- Toss this deal and all of the dummycrat pork that is attached to it in the garbage.
Come back next year with the majority of the House, write a clean tax cut extension and dare obozo to veto it.
Watch government revenues soar and economic growth increase, take all the credit for it.
With Palin as president in 2013, make the cuts permanent.
Easy as pie, just sayin…
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
December 12th, 2010
6:25 am
liberalism, having been gutted out in 2010, apparently plans on dying a horrible, gruesome and whiny little death-
GOP pushes tighter rules on abortion -Urinal
Dream Act looms as 2012 issue -Urinal
Deal quiet on his agenda – Governor-elect digs into budget, but gives few specifics on goals. -Urinal
The AJC blubbering or nails screeching on a chalkboard, is there much of a difference?
carlosgvv
December 12th, 2010
7:53 am
make taxes simpler
It is next to impossible this will ever happen. The State of Georgia has a large number of workers in it’s tax department and it’s very unlikely the politicians will do anything the reduce this number. Plum political jobs are one of the rewards some people get from supporting various politicians and they are not about to give this up.
Fat Cat
December 12th, 2010
9:16 am
I say tax the heck out of the little people by increasing the sales tax and eliminating the income tax. That way, they’ll pay a bigger share. And I’m tired of paying taxes for public schools and tuition at private schools. How about a little subsidy for me, for a change? After I can get my tax money to follow my kids to their school, the public schools can go hang.
Steve
December 12th, 2010
11:02 am
I read these comments and realize that Georgians are undeucated about the issues. One example is education. There is an asstertion that private schools spend less on students than public schools and a superficial study would confirm that. But private schools don’t provide transportation, discounted meals and services for disadvantaged students. Private schools pick and choose who they want. Transportation is almost 1/3 of the school budget! Private schools make extra profit when kids pay for transportation, school lunch and special services. First we need to be honest about the issues and only then a real discussion about solutions will become possibe.
Michael H. Smith
December 12th, 2010
1:23 pm
John Stossel’s ‘Stupid in America’
How Lack of Choice Cheats Our Kids Out of a Good Education
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338
Michael H. Smith
December 12th, 2010
1:39 pm
John Stossel
Education: Too Important for a Government Monopoly
Excerpt…
Today we spend a stunning $11,000 a year per student — more than $200,000 per classroom. It’s not working. So when will we permit competition and choice, which works great with everything else? I’ll explore those questions on my Fox Business program tomorrow night at 8 and 11 p.m. Eastern time (and again Friday at 10 p.m.).
The people who test students internationally told us that two factors predict a country’s educational success: Do the schools have the autonomy to experiment, and do parents have a choice?
Parents care about their kids and want them to learn and succeed — even poor parents. Thousands line up hoping to get their kids into one of the few hundred lottery-assigned slots at Harlem Success Academy, a highly ranked charter school in New York City. Kids and parents cry when they lose.
Yet the establishment is against choice. The union demonstrated outside Harlem Success the first day of school. And President Obama killed Washington, D.C.’s voucher program.
This is typical of elitists, who believe that parents, especially poor ones, can’t make good choices about their kids’ education.
Is that so? Ask James Tooley about that. Tooley is a professor of education policy who spends most of every year in some of the poorest parts of Africa, India and China. For 10 years, he’s studied how poor kids do in “free” government schools and — hold on — private schools. That’s right. In the worst slums, private for-profit schools educate kids better than the government’s schools do.
Tooley finds as many as six private schools in small villages. “The majority of (poor) schoolchildren are in private school, and these schools outperform government schools at a fraction of the teacher cost,” he says.
Why do parents with meager resources pass up “free” government schools and sacrifice to send their children to private schools? Because, as one parent told the BBC, the private owner will do something that’s virtually impossible in America’s government schools: replace teachers who do not teach.
As in America, the elitist establishment in those countries scoffs at the private schools and the parents who choose them. A woman who runs government schools in Nigeria calls such parents “ignoramuses.”
But that can’t be true. Tooley tested kids in both kinds of schools, and the private-school students score better…
http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2010/02/17/education_too_important_for_a_government_monopoly
DannyX
December 12th, 2010
2:58 pm
SPOILER ALERT!! SPOILER ALERT!!
Is this how we ended up with the Bush tax cuts? You asked Santa, and he delivered?
Guess what Republicans? There is no Santa. The fact that Republicans still cling to this myth says a lot. This tax break of yours has to be accounted for! Santa laughed when presented with the trillion dollar bill.
This hasn’t worked in the past. You used to wish for a Republican governor and we ended up with Perdue and Deal. How about the year everyone was asking for ethics reform? You all were shocked to open the box and find a short skirt instead.
How many of you asked Santa to to deliver Oakey Woods to Georgia for double the price? How does Santa do it?
I know at least one person asked for a no-bid government contract. Another added the Ports Authority to their list.
How many asked for a bankrupt-career politician to lead Georgia out of its budget mess?
Since there are no Democrats left in Georgia I guess the Republicans can make Santa their next scapegoat.
For the good of the country….. “No Republicans, there is no welfare delivering Santa Claus.”
Mrs. Norris
December 12th, 2010
4:37 pm
“How many asked for a bankrupt-career politician to lead Georgia out of its budget mess?”
You left out “crooked”.
Kyle - You were totally wrong dude !!
December 12th, 2010
6:21 pm
“No World Cup in U.S.; there goes an argument for new stadium
11:46 am December 2, 2010, by Kyle Wingfield
I heard on the radio this morning that Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was among the crowd gathered at a downtown sports bar this morning in anticipation of an “It’s Atlanta” type of moment — one that would have boosted supporters of a new, open-air stadium downtown. But it turns out that the World Cup isn’t coming to the U.S. at all, much less Atlanta. From ESPN.com:”
Well Kyle, in case you missed it, a dome with a tent roof collapsed this morning…
During our last Superbowl here in Atlanta we had almost the same situation. That ice storm nearly caused the NFL to postpone the SUPERBOWL !!
Uhhhh… Do you think there might be problem?
The GA Dome was a hunk of cheap junk the day it opened. It hasn’t gotten any better.
Mr. Blank should build a brand-new, uber hi-tech and durable sports/entertainment facility the world has ever seen. Mr. Blank should pay for this out his his own pocket and keep local and state government goons out.
GO FALCONS !!!
Kyle - You were totally wrong dude !!
December 12th, 2010
6:33 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/12/winter.weather/index.html?eref=rss_us&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_us+(RSS:+U.S.)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
What if this happened while people were inside?
Have they been safe until this morning?
I’ll bet more than a few season ticket holders and their lawyers have some questions come 8am tomorrow morning.
Bulldoze the Ga Dome !!
Build a real stadium that can last 50 years.
Question Authority
December 12th, 2010
6:40 pm
I would just like a restoration of freedom in this state. End the liquor laws, end the drug laws, end the professional licensure protectionist racket, end the taxes on business, end the gambling laws (you know, the ones that impact all of us, while the state makes billions off it Lotto monopoly), end the laws against all consensual behavior. Just imagine a free Georgia.
Bob
December 12th, 2010
7:37 pm
” If a person wants choice, private education delivers what would cure our public education (smaller classes, better paid teachers). For most people, this choice is prohibitively expensive”
Not true, private school teachers make way less than public. Most private schools charge less than it cost to attend a public school.
Question Authority
December 12th, 2010
8:10 pm
No discussion of private versus government schools can be had unless one is upfront about the fact that the government takes hundreds if not thousands of dollars from every household in the nation to fund its failures. As a result, private schools must compete for what’s left in a budget and have no access to that money (not that I support vouchers – they will just destroy the private sector with government mandates and directives). Additionally, with the small number of parents willing to kick the drug of “free government schooling” and give a private alternative a try, private schools are few and far between. The fewer there are, the more exclusive they can be. Today, they cater primarily to families that can afford a high tuition and they get it. Were sentiments among the citizenry to change and a demand for private alternatives to grow substantially, there is no doubt that the quality would go up and the price would come down to something very affordable for the vast majority of americans. As well, the schools mentioned by Mr. Stossel in Africa do not have to face the daunting regulatory and tax nightmare that is local government and state law. Even to babysit children every day requires permits and licenses in many locales and heaven forbid you attempt to teach anyone anything without a government-approved license. Yet that same person can educate their own child without a license in most states.
The education racket is controlled by the government that is afraid of any reduction in its power or challenge to its role as indoctrinator of youth. The current model is based on the Prussian system of the 1800’s that was put in place to ensure that the non-elites were raised with an obedience to the state, the skills necessary to become workers for elite-owned industry, and without the independent spirit that might make them question the empire’s wars of conquest and destruction. As you can see, the system works just as planned here in the US as well and no doubt this blind loyalty that has been drummed in over the 12 years of imprisonment has a lot to do with why most parents continue to support the government system despite it obvious failure.
"Information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment" - BHO, May 1, 2010
December 12th, 2010
9:10 pm
#1 – Constitutional Amendment requiring Term Limits for all members of Congress
#2 – Constitutional Amendment requiring a Balanced Federal Budget every year, no excuses.
#3 – Repeal the 16th Amendment (Income Tax) and replace it with a Flat Tax or Fair Tax, a National Lottery and massive consumption taxes on alcohol, tobacco and marijuana.
#4 – Congress must repeal The War Powers Act. This law allows the POTUS to start wars without an official Declaration of War. Congress granted it and they can take it back. Get it done.
#5 – A thoroughly independent, comprehensive, unrestricted and mandatory audit of The Federal Reserve System every three years.
#6 — Seal the borders asap and protect American citizens from the drug cartels and others who move freely across our lines.
#7 — No funding whatsoever for Obamacare.
#8 — A thoroughly independent, comprehensive, unrestricted and mandatory audit of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac every three years.
#9 — 15%, across the board, spending cuts for every government office and function including the Defense Department and all government entitlements, no exceptions whatsoever.
#10 — Follow steps one through nine.
historydawg
December 12th, 2010
10:33 pm
Question Authority, you need to check the history books. Public education in the United States developed independently of Prussian schools, which were rooted in the military tradition. In fact, the systems designed by Jefferson, Mann, etc. were in opposition to European aristocracy. Please quit listening to conservative pundits who seem to make all things “big gov’t,” and German (thus akin to Hitler among small minds). Some ed. historians argue that schools were in fact controlled by business and corporations (hence the emphasis on bells, tardiness, and hard work–all qualities needed on the assembly line). Please read the posts above to understand why public schools require more money than private schools. It is clear that for schools to be available to all citizens and not simply the elites, the costs will be greater on the community. Why can’t you accept the responsibilities to your neighbor that even our most govt-distrusting founding fathers assumed? Public education was not even debated in Georgia upon its founding–hence our state constitution.
Southern Comfort
December 13th, 2010
8:54 am
– Straight talk on the size of government and how we pay for it: We’ve just had an election in which Republicans won a statewide sweep and large legislative majorities by promising to cut government until it lives within its means.
But in the 2010 session, GOP leaders told us they were already cutting into the bone. They also said that a variety of fees, many of which look suspiciously like taxes unrelated to provision of a particular service, were necessary to balance the books.
Pick a story, stick to it. Don’t tell us at voting time there’s more to cut, and then tell us at cutting time there isn’t.
They will continue to do the same thing as long as voters keep electing the same idiots. What’s that old saying about insanity and doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results???
The answer is not in party politics but in individual people. Until people quit voting for party and look at the individual candidates, we’ll have the same crap over and over.
John
December 13th, 2010
10:03 am
For those all for Less GUB’MENT…why not take GUB’MENT out of the education business. Privatize the entire education systems. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about voucher systems, etc. Let parents send their children to whatever schools they want and fund the total education of their kids. We could then cut taxes for everyone since tax payer money would not be used to fund education.
That would lead to less GUB’MENT and less taxes. Problem solved.
Jefferson
December 13th, 2010
10:50 am
Sales taxes are highly ineffecient because of fraud and admin costs to collect and redistribute it. Not to mention highly unfair to the working poor. You rich kids are all alike.