Column: School system priorities bassackward

Paper is a basic commodity used in classroom operations. It’s not an extra; it’s not an option; it’s not a nicety; it’s a necessity.

So why is it when schools have to cut spending, the first thing they cut are basic school supplies?

It’s always been a pet peeve when I see teachers having to spend several hundred dollars of their own money to buy paper and other basic classroom supplies. Taxpayers pay a hell’va lot of dollars into public education; schools should at least be able to buy basic stuff like paper.

And this is especially irritating when you consider just how much of those tax dollars are going to prop up overpaid educrats. The Jackson County School System has 15 people making $100,000 or more; but the system can’t afford paper for students?

Something is terribly wrong with that picture; system priorities are really bassackwards.

Of course, the JCSS isn’t the only system playing games with supplies. Jefferson City Schools sent out a “wish list” this week for items that included basic supplies.

This is part of a larger trend that has overtaken schools in the last two decades. More and more, kids are extolled to sell products for school fundraisers. Back when all that started, it was mostly for school extras, equipment or other needs designed to enhance school offerings. It was never intended for basic supplies.

But now, much of those funds are going to things that should be paid for with our tax dollars, the basic kind of supplies that every school must have to operate.

And parents are going along with it. Instead of pushing back and demanding that their child’s school get its priorities in order, too many parents are meekly giving in to pressure from school leaders to “help” with additional donations. Once that happens, school officials become dependent forever on such outside support, removing even more supply funds from budgets.

There’s no doubt that schools have to make some steep cutbacks; revenues are way down and the only choice is to cut spending in local schools. Nobody would argue with that.
But to suggest PTAs should become a funding arm for basic education supplies is crazy, especially in light of the exorbitant salaries being paid in public schools today. Around 80 percent of a school’s cost is payroll; the only way to make a real dent in spending is to cut payroll costs, not copy paper.

Maybe all of this wouldn’t be so bad if citizens were under-taxed. But I don’t know of very many people who think they’re paying too little in education taxes. From property taxes to sales taxes to state income taxes, citizens’ wallets are being hammered to pay for public education in Georgia.

In fact, the real problem in school funding today isn’t a decline in revenues, it’s the fact that the entire education system has built a high-cost infrastructure over the last decade. It’s committed to too much debt for too many schools and too high of a pay scale for too many employees. Spending is the real problem, not revenues.

Now with schools asking parents and PTAs to shell out more money for copy paper so that administrators can keep their high pay untouched, maybe it’s time for taxpayers to push back. Demand more accountability of local school systems in how they spend tax dollars; demand more reasonable pay at both the state and local levels; and demand that before teachers and parents are asked to finance schools through the back door with fundraisers and donations, cut the bloated payroll that is so pervasive in public education.

The Jackson County School System can’t afford copy paper, but its superintendent makes more money than the governor?

That’s a darn bad commentary on the state of education in this community.

Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.