I was accosted, for lack of a better word, the other day while walking on the new greenway trail by a gentleman who couldn’t believe that I didn’t agree that City Council shouldn’t “stick it to” the School Board for the School Board’s supposed lack of foresight regarding payments on the renovations to Kate Collins Middle School.
The issue, I countered, isn’t with the School Board or City Council, but rather the Virginia General Assembly, which decided to balance its books by clawing back lottery funds that had been a solid source for school improvement monies for years.
Too bad, so sad, said my friend on the greenway. “We need to send Dr. Crowder and that crowd at the School Board offices, and this is the way to do it.”
Yes, indeed, let’s send a message. It’s already loud and clear. We’re worse than Wall Street when it comes to short-term thinking. It’s all about today here in Waynesboro – cut taxes today, keep spending in line today, stick it to the School Board today.
Tomorrow … that’s no concern of ours.
The brouhaha over the bleachers at the WHS football field … big deal! The great majority of the tiny number of people who vote in the biennial May elections don’t have kids. So what if the solutions being bandied about – having to play all of our football games on the road, removing the bleachers and inviting fans to bring lawn chairs – make us look like we’re all dirt poor?
Twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five kids per class in our schools … so what! The precious darlings, as some commenters on local blogs have come to calling our kids these days, ought to consider themselves lucky to get an education.
The people in charge of making decisions about locating business and industry are taking note of the ass-backwards direction that we’re moving into. Keep that in mind as you wonder why that $3.5 million purchase of scrub-brush on the other side of Interstate 64 doesn’t ever seem to be teeming with suitors. The tax burden is but one of many factors that are considered when location decisions are made. Rest assured that no business or industry is going to want to invest here in the future as long as we continue down the path of taking money from our schools to give out relatively paltry tax breaks to homeowners.
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