By Steve Hunley
The irony of the present time is that we have more ways to communicate than ever before, yet we seem to do less of it than at any time in our history. We have any number of channels that feature news 24 hours a day, every day of the week, and yet Americans seem more ill-informed and ignorant than at the turn of the century. Some 40% of the people say they get their news from Facebook. Look on any neighborhood app and you will currently see some teacher posting about the school system having to do some belt-tightening and squalling like it is the end of the world. Those progressives and Democrat/socialists lay the blame at the feet of the state, as Tennessee is not sending the Knox County Schools system as much money as the KCS had calculated. In budget matters, it’s always wise to have a Plan B in the event that tax revenue is running behind or something else occurs. Most of the people whining have no idea what they are talking about. Most of the people of Knox County have no idea of how much is spent on schools or anything else in local government. KCS is funded through local (Knoxville and Knox County) taxpayers, as well as state and federal taxpayers; so some of us are actually taxed 3 or 4 times to fund our school budget. All told, KCS is allocated – and spends – more than $713 million annually. A lot of folks in the educational industrial complex will tell you that the more money taxpayers spend, the better the educational result will be. That thinking has been proven to be wholly untrue in our public school system.
Most of the people in Knox County don’t realize the Knox County Commission, by state law, must fund the school system at least 95% of what it appropriated the previous year. So draconian cuts aren’t even permissible under the law. Nor can the county commission direct where the school system spends whatever money it gets. Nor has the board of education tried to undo the padding of the administration throughout the school system. When Jim McIntyre was superintendent, he conveniently began his leadership program and, as a result, most schools have a multiplicity of assistant, vice and executive principals, all jobs created for those who went through McIntyre’s leadership academy. For instance, South-Doyle High School has at least five assistant principals, and Farragut High School has six, including the principal. And so on. McIntyre dramatically increased the administrative end of the school system, and most of these folks are making six figures annually with very nice pensions.
Some local bucket-mouths are bemoaning the 6% raise given to Knox County employees and propose to take it back. How safe would your children be in public schools without any law officers? How would they even get to school without passable roads? And, how many more criminals would be in the general public (instead of jail) without court personnel and the folks who administer, uphold and enforce the law?
Here’s a cold hard fact for the empty headed folks whining about how awful it is that the school system’s budget is affected by less than 2% of its overall funding. How many families have had to cut back 2% at some time or the other? Knox County teachers saw pay raises over a period of five years for a total of 25%. That is just locally and does NOT include pay raises from the state.
The Tennessee State Legislature passed legislation to mandate that teacher salaries start at $50,000 per year. How many taxpayers have received 25% in raises over five years, as well as other raises besides? Nor have any other county employees. In fact, ¾ of ALL taxpayer money in Knox County goes to fund just two departments of government: the school system and the sheriff’s department. Everything else – – – roads, parks & recreation, libraries, the justice system courts and the prosecutor’s offices, support for veterans – – -is run off of one quarter out of every tax dollar spent. Seventy-five cents out of every tax dollar is spent on schools and the sheriff’s department.
No other aspect of government has seen its funding grow so substantially as that of the school system. When the City of Knoxville went out of the school business and the county took over the entire system in 1987, the budget was $117 million.
The growth in spending is not producing better educated students. Several lawsuits have been launched by students who graduated from high school, who insist they are virtually illiterate. Teachers are discouraged from recording a student actually failing a class and are usually routinely promoted to the next grade.
The teachers’ unions have wrangled so many benefits and protections it’s incredible. Even those who are completely incompetent in their positions are virtually impossible to get rid of. Who else is entitled to such job protection in our society? The teachers’ unions have held a political stranglehold in the state of California and cities like Chicago, both of which are heavily in debt and spending more and more money they don’t even have without improving educational outcomes one whit. The unions insisted on keeping schools closed during COVID, and it is well-documented what a terrible mistake that was for our children on so many fronts. It is all too obvious that the unions were thinking of themselves, not the children.
There’s a certain class – – – and it is growing – – – who demand more and more “free” things. Groceries, a place to live, free rides to wherever one wishes to go, medical care, and all of it can be paid for by taxing the rich. Every single penny held by the billionaires in this country could be seized by the government and it would last for about 263 days. And then there is NO more.
According to PolitiFact, America’s billionaires are worth $4.4 trillion dollars. At the rate we are spending today (without everything “free”), that would last less than eight months. We spend $6.82 trillion in this country each year.
As to the schools, more people ought to be wondering about the product being produced by the public school system. The bureaucracy is so heavy that teachers are being asked to do more and more until the burden becomes impossible. We ignore the breakdown of the nuclear family in our country and pretend it has no lasting consequences for the children who live without a father or with a mother who doesn’t work and keeps producing children. Teachers can’t raise the kids who attend their schools, nor should they be expected to, but there needs to be accountability for how well-educated our youngsters are when they come out of high school. Would you be happy to receive $30 worth of groceries after paying $100?
Most intelligent people would not be pleased about it. Not at all.
