Legislators want us to trust them, comrade
Oct. 22—If the Democrats in West Virginia were attempting to do what the Republicans are set on this election cycle with Amendments 2 and 4, there would be no shortage of people clutching their pearls and saying those commie, socialist Dems are trying to centralize government, taking away local control, local decision making, harvesting all taxes, state and local, collecting all revenue in Charleston and then deciding who gets what before they send it back out, no doubt playing political favorites and keeping a stash of cash for their own pet projects.
Not only that, with Amendment 4 they want to take control of all policy-making decisions currently entrusted to the State Board of Education, populated by appointed experts in the field, many with decades of hands-on service in the classroom and in administrative ranks.
If these amendments pass and if the center of power moves from a decentralized collection of 55 counties where thousands of minds are at work to one legislative body that works but 60 days out of the year, this will not end well for West Virginia. Quite the contrary.
Yes, it's the Republicans who are doing this, not the Democrats, and what they are attempting is nothing shy of Soviet-style collectivism where the all powerful men behind the curtain, the self-anointed budget and education know-it-alls in House and Senate leadership positions, will determine who gets what and how tax dollars will be spent — on both state and local levels.
To be abundantly clear, if Amendment 2 passes, Charleston could be making all tax and spending decisions — all of them — not the county commissioners, not the local school board members, not the city council members, all of them duly elected to serve the public good.
And if Amendment 4 passes, "the rules and policies promulgated" by the State Board of Education would be subject to legislative review, approval, amendment or rejection.
In other words, whatever the state school board decides would be irrelevant. It would exist only, in effect, as a subcommittee to the Legislature that has been hell bent on undermining public education from the get-go of Republican control of the chambers. Only legislators, few if any who carry the experience and expertise of those who serve on the state board, would be making final policy decisions about the conduct of each and every school in the state.
We think education and our children have been ignored long enough. With a $1.3-plus billion budget surplus, we think now is the time for a revival of public educational fortunes that would take a sizable investment in our kids — an investment in classroom support the likes of which this state has never seen.
It is a simple enough notion: Fix education and you will fix the state's economy, becoming a magnet for businesses and industries that need a clean, sober, educated, skilled and trained body of workers.
But none of that will happen if Amendment 4 passes. And passage of Amendment 2 would guarantee that local control regarding governance and delivery of public services would dissolve into a quaint little notion from the past.
