Here's the real story about the education budget "cuts" | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The Republicans are crowing about how little they cut when they should be cutting much more

    Rep. Bill Cook sent the numbers over the weekend. Apparently he works on weekends. And while I think he has done a terrific job in Raleigh in his first term, I am going to have to take exception with the information he sent out. But first you can review it by clicking here.

    Meanwhile, the Republican leadership in the General Assembly was in Wilmington this weekend crowing about how little they had cut the budget. Apparently they are trying to make it easier for Governor Perdue to allow it to go through without a veto. And I realize that without a "veto-proof" majority in both houses they have little choice but to play the game with the Governor.

    But here's my problem. They did not cut the budget nearly enough.

    I'll refrain from loading you down with numbers, but a couple are worth pointing out. In spite of all the moaning and groaning, they cut the public school budget (the largest single chunk of state spending) by one half of one percent. And they did not cut the university system nearly enough either. They could have gotten twice as much by simply requiring all UNC faculty to teach a full load. Yet they cut the best thing going in the education system these days, the dual enrollment programs that allow high school students to take college courses for high school credit. That is a jobs program and would save money for the state and many families in North Carolina.

    But back to the public school budget.

    At a recent County Commissioner budget workshop the local school superintendent passed out a sheet that showed the number of positions in the Beaufort County Schools. The numbers show that there are about as many non-teaching (or classroom) positions in the school system as there are teachers.

    So when you hear the doomsday predictions about cutting "teachers" know that no teaching positions have been cut. They're talking about non-classroom positions. That's what all the fuss is about.

    I give the Republicans credit for saving classroom positions, even though I don't think the Return on Investment by "lowering class size" is worth the money it costs, we do give them credit for forcing some cuts in the non-classroom teacher spending. My complaint is that they should have done more. Much more.

    And our School Board and County Commissioners should take up where the Legislature left off and Get-R-Done by shifting more resources from non-classroom spending into the classroom.

    Delma Blinson writes the "Teacher's Desk" column for our friend in the local publishing business: The Beaufort Observer. His concentration is in the area of his expertise - the education of our youth. He is a former teacher, principal, superintendent and university professor.