Redirecting priorities

As I read my way through the Feb 1 edition of the Times-Democrat, I learned several things.

On A-1 there is a story about a report issued by Fitch Ratings on the financial state of the county. It seems to indicate Fauquier is in pretty good shape.

The report does warn about the limited commercial and industrial base which affects tax revenues, but also reassures us that we still have low unemployment.

It also indicates that the property values have dropped and that the property tax rate is high for the state, but locally competitive.

All in all, not bad news, but certainly some continued belt tightening may be in order.

On A-2 there is an article on the state of the county fire companies. A staffing analysis indicates a need for another 22 full-time equivalent positions to support the supplemental volunteer force. Cost: more than $1.5 million.

There was also a story on A-8 about middle school students learning how to deal with bullying.

And then I made my way back to the editorial pages and discovered the letter “County schools must have more money.”

Whoa! Why? I read the article by Superintendent Jonathan Lewis to find out more.

Although he never indicates how much money the schools need next year (his budget is forthcoming), he lays out a very stark and clear picture of what it is going to mean if the board of supervisors does not give the schools more money next year, and his intent comes through loud and clear.

He threatens sports may be cut, teachers may be cut, textbooks won’t be replaced, buses won’t get replaced, employees will pay a larger share of their health insurance and won’t get a raise for the fifth year in a row, class sizes will increase, art, music, PE, computers, health services, salary supplements (hmm…), and a plethora of other services will either be reduced or cut completely if the board of supervisors does not grant them more money, more money, more money.

I know that Dr. Lewis understands that in order for the board of supervisors to provide more money to the school system, it will have to raise taxes on the taxpayers of Fauquier County.

What I am wondering is why he never points that out; why doesn’t he appeal to the taxpayers to pay more?

Clearly, the superintendent intends to strongarm the board of supervisors to raise taxes to provide more money for schools (recall from the A-1 story: “Property taxes are [already] high for the state…”).

Perhaps the superintendent should attend one of the bullying classes he has implemented.

The superintendent is attempting to enlist teachers and sympathetic residents to force the board of supervisors to do the dirty work of extorting more money from the taxpayers for their social programs.

It is the same tired tactic used by Progressives throughout our country. When faced with insufficient “resources” to fund their social programs, they always bring out the big guns: “If taxes aren’t raised, we’ll be forced to cut [insert vital services of interest to local public — teachers, fire, police, etc.].”

What Dr. Lewis wants is for the board of supervisors to be the bad guys; after all, he just needs more money to pay his teachers to educate your kids.

Those mean old supervisors are the ones who are going to raise your taxes. He knows that if he has to explain in depth the programs he intends to implement, the taxpayers will reject them.

The superintendent is implementing Aspirations 2015, which includes programs like “International Baccalaureate” (IB), a United Nations plan to re-educate U.S. children to be better “global citizens” as defined by those who believe the U.S. needs to be taken down a peg or two.

If you are a parent of a Fauquier County child, you definitely need to understand what IB is all about.

Read what IB proponents say about it at ibo.org  , but also visit truthaboutib.com   to find out what it is really about.

You owe it to your children to know what they are being taught. If you are a taxpayer, you need to understand what you are paying for, as well.

Why do we need to drastically increase our school budget suddenly; is it to fund all of these “global initiatives,” like IB that the superintendent is intent on using to indoctrinate our children?

Sure costs go up, but until we had to have IB and other similar programs in Aspirations 2015, there were sufficient funds to provide a high-quality education, and to hire and keep highly qualified teachers.

Maybe we can save some money by cutting programs like these and simply providing our students a traditional (and very good, by the way) American education.

Maybe instead of raising the taxes of the good people of Fauquier County, we should take a critical look at how the superintendent is spending the money that we are currently giving him.

Maybe we should also look at the salaries and benefits of the superintendent and his handpicked staff before we start talking about needing to cut teachers or programs like sports.

Here’s an idea: Why don’t we get back to the basics of providing our children a good old Fauquier County American education; English, math, science and, most importantly, the history of our great nation, without all the UN “global guidance” of IB, diversity and bullying training and the like?

If we educate our children to be the best in the world in math and science, and to be responsible, self-reliant and morally good Americans, knowledgeable in the history of this great nation, our traditions, our heritage, and the workings of our government, we will produce the best global citizens in the world, and it won’t cost us a fortune to do it either.

Cameron Jones

Catlett