Residents urged to be proactive
One way or another, big changes are in store for public education in Fayette County. The choice we collectively face — as taxpayers, educators, parents and elected officials — is whether to control the circumstances of this change, or to let the circumstances control us.
What happened this past year, when the state subsidy was cut, is just a harbinger of things to come. In these tough economic times, we can no longer rely on automatic subsidy increases, not when the state already provides 40 to 60 percent of our school districts’ funding.
The current administration in Harrisburg is aggressively pushing for an expanded voucher program that will further erode public education. Cyber schools are providing yet another option that undercuts our schools’ current business model.
We also are in an era of steep student enrollment declines, escalating property tax bills that create hardship for those on fixed or stagnant incomes, and student performance that on average could stand improvement.
If we choose to let the circumstances control us, we are looking at paying higher school taxes next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Unless voters approve tax hikes beyond the state-imposed percentage — which is highly unlikely — we are also looking at larger class sizes and teacher layoffs on an unprecedented scale.
But if we want to control the circumstances, and in the process keep class sizes small and teachers employed, I urge you to join my effort to reinvent how we deliver education in Fayette County by ending the duplication of services. To me, this is the least painful way to go.
The idea that I have put forward — to redirect the way funding is spent on educating our children of our six county school districts — is backed by a $100,000 study that shows how we can save a minimum $20 million per year by streamlining operations and sharing costs. It would also enable school districts to significantly reduce property taxes. When’s the last time that ever happened in your school district?
I realize that for any meaningful change to occur, it must get broad-based support. That’s why I strongly feel that we as a whole need to talk, openly and seriously, about shared services. I have reached out to the media and to the taxpaying public.
I have formed a task-force committee that includes former educators, and I have met with current school superintendents and our current and newly elected school board members. I have also held four town hall meetings throughout the 51st District to get the taxpayers, teachers and parents involved in this movement because I know it is critical to gain their support.
Some people don’t like my idea because they just don’t like change. Others don’t like my idea simply because it came from me. Still others may not like the idea of thinking their kids may go to school with kids from “over there,” wherever that may be.
Whatever the reason, it is worth noting that no change in human history was ever accomplished without controversy and opposition. Most times, however, change can and does occur after a period of reflection, fact-finding, compromise and consensus-building.
That is where we are right now. We stand at a fork in the road. We have to decide: Are we going to go down the path of new and better ideas along with shared services for the good of education in Fayette County and majority of stakeholders, or are we going to say, “Nah, it’s all too tough,” turn around and walk back down the road the way we came?
If we turn our backs and walk away, we are chickening out on controlling our own destiny. We are stiffing students, teachers and taxpayers, in negative ways that will become manifest in years to come. We are failing to lead, and in so doing we are condemning everyone to live with a status quo that is unsustainable. Taxpayers will continue to pay more, and we will encounter teacher layoffs that mean larger class sizes. This would be devastating to public education in Fayette County — and it is something that I am desperately working to head off at the pass.
To minimize the pain and damage, we need to reinvent the way we deliver education. That’s what my efforts are all about. And that’s why I appeal directly to you — the teacher, the parent, the student, the taxpayer, the school board member, the school administrator — for your help and support. We can and must do things smarter and more efficiently.
At the height of the Great Depression in the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed and then enacted a “New Deal” to get the country moving again. Roosevelt and his New Deal programs were controversial in some quarters — but most folks thought the New Deal beat the other side’s idea, which was to do nothing.
I am proposing that we put all our heads together to come up with a New Deal for public education in Fayette County. It will be controversial in some quarters, just like its namesake in the 1930s. But, like Roosevelt’s New Deal, it beats the alternative of doing nothing. That’s why I am encouraging everyone to get involved.
Timothy S. Mahoney, D-South Union, is state representative for the 51st Legislative District.