A little local Montgomery flavor today. The big news today is the drastic cuts that have been proposed by the Montgomey County School Board and Superintendent Clinton Carter(Schools Face Deep Cuts). The cuts would include elimination of all the school security guards, almost 200 teacher units and 42 central office staff. The board will also leave a brand new school empty, rather than add the $500,000 per year operating expense to the budget. Of course, the provision that will get the most talk is the elimination of support for extracurricular activities, including high school athletics. As Superintendent Carter said this morning on “Today in Alabama”, he just couldn’t see eliminating three more teacher units to keep support for extracurricular activities. It seems that often, it doesn’t matter what gets cut as long as you don’t touch athletics.

These events are extremely unfortunate on so many levels, but most importantly for the children. What often gets forgotten in the debate over education funding is that money equals services. More funding equals more teachers and smaller class sizes. More money equals more support staff to remove burden from classroom teachers, to provide essential services that keep schools working efficiently, and to provide enrichment activities that allow for a more well-rounded education. The most frustrating thing about living in Alabama is the ingrained opposition to adequate funding for government services and the system that allows the people to vote directly on almost every tax. No one wants to see more money taken out of their paycheck, but why have a representative government at all if every important funding decision has to be made by the people instead of our elected representatives who are supposed to look out for the best interests of all citizens?