Politivity

Liberals really need to learn their timelines. First, they looked at a picture of Bristol Palin in 2006 and decided she was pregnant with Trig, Sarah’s Down Syndrome child.

Now, they’re looking at a budget created in 2006 by Palin’s predecessor, the corrupt Republican Governor Frank Murkowski, whom Palin defeated in the Republican primary in 2006.

But this budget didn’t sit well with Palin.

Instead, she INCREASED SPECIAL NEEDS FUNDING! By 2011, spending will increase to $73,840 from $26,900 per student fiscal year 2008. And, she is seeing that the funds get spread out among Alaskan systems - to get them to rural areas.

The important thing to notice here is not that she is just spending money - but it gives us a hint of how Palin makes sure that something good is done with the money. Money alone doesn’t solve education, but money well spent can!

And giving everyone public healthcare won’t make everyone  healthy either.

People need choice. Companies need to compete for our $$ and our attention. When companies outperform each other, the American people win.

When the government controls our lives, we are forced to accept what they give us. Because we’re so taxed, we can’t send our kids to a better performing school.  What are we supposed to do? Call for universal public schools? Oh wait, we already have that.

The same would happen with public health care.

My kids go to a poor-performing school in a poor-performing district. I’m not talking about No Child Left Behind. You don’t need laws like that to know that kids should know their multiplication tables and how to write in cursive by Grade 3.  Or that the Philippines are in Asia and not in South America.

But these are the things, or lack of things, that are being taught at my kids’ school.

This year, in an attempt to help my kids do better, I’ve started picking them up in the afternoons. They have more time for homework, and they’re grades are up over last year.

But some days I just can’t pick them up. Or today, for example, I don’t need to pick them up because they have benchmarks (testing) and they won’t have homework.

So my husband calls the school and the secretary (who is always rude and disrespectful) gave my him a hard time. It seems they’ve changed their policy about notifying the school about transportation plans. For years, it’s been to notify by 2:30pm. But now it’s 12pm.

We received no notice about this. But that didn’t stop the secretary from launching into her nasty rhetoric.

Adding fuel to the fire is that I am not allowed to pick up my kids from 3:00 to 3:30. (The school day ends at 3:30). I understand the motivation behind the policy, but I don’t think the policy is the answer. They’ve essentially kidnapped my kids for 30 minutes, 5 days a week.

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Durham County Public Schools. Yes, this is the same county of the Duke Lacrosse rape case.

To be fair, we did have an option to send our kids to another school this year, thanks to NCLB. (Though one of them is quite far away). But we kept them at their current school because their individual teachers are great. (This is no doubt due in part to our near-constant insistence on respect from last year’s teachers, which I’m sure the principal grew weary of. That’s a whole other story.)

I want my taxes lowered or have a voucher so they can go to private school. Or have Wake County annex my Raleigh neighborhood so that we can have access to better schools.