Carter Wrenn posted on May 16, 2011 12:46
Bev Perdue and Phil Berger are beginning to sound a bit like a couple whose marriage is on the rocks – she says she’s “disgusted” with him and he’s hunkered down like a harassed husband grumbling she’s done nothing but say, “Do it my way – that’s the only way that I’ll accept.”
What started their latest row was Berger’s budget which cuts education even more than House Speaker Thom Tillis’ budget (which the Governor thought was the worst thing she’d ever laid eyes on).
Phil Berger and Thom Tillis have one angry woman on their hands and they don’t seem to know exactly what to do with her – she’s left Berger shrugging and muttering, ‘We’re just doing what we promised voters we’d do’ and of course Perdue’s sure to ask voters next, When Phil Berger was out campaigning votes last fall do you remember him ever promising to cut education? I don’t. Because he didn’t.
There are terrors that come with winning an election and one is misunderstanding why you won. Thom Tillis and Phil Berger may have fallen into that trap.
When the smoke cleared last November they figured, naturally, they won because voters agreed with them. But as hard as it is to admit, last fall voters didn’t vote for Republicans – they voted against Barack Obama. And that’s a big difference. Which I’m afraid Thom Tillis and Phil Berger missed.
For example when they went to cutting education they had to show voters why that was a good idea – rather than just assuming they agreed.
They didn’t, so now Perdue’s got them over a barrel and on the defensive with Tillis muttering, “We’re cutting 7,000 not 18,000 teachers,” and Phil Berger grumbling, “We’re doing what we were elected to do,” and Perdue shooting back saying, “Your cuts are destroying the public schools” – and guess who’s winning that debate?
Berger, at last, tried to make his case for cutting teachers’ assistants in second and third grade classrooms by saying there’s no sign the assistants have raised academic performance but, unfortunately, it’s a case of too little too late.
Maybe he should try this: According to the newspaper, Phil Berger wants to spend $7.1 billion on public schools. The newspaper also says there’re 1.5 million students in North Carolina. So Berger wants to spend $4,700 per student – which hardly sounds like destroying the public schools. According to the newspaper Perdue wants to spend approximately $450 million more than Berger – or $5,000 per student.
So what the Governor and Berger are arguing over is whether another $300 turns a student into a great well-rounded scholar versus dooming him to perpetual ignorance in ravaged public schools.
Now that might be an interesting debate: Phil Berger saying we ought to be able to provide a student with a first class education for $4,700 and Bev Perdue saying there’s no way on earth that’s possible.