Another Odd Bit of Political Logic
May 7, 2010 - by
With a new budget looming the Governor is once again off in hot pursuit of billions from the Obama Administration and, since the President’s a fan of Charter Schools, North Carolina’s Charter School parents saw their opportunity and took it.
They went to a recent State Education Board Meeting and suggested to Chairman Bill Harrison if he and the Governor really wanted to get a couple of hundred million dollars out of President Obama for education it might help if they’d lift the cap on the number of Charter Schools in the state.
Now the Education Board and Governor Perdue just plain don’t like Charter Schools. Nor do the Democrats in the legislature. Or the teachers union. Which is why there’s a cap – limiting the number of schools – in the first place.
But since President Obama likes Charter Schools the parents had a point.
Chairman Harrison sagaciously weighed his desire for a couple of hundred million dollars (of President Obama’s money) against his dislike of Charter Schools and decided the game wasn’t worth the candle. He couldn’t possibly go along with lifting the cap because, he said, “we get Charter Schools that are more about employing relatives than educating kids.”
Now there’s a nugget of truth in his charge. There was a report in the newspaper a while back about a Charter School principal who hired his nephews and cousins and relatives.
On the other hand follow Chairman Harrison’s logic: He’s willing to risk a bit of nepotism as long as he can limit it to one hundred schools. What kind of sense does that make? Why can’t the Chairman both root out nepotism and lift the cap? Is that too tough a job?
Telling well meaning parents who want to start charter schools they can’t because someone else is dishonest is like punishing the virtuous (or, at least, the innocent) rather than the culprits. If Chairman Harrison applied that same logic to DMV, DOT, and DHHS most of State government would shut down.
Another Odd Bit of Political Logic
May 7, 2010/
With a new budget looming the Governor is once again off in hot pursuit of billions from the Obama Administration and, since the President’s a fan of Charter Schools, North Carolina’s Charter School parents saw their opportunity and took it.
They went to a recent State Education Board Meeting and suggested to Chairman Bill Harrison if he and the Governor really wanted to get a couple of hundred million dollars out of President Obama for education it might help if they’d lift the cap on the number of Charter Schools in the state.
Now the Education Board and Governor Perdue just plain don’t like Charter Schools. Nor do the Democrats in the legislature. Or the teachers union. Which is why there’s a cap – limiting the number of schools – in the first place.
But since President Obama likes Charter Schools the parents had a point.
Chairman Harrison sagaciously weighed his desire for a couple of hundred million dollars (of President Obama’s money) against his dislike of Charter Schools and decided the game wasn’t worth the candle. He couldn’t possibly go along with lifting the cap because, he said, “we get Charter Schools that are more about employing relatives than educating kids.”
Now there’s a nugget of truth in his charge. There was a report in the newspaper a while back about a Charter School principal who hired his nephews and cousins and relatives.
On the other hand follow Chairman Harrison’s logic: He’s willing to risk a bit of nepotism as long as he can limit it to one hundred schools. What kind of sense does that make? Why can’t the Chairman both root out nepotism and lift the cap? Is that too tough a job?
Telling well meaning parents who want to start charter schools they can’t because someone else is dishonest is like punishing the virtuous (or, at least, the innocent) rather than the culprits. If Chairman Harrison applied that same logic to DMV, DOT, and DHHS most of State government would shut down.