Smoky Mountain News

To the Editor:

The Macon County Democrat Headquarters got my attention with their sign. For those that haven’t seen it, it reads the “Republicans have cut $926 million from the budget for schools.”

As a parent of school age children, I noticed this and did a little more digging. In my search I also saw an article by the NC Public Schools that said: “State Graduation Rate is Highest in NC History; Sixth Consecutive Year of Improvement,” and one in the Asheville Citizen-Times with the headline “Schools do well despite budget ills.”

Upon further investigation by viewing several of the past and current state budgets it was shown that the “cut” was actually the end of federal stimulus dollars not a cut of state funding. By going to the N.C. Legislative website and viewing the budget one can see that the number of state dollars increased not decreased. According to the www.newsobserver.com web site’s article from Aug. 12, the Republican-written state budget adds more than $250 million to K-12 education spending. This increase doesn’t cover cuts in state funding done during the Democrat controlled legislature of 2008-2010 when temporary federal stimulus dollars were used to replace state dollars.

During these tight times we all need to tighten our belts, not just the taxpayers but the tax spenders as well.

I commend the education system for continuing to work hard for the future generations, they should not be doing it alone. It is my responsibility as a parent to do all within my power to make sure that my children get the most out of their schooling. I am the one that needs to make sure they do their homework and study. We as parents need to make the effort and step up to be the parents our children need not expect the teachers and government to raise them for us. I personally don’t desire to give any government that much control.

Tearle J. Conner Jr.

Franklin