Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 28, 1995 TAG: 9502280064
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I was born in Roanoke County a little more than 60 years ago and have lived here practically all my life, so I can remember when it was a good place to live.
Then, God punished us with a county administrator who has gone wild on spending and a Board of Supervisors that's nothing more than an expensive rubber stamp for whatever the administrator wants to do. My grandfather served on this board when its members received no pay for their services, and I'm sure he's looking down with disgust at what he sees now.
Now we're told that kids in Cave Spring cannot be educated without building a $25 million school. All this is for is to try to find 11 big ol' boys who run fast. We make our schools compete against each other - not with academic achievement, but with athletic ability.
There was a time in this country when government existed to serve the people. That's when we were a true democracy. Now, people exist to serve government, and we're anything but a democracy.
Roanoke County had better wake up!
BOB HURT
SALEM
Bureaucrats need not spend it all
I RECEIVED a very nice calendar in the mail recently from a Roanoke city government agency. It was like many calendars I've seen in stores for $2.95 to $4.95, and was the seventh calendar I've received this year.
On Nov. 8, 1994, the people said they wanted smaller government and less taxes. I contacted the government agency that had sent the calendar and was told the cost had been included in its budget. The cost, the department head said, was under $1, and 16,000 calendars had been sent out. Postage on each was 13 cents. If the calendar and postage cost $1.13, that multiplied by 16,000 equals $18,080.
The agency's reason for sending the calendar was to inform residents of the recycling pickup dates. I believe that information could have been published on one page for about 2 cents at a local print shop for a savings of $17,760.
The term ``in the budget'' is a phrase representing the biggest problem with government. If the money isn't spent, the agency can't ask for more next year.
Why don't we reward government for not spending money? If agencies don't spend all budgeted money, they would get a bonus. Those that exceed budgets would be replaced - like in the real world of the private sector.
JEFF BORTHEN
ROANOKE
Allen was trying for needed change
IT'S QUITE obvious from news reports that many local legislators and county officials didn't get the message from voters in this past election. Virginians are fed up with the tax-and-spend ideology that's been rampant during the past decade.
During this time, my taxes have risen more than 75 percent, and all there is to show for it are bigger government and more spending. Anymore, you can't do anything on your own property without obtaining a permit and instructions on how to do it. Every year at the General Assembly, hundreds of bills are introduced, many of which are taking more of our liberties and freedoms.
Our legislators shouldn't have been deterred in the voters' mandate for change by the howls and fear tactics of special-interest groups. They should have given some relief to young, middle-class couples who are trying to buy a home, which will take a lifetime to pay for under current conditions.
We heard a lot in opposition to the proposal for charter schools. The need for them was brought about by the secular humanistic philosophy of the past decade. The Ten Commandments and Bible were taken out of schools; teachers are unable to keep discipline in classrooms; and many teachers, who are mothers and housewives, are being replaced by young teachers who have been indoctrinated in our colleges by this philosophy. It's time we have a choice in our children's education, and for the morals that our great nation was founded upon.
I feel that Gov. Allen and many of our representatives are trying to bring about change, but are being opposed by politics as usual.
TOM OGLE
SALEM
Education, a political pawn
MUCH HAS been printed about Roanoke Sen. Brandon Bell and his backing of the charter-schools initiative, some of it ludicrous. Even if charter schools could achieve all proponents believe, the schools would serve only a small minority of children, and be available only on a small scale. Why not tell the truth? Charter schools would be private schools with fewer regulations.
Why would educators, school boards and parents who have worked to improve public education be dismayed by this proposal? Are we zealots guarding our territory? No, because public schools wouldn't become obsolete.
Problems in public schools exist because the schools must try to educate all children in the attendance zone, and deal with behavior problems, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, the gifted, emotional disorders and ``average'' children. There's very little choice in how children are taught, grouped and disciplined.
Alarms have been sounded regarding ``failure'' in public education because guidelines and classroom setup haven't kept pace with problems coming into the schoolhouse. The majority of children learn to read in the early grades, are able to demonstrate logical thinking, are mathematically proficient, know how to and do work hard, set and reach goals, are competitive and want success. But when you stir in the test scores of a minority who are moderately to severely intellectually challenged, you lower the overall results.
Bell and his allies would be better received if they sponsored bills to address problems that public schools face. Redefine what all children need to know and how to accomplish it: the classroom of the 21st century, its size and dynamics; guidelines for standing up to parents who fail in their responsibility to participate and assist in their children's education; tenure that protects teachers who have lost or never had effective classroom skills; politicians' ability to alternately lambaste education policies when they're out of power, and then fail to do better when they are in. Education shouldn't be the political pawn that it is.
I challenge politicians to propose serious education reform to improve public schools.
SANDRA MAYS SAUNDERS
President, Parent-Teacher Association
Stewartsville Elementary
HARDY
Virginians have special concerns
ON JAN. 16, hundreds of Virginians assembled in Richmond to express concern about budget cuts proposed by the Allen administration and growing government insensitivity to the needs of the less fortunate. When asked if this record turnout of concerned citizens affected his resolve, Allen said that he wouldn't be swayed by ``special interests.''
I understand the necessity for fiscal responsibility, and can appreciate conservatism when tempered with compassion, social realism and responsibility. But I refuse to stomach an elected official who, in an obvious effort to shirk social responsibility and further his own political ambitions, attempted to soil democracy's purpose and spirit by referring to taxpayers as special interests. He reacted as if their opposition to his ideas was devoid of any legitimacy or worth his consideration.
Well, governor, if taxpayers concerned that the mentally ill receive adequate treatment and services are ``special interests,'' count me in. If those who understand the potential impact on communities of increasing substance abuse and decreasing treatment are special interests, then I'm part of that crowd. If taxpaying parents, concerned about education and the future of the young people, decide the continued assault on public education has got to stop, then this parent agrees.
These people are special, and also concerned about safe streets and our state's fiscal health. No one group or segment of our society corners the market on those concerns. Taxpayers exercising their constitutional right to engage in public discourse shouldn't be confused with corporate/commercial lobbyists with million-dollar pockets and, probably, the governor's ear.
MARTIN JEFFREY
ROANOKE
by CNB