{"id":1399,"date":"2011-10-13T15:11:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T19:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/what-qualifies-you-to-come-talk-about-education-kent-bishop-vlcoc-11-october-2011.html"},"modified":"2011-10-13T15:11:28","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T19:11:28","slug":"what-qualifies-you-to-come-talk-about-education-kent-bishop-vlcoc-11-october-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/what-qualifies-you-to-come-talk-about-education-kent-bishop-vlcoc-11-october-2011.html","title":{"rendered":"What qualifies you to come talk about education? —Kent Bishop @ VLCoC 11 October 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/a>\nThe first question Kent Bishop asked at the Chamber’s Candidates Forum,\nwhere he got eight minutes to speak for school consolidation while\neach of the candidates for Valdosta Mayor only got five,\nstill hung in my mind at the end:\n
\nWhat qualifies you to come talk about education?\n<\/blockquote>\nLike so many CUEE speakers, he isn’t an educator and he hadn’t done his homework.\n
\nYou know, what I hear is that, from the other side, is that our taxes would go up\nbecause of consolidation.\nThe facts just don’t point to that.\nGenerally what you’d see is some blending of the costs.\nAnd if we do that and average it out, we’re gonna find the two\nmillage rates will come out somewhere in the middle.\nIt makes total sense.\n<\/blockquote>\nWell, maybe it makes total sense if you like just making stuff up.\nOr you can see, hear, and read\n\nthe extensive research by the Lowndes County Board of Education<\/a>\nthat demonstrates if consolidation passes taxes will go up and public\nschool services will go down.\n

\nThe speaker went on about ongoing white flight,\nwithout ever mentioning that consolidation would cause\nbright flight to head out of the county to Lanier and elsewhere.\n

\nHe did come right out and admit something I’ve been saying:\n\n\n

\nWe need a plan!\nWell, when are we gonna develop a plan?\nWell, I gotta tell you, we will not develop a plan until we have to.\nIt’s either gonna happen now because\non November ninth\nthe two sides will say, wow, we didn’t think that was gonna pass!\nAnd somehow it did and they have to come\nin a process that will allow a good plan.\nI believe that when pressed our two school boards will come together,\nif this thing passes,\nand will develop an appropriate plan\nwith input from all of our citizens, from our business community,\nand educators, gotta have that; from everybody.\n<\/blockquote>\nThat’s right, CUEE and the Chamber and Vote Yes, or whatever they’re\ncalling themselves this week, have no plan to improve education,\nother than trying to pass a referendum to force the two school\nboards to come up with a plan.\n

\nIt was so good of him to add educators as an afterthought, don’t you think?\n

\nBut notice who he named before educators:\nthe business community.\n\n<\/a>\nSome part of the business community is who has been pushing\nthis bogus “unification” nonesense.\nExcept it won’t be nonsense if it passes and\nthe school systems have to turn to the business community and\ntheir allied foundations to bail out the public schools\n\nin a local exercise of the Shock Doctrine.<\/a>\nThen we’ll find out what they really want to do to the public schools.\n

\nThis speaker was shocked at lack of intelligent discourse!\nWell, so was I when I heard this talk.\nOr I would have been, if I hadn’t come to expect this low level\nof magical thinking from the Chamber and CUEE.\n

\nVote no on November 8th<\/sup><\/small> for the children,\nand so we don’t have to hear any more speeches like this one.\n

\nHere’s\n\nthe video:<\/a>\n

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