{"id":1405,"date":"2011-10-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/why-employers-support-school-unification-greg-justice.html"},"modified":"2011-10-13T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T12:00:00","slug":"why-employers-support-school-unification-greg-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/why-employers-support-school-unification-greg-justice.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Employers Support School Unification —Greg Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"Received today from the Chamber. -jsq\n
\nWhy Employers Support School Unification\n
\nBy Greg Justice\n
\nDirector of Manufacturing\n
\nRegal Marine Industries, Inc.\n

\nLook it up, states that rank among the highest in terms of\n\n<\/a>\nquality of life and economic growth rank among the highest in terms of\nquality of education. Is this because these states have higher levels\nof education, or did they become attractive places to live because they\nhave a focused approach to improving the quality of education? And does\nthe same reasoning hold true for different nations?\n

\nIt would seem we’re about to find out. In one generation, the U.S. has\nfallen from No. 1 to No. 9 in the number of people graduating with\ncollege degrees. We’re mediocre in education when compared to the other\n34 industrialized nations. A 2009 study from the Organization for\nEconomic Cooperation and Development shows the U.S. ranked 14th in\nreading, 17th in science, and 25th in math – all lagging behind other\nleading industrialized countries.\n

\nIt is hard to relate these statistics to our local schools,\n<\/blockquote>\nAnd I thought business people liked hard work!\n\n\n

\nbut one\nwonders how Georgia compares to other states? Although a report by\nEducation Week rated Georgia eighth overall in policy and performance,\nit gave Georgia a D+ in performance for K-12 education. When looking at\nSAT scores, Georgia ranked 48th. State rankings get a bit skewed\nconsidering the percentage of students from each state who take the\nSAT. Still, regardless of “spin,” it doesn’t look good for Georgia. The\nSAT national average score for 2010 was 1,509 compared to the average\nscore for Georgia at 1,453: Lowndes County at 1,473 and Valdosta at\n1,343.\n

\nLocal school officials recently said only 53 percent of students who\nentered Valdosta High four years ago graduated with the rest of their\nclass last May.\n

\nOne can expect the same concern in Lowndes County when the state\nreleases the new formula for reporting graduation rates.\n

\nAlthough we’ve seen good improvement in both school systems, we can and\nshould do better.\n

\nI know many wonderful, dedicated teachers, administrators and board\nmembers in both systems, and we’re blessed to have them. Our current\nstate of affairs is not an indictment against them.\n

\nOur community is divided by two school systems and, unless something\nchanges, we will continue to struggle in how we address our educational\nchallenges.\n

\nThis effort will truly require a communitywide approach where\n\n<\/a>\neveryone\nworks together under a unified school system and has a stake in\nacademic successes and failures of all students.\n

\nAs a business leader, I’m afraid that unless our community comes\ntogether and unites behind one school system, we will continue to\nstruggle with improving the educational outcomes of our children and\npreparing them for future success. This means our community will\nflounder, our children will continue to fall further behind, and\nbuilding a better qualified workforce will become more challenging.\n

\nThose who support a unified Valdosta-Lowndes County school system\nunderstand the consequences if the status quo in education continues.\nHopefully, you will consider joining me in supporting a unified\nValdosta-Lowndes County school system on Nov. 8.\n<\/blockquote>\nNow some may choose to follow that famous educational expert\nDr. Greg Justice, DoM, RMII, in his quest for “focus”\n<\/a>\non a hocus pocus connection between educational achievement and\nnumber of school systems which he never even makes a hand-waving\nattempt to establish.\nIt’s rather like “here’s an orange (school performance),\nand here’s an apple (school “unification”),\ntherefore ice tea (community involvement)!”\nYou can believe it if you like, but I don’t.\nAnd if you like to believe things as silly as that,\nhow about just stay home and don’t vote on November 8th?\n

\nI prefer the financial and educational views of Dr. Troy Davis,\n\n<\/a>\nperhaps because\n\nhe actually used real numbers about the real local school systems<\/a>\nto demonstrate that “unification” would actually cause a masssive school budget\nshortfall that would raise taxes in both Valdosta and Lowndes County,\nand still would require cuts in services.\nThat’s right, “unification” would make local education worse.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nIf you prefer facts to hocus pocus, please do get out and vote November 8th:\nvote No for the children.\nAnd if you live outside Valdosta, call your friends in Valdosta, and carry them\nto the polls.\n

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