In Republican Controlled North Carolina School Teachers No Longer Ask for More Money for Supplies

No – They are Now Begging Parents for Basic Education Supplies

The preview of what would happen in America if Republicans took control of the national government is now showing in Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte and other North Carolina cities, towns and school district.  No it is not a preview for a family picture, it is a preview for a horror show, sort of like Nightmare on Elm Street with conservatives playing the role of Freddy.

With  tax cuts that largely target the wealthy, the education system in the Tar Heel state, once a source of pride is now reduced to penury.

Teachers say that after years of double-digit cuts to state budgets for instructional supplies and textbooks, they are increasingly forced to turn to parents, churches and charities to stock their classrooms.

"We horde supplies," said Ashley Montgomery, who teaches kindergarten at Nancy Reynolds Elementary School in Stokes County. "If there's anything to grab, we grab it. Because whatever the parents bring in is what we've got for the year, unless we go out and buy it ourselves."

The school supplies bought by money
appropriated by Republicans in North Carolina

Teachers and educators are now desperately begging parents and other interested parties for the basic items that are used in elementary education.  Why, well Republicans are now in charge and here is what they have done.

More than 1.5 million students are projected to have shown up for classes statewide last week, about 33,400 more kids than six years ago. As a result, average class sizes have soared while North Carolina's per pupil spending has fallen to 48th in the nation.

In 2008, the state budgeted more than $100 million for buying new textbooks and $87 million for classroom supplies. This year's budget allocates less than $24 million for textbooks and $44 million for supplies, decreases of 77 percent and 50 percent, respectively, over the past six years.

But maybe this is a good thing.  After with a declining school system business will no longer invest in jobs in North Carolina to the extent they have done so in the past, and the result may well be that many graduates or drop out will find that their only career is to become professional beggars.  So by having the school systems and their teachers perfect their begging skills they will be equipped to train the newly emerging adult workforce in the wonderful, rewarding and historically practiced art of begging. 

And those of us that live in and near North Carolina are begging too, begging the voters to please throw these bums out the next chance they get.  As for the Governor of the state, well he just out and out lied about school spending.

Gov. Pat McCrory has repeatedly touted the K-12 education budget for the upcoming school year as "the highest in state history" at $8.2 billion.

In fact, it's nowhere close, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. Total K-12 appropriation for the 2008-09 school year was more than $8.5 billion, or about $283 million more than it is now, according to DPI. That's without adjusting for inflation, which makes the gap even wider.

Or maybe he didn’t lie, maybe his math skills are the result of a current North Carolina public school education.  And sorry Governor, there’s no money in the budget for you to do so, guess you will just have to live  with your ignorance.  Yeah, that's something you can get used to.