Governor Perdue Cares about "the Children" | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: I just received this campaign note from our Governor, who seeks reelection. Governor Perdue twice evokes the imagery of the needs, within the context, of "our children's future," in her last letter to her loyal supporters. I find these campaign correspondences most interesting on two counts: That Democrats, national and state, would consider me a loyal supporter, and that these Democrats, like so many other children, always "say the darndest things."

   When pressed to either make cuts in spending, and making better decisions to make wiser choices in the allocation of our People's scarce resources, Democrats will promote certain images to assuage any brief consideration of a more practical path. In this case, the State of North Carolina's chief Democrat, Governor Beverly Perdue, evokes the image of North Carolina's children going without basic educational needs if she is not permitted to raise your taxes.

   On one issue, the Governor, and we, at BCN, do agree that "education is the key to our children's future." We do not; however, understand how pumping large sums of private money made public, by taxation, into the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, without first making fundamental transformative change in operational procedures, will transform a failed education system. Failure to make these changes, in lieu of the promise of greater funding through greater taxation, will further retard the process already begun by the Republicans, in the majority, in both legislative chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly.

   For everyone who believes that wise management of the public's resources, as well as the public education system, is the key to real change that will benefit the intellectual and spiritual growth of future generations of North Carolinians, may well understand that something broken must be fixed. For those of you who believe that far greater funding, of an already problematic system, is the only path to the betterment of our youth, you will most probably find comfort in the Governor's words here below:

Friends,

    Education has always been part of the fabric of who we are as a people in North Carolina, and it's the key to our future.

   We must stop the deep and unnecessary cuts that are going on in North Carolinas schools. That's why I'm for temporarily restoring three-quarters of the one-cent sales tax that the Republican-controlled General Assembly eliminated and for dedicating those funds to North Carolina schools.

   I have cut spending to eliminate waste and make government more efficient. But we cannot allow the legislature's extreme education cuts to continue.

   The N.C. Association of School Administrators reported recently that North Carolina has fallen to 49th in the nation in per-pupil funding. The legislature's budget has hurt education at all levels - from pre-k all the way through higher education - and has led to higher class sizes and the loss of thousands of teacher and teaching assistant positions. And their budget forces even more teacher layoffs next year - we must act to prevent these additional cuts.

   Our children's future is so important that I want to let you know that when I present my budget this spring, I will once again call on the Republican-controlled General Assembly to temporarily restore three-quarters of the one-cent sales tax as a vital step to funding our schools. Also, in the days ahead I will be speaking with you about other budgetary matters that affect North Carolina families.

   Education is the key to our children's future and to North Carolina's economic future. Investing in education is central to our ability to attract new jobs and businesses to our state. We owe it to our children and our state to stop these cuts and make education a priority again - a fraction of a penny for progress.

Governor Beverly Perdue

   Regardless of one's position on this issue, I hope we can all agree that the continual exercise of evoking the image of children to prove a political point has become a point of trite expression. Usually, I tend to make fun of those with such a limited ability to express any idea by employing such a hackneyed idiom.

   Today, I am being kind to the Governor. After all, she believes that I am still a Democrat.