We Killed $2.5 Million In B.S. Spending
S.C. SUPERINTENDENT’S SLUSH FUND CUT OUT OF THIS YEAR’S STATE BUDGET
FITSNews - February 25, 2008 - You may recall us busting open S.C. Education Kommissar Jim Rex’s so-called “Public School Choice Innovation” grants program a few months ago, but we just got an update on the fate of this would-be Democratic slush fund. A happy update.
According to our sources at the State House, the budget proviso that would have funded Rex’s latest “legislative gift bag” was being fast-tracked in the House of Representatives last week when GOP Majority Leader Jimmy Merrill started asking questions based on our previous reporting. Assured by Superintendent Rex’s lobbyists that the controversial allocation of these so-called “choice grants” amounted to nothing more than a “technical change” to a proviso passed last year, Merrill decided to raise his objections with House Speaker Bobby Harrell and House Ways & Means Chairman Dan Cooper. Amazingly, both Harrell and Cooper agreed that the program was exactly what we said it was - an overt effort to reward Rex’s legislative allies at the expense of the taxpayers. So they killed it.
As a result, the $2.5 million that was slated to go to this slush fund is now headed to another equally ineffective bureaucratic black hole over at the State Ministry of Non-Competition.
Oh, in case you were wondering, $2.5 million would be enough to provide 2,500 middle income South Carolina families with a $1,000 tax credit to help get their kid into a school that was actually meeting their needs instead of remaining trapped in our current system, which just shuffles them off to stack boxes at minimum wage for the rest of their lives. Of course that would still leave about 187,500 kids stuck in failing and below average schools, but hey, you gotta start somewhere!
Comments
By Gary Busey on February 25th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Now, Sic Willie, if you can just kill the other $7.3 billion in B.S. spending, we’ll be well on our way. In fairness, it’s probably only $6 billion in B.S. spending. There has to be $1.3 billion worthwhile somewhere, isn’t there?
By Ross on February 25th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Poor Jim Rex. How will he ever survive without that $2.5 million? Oh yeah - he and his cronies still have over $7 billion to spend. What a crock. If Rex really wants to give parents and students school choice he should support a policy that allows families to choose from the same set of options he utilized for his children - public or private.
By Harden Gervais on February 25th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Rex? Cronies? At least anything he’s doing isn’t like the cesspool of behind-the-scenes garbage among the school choice crowd and the ridiculous amount of out-of-state cash coming into South Carolina. But, hey, keep it up. It’s always fun to watch a small minority of weirdos blowing through millions of dollars for yet another failed initiative.
Quality, public education is a human right. You shouldn’t have to send your kids to be indoctrinated at a private academy. If y’all really cared about education, you’d do that, instead of this boondoggle.
By Sollicitus Civis on February 25th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Don’t parents already have a choice between sending their kids to a public school or a private school?
By fitsnews on February 25th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Harden Gervais,
Those are two streets in downtown Columbia, aren’t they? Wait … they cross, too … by an Exxon, right? Clever, clever.
How’s life at the S.C. Association of School Administrators, btw? Just wondering, do they pay mileage over there? If so, maybe you could put a good word in for us, you know, since we’re whores for money and what not.
Watching you wax all RFK-style would be a lot more convincing if that basic human right public education is supposed to be providing was actually being provided.
And don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t say more more money, cause we tried that shit. Hell, we try that every year.
You are truly “alive in the Superunknown,” friend.
-FITSNews
By Believe It Not (a.k.a. Sic Willie's Stalker) on February 25th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Harden G.,
You’re a Great American!
Anyone who can make sic(k) willie spit sawdust like that is truly a very Great American. The boys from N.Y. paying his retainer are probably upset he’s been so silent lately in attacking children and education.
sic(k) willie and his money masters fer’get that our Legislators have set the education standard in S.C. at: “MINIMALLY ADEQUATE.”
sic(k) willie, we, your loyal readers (all three of us) challenge you to respond to this: The S.C. Republican dominated Legislature seems happy with the “minimally adequate” standard. Is that okay??
“Minimally Adequate” is a “Rich” phrase. willie, please, don’t make us use all eleventy brazillion jokes that come along with those words. It’s like shooting political cr@p (consultants) in a barrel.
Sincerely - BIN News Editorial Staff
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