As the deadline draws closer for Gov. Mark Sanford to request $700 million in additional bureaucratic bailout funds, the ongoing politicization of our public school system continues careening toward
In fact, judging from the latest taxpayer-funded missive blasted out by Lexington School District One Communications Director Mary Beth Hill to all district employees, things are getting increasingly shrill.
“Hand Mark Sanford His Pink Slip!” Hill’s e-mail reads, before urging these public employees to attend a not-at-all-Communist-sounding “People’s Stimulus Rally” in Columbia.
“Tell the governor to quit grandstanding at our expense!” the e-mail continues. “Governor Sanford, it’s OUR money!”
Of course, it’s no surprise that Hill didn’t actually write those lines, she was just using taxpayer resources to pass along the propaganda of South Carolina’s two uber-liberal educrat machines, the S.C. Association of School Administrators and S.C. School Boards Association.
“We were in our usual Monday meeting when SCASA sent their e-mail,” Hill explains in a follow-up e-mail attempting to distance herself from the inflammatory remarks. “I immediately asked someone in my office to forward it to all employees in order to answer those questions you’d been asking about the rally. Since then I have also gotten an e-mail from the SC School Boards Association about the rally.”
Surprise, surprise.
We wonder if Ms. Hill is this quick on the trigger when disemminating information supportive of Gov. Sanford’s position?
Seriously, if these people put as much energy into educating our kids as they obviously put into demanding more tax money, our public schools might actually be worth a damn.
As it is, though, our schools continue to fall further behind the rest of the country because of hopelessly failed policies like … well, shoveling more money into a system that’s broken.
Yet rather than do their jobs and fix it, these educrats spend all their time pressuring teachers to do their dirty work … all the while holding the sword of Damocles over their heads even though they’ve got nearly $800 million in the bank and there’s not a chance in hell anybody – least of all a front-line teacher – needs to lose his or her job.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Hill’s Lexington One school district has seen its carry-forward balance double over the last four years – from $9 million to $18 million, including a whopping $2.9 million increase from last year.
WEB EXTRA:
By SFUILCSDO March 31, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Isn’t Mary Beth the jezebel got a priest defrocked?
Now she’s escalating to governors! And still doing it all on our dime.
By Nope March 31, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Someone please tell me why it’s ok for state employee Mark Sanford to run around the entire nation explaining his view on the stimulus, at taxpayer expense, but it’s not ok for a different state employee to send a few emails expressing her view. Or is he paying for all that travel himself?
By fitsnews March 31, 2009 at 6:24 pm
“Nope,”
GREAT question. Glad somebody asked that. The logic goes something like this, politicians like Obama, Sanford, Jim Clyburn, Lindsey Graham (and to a lesser extent Leatherman, Harrell and McMaster) are “supposed” to be debating these issues because that’s what the voters elected them to do – debate and set policy.
Also lawmakers don’t give Sanford any real power anyway, so the bully pulpit is all he’s got.
On the flip side, bureaucrats were not elected to debate policy, they were appointed to manage the schools that are supposed to be educating our children. We give them resources to do that job, not to blast out political memos and talking points for or against a certain issue.
It’s a good point, though, and one that there is certainly plenty of room for debate on.
Glad you raised it …
-FITS
By BIN News Editorial Staff March 31, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda
Educrat
Big Gub’ment
Bigger Gub’ment
sic(k) willie, you lack imagination.
You have nothing but ultararightwingwackobuzzwordcr@p.
Thanks goodness we have responsible education professionals working hard to get truth out about those who ignore the needs of children and who attempt to destroy the only education system that serves all children in S.C.
The voucher scam is dead in S.C. You voucher clowns know it.
There is foolish desperation in your rhetoric.
Tell Howie his desperation is showing.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Proudly Supporting Public Education
By Nope March 31, 2009 at 9:47 pm
That seems like a distinction without a difference to me. Especially because the same people criticizing Mary Beth Hill for using her state email to advance a cause have criticized Jim Rex for doing the same thing, and like Sanford and the others you mentioned, he’s elected by the people to advance policy.
By SanFrancisco April 1, 2009 at 10:23 pm
South Carolina has about $20 billion in unfunded political promises in its retirement system and the state leads the entire Southeast in per capita debt – so much for saddling ou grandchildren with our debts eh, Mr. Sanford?
Out of the $2.8 billion SC is slated to get in stimulus funds, the state will receive about $2.1 billion whether Sanford likes it or not. Mr. Sanford’s political posturing is an embarrassment to his state and the people of South Carolina.
Sanford/Palin 2012!
By JBV May 18, 2009 at 3:01 pm
It’s not just liberals who are after Sanford. Check out this site supported by conservative republicans: http://www.ourfuturesc.com/default.aspx