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[Sil Greene <quack AT ibiblio.org>]

Lee Haslup wrote:

.:
.:>It thus costs him only $15k to send them to the private school of his 
.:>choice -- funny, because at $7.5k per student, that's the yearly tuition 
.:>charged by the school.  Don't try to add that $4k tax to the tuition and 
.:>call it unfair; it's not a tuition.
.:>  
.:>
.:
.:Ahh, I see.  Then you would fall in the "taxes aren't FOR anyting" 
.:camp. 

Don't put words in my mouth.  The taxes are FOR public education right?  
You can't call it a tuition if it's a tax.  As a tax it's paid by 
everyone, including those who aren't putting kids to those schools.



.:The usual theory about taxes is that the government offers a set 
.:of services to the public that we pay for with our taxes, and 
.:which we approve, somewhat indirectly, with elections every 
.:couple of years.  

Y'know, if they actually made changes every couple/four years, instead of 
just tacking on new laws like a new layer of bad wallpaper, I might be 
inclined to agree with you here.  But they don't tend to make changes 
(unless specifically asked by industry cronies), so I doubt we're actually 
approving, indirectly or otherwise.  The theory's great, but like many 
theories it doesn't match reality well.



.:That theory would suggest that Michael's taxes are understood to 
.:include funds to educate children in society -- including his own. 
.:

Then obviously we have a misunderstanding of what "public education" 
means (or, arguably, SHOULD mean).  I think in this context, like in 
the real world, "public education" means schools in the NC school 
system, as opposed to the act of educating the public.

I grant that all our taxes SHOULD be going to "educate the public", 
and that "paying for public education" is turning out to leave 
something to be desired.  Changing the laws so those taxes go to 
"educating the public" and not fully to "paying for public education" 
would be a nice first step.  "Educating the public" could easily 
include, oh, improvements to public libraries, free lecture series 
held in public spaces, and generally materials for the motivated 
self-learner to borrow, use for a time, and return to his/her 
community for someone else to use.




Of course, all this debate is nice, but the truth is we (as a country) 
have plenty of money to solve our education problems.  Take it from the 
military budget; they'll hardly notice it's missing.  Badda-boom; ok, so 
the airforce might be a bomber or two short on next year's order, but 
every school in the nation gets enough money for whatever improvements 
(structural, staffing, new books, whatever) are needed.

Our problem isn't a lack of money.  It's a lack of commitment.  It almost 
seems like politicians don't really want to do anything to fix the 
problem, because then four years later they can't claim grand plans to 
fix the problem again.  Loverly.

--s