Chatham County School Grades

Our local newspaper recently released the 2016 grades for each of the Chatham County schools. Despite an upbeat approach, detailed reading of the article (a copy is at http://bit.ly/Chatham_Grades) gave me the impression that we could find improvements in education for our next generation. The grades were:

Margaret Pollard (6-8): B 
Pittsboro Elementary (K-5): B 
Silk Hope (K-8): B 
Chatham Central (9-12): B 
Northwood (9-12): B 
Perry Harrison (K-5): B 

Moncure (K-8): C 
North Chatham (K-5): C 
Siler City Elementary (K-5): C 
Bennett (K-8): C 
Bonlee (K-8): C 
Jordan Matthews (9-12): C 
Horton (6-8): C 
J.S. Waters (K-8): C 

Virginia Cross Elementary (K-5): D 
Chatham Middle (6-8): D 

SAGE Academy (Alternative 9-12): Not Listed 
Science and Technology: Not Listed

That got me to wondering about how much we spend on education. From the School Board website, I found that there are about 8,700 students in Chatham schools, supported by an education establishment of 1,190 employees. So, there is one staff member for every 7.3 students. It would be nice to know how many are support staff versus teaching staff, but I did not see that breakout on the school board website.

Total non-capital budget for the school system is over $93 million dollars this year (see http://bit.ly/ChathamSchools17-18). Put another way, each student receives on average $10,670 per year in tax dollar support.

This year's school calendar shows 170 school days, with an additional two early release days. Guessing an average of 7 hours per day in class, that means each student should learn something for about 1,190 hours. Again, looking at that another way, each learning hour averages almost $9 per hour per student.

Median salary for teachers is roughly $45,000 per year. Teachers spend about 8 more days per year than do the students. Allowing for a 9-hour day on average to allow for prep time and grading, that suggests each teacher works a bit over 1,600 hours in the school year. A standard business work year with holidays and including 2 weeks vacation is 1,920 hours. Using the standard work year, each teacher works for about 83% of a standard work year. IF that 83% were a full work year, the equivalent salary would be $54,200. Not bad.

So what? We spend A LOT of money on educating students. I suspect most of our teachers are dedicated and hard-working professionals doing their best. But, something is not working right, or our Chatham County scores would be higher, and as a nation we would be out-scoring more of our world competitors in math and the sciences. I don't think more money is the answer to our education problems.

My suspicion is that we are asking our education system to do in excess of what it can deliver. I am  guessing that a lot of our education issues are based more on parental lack of oversight and encouragement, students spending too much in and out of class time flipping through websites and messaging friends, courses that are more politically correct than rigorous, and a society that glorifies sports and entertainment over mathematics, science, farming, or trades.

One of my least-favorite public figures once wrote a book that claimed it takes a village to raise a child. Maybe so; maybe it takes public figures, entertainers, sports figures, journalists, clergy, peer groups and others along with parents to encourage students to study, work hard, respect their teachers, and understand the value of their elementary and secondary educations.

And maybe it takes all of us in Chatham County to understand where our tax dollars go, and then to help determine if funds are being spent wisely. Chatham County - get involved! Research school board candidates, go to school board meetings, understand the budgets, root out the facts versus hype and hysteria, and make solid and well-reasoned selections when voting for school board candidates.

Regarding Chatlist #5938 League of Women Voters

A big thankyou to Carol Hay, Brad Page, and Ms. Bair for confirming what I said about the League of Women Voters. While offering no facts to dispute my position that the LWV is not non-partisan, they did state that the league supports abortion, abhors voter integrity (voter ID), blames the Republicans for destroying bipartisanship, and so on. A true non-partisan organization would provide the policies of all parties, and would welcome opposing viewpoints to present all sides of an issue to our voting citizens. Likewise, their personal attacks on me are an attempt to mislead the general public on the policies of the LWV and their membership.

Not examples of what I would call non-partisan.

Again, and again, I will continue to say that voters need to do their own research on candidates, platforms, and individually determine how they cast their votes. Please Do Not blindly accept what the parties, and their collaborators, would like you to believe. Regarding organizations like the League of Women Voters, check out their website. Try to discuss opposing points of view and see how well you are received.

League of Women Voters is Nonpartisan - NOT!

The League of Women Voters (LWV) advertises themselves as being politically nonpartisan. Don't believe everything you read in the Chatlist.

Of the eight officers listed on the LWV website for Orange-Durham-Chatham Counties, six are registered Democrats. Two do not seem to be registered to vote with the North Carolina voter registration system.

Of the two ladies who posted about the upcoming LWV event in Siler City, both are registered Democrats.

The LWV partners with only left-leaning organizations, such as Democracy NC, NC Justice Center, and Planned Parenthood.

While the promoted goals of the League of Women Voters seem admirable, when one looks deeper one finds just another support arm of left-leaning political advocacy.

Take them with a grain of salt. Do your own voter research.

Politics - watch what you say

By chance a few days ago I decided to look at both the Chatham GOP and Chatham Democrat websites.

The Chatham GOP at http://www.chathamncgop.com is not very interesting. Some things about the upcoming county convention, and the rest is just difficult to find anything.

The Chatham Democrat at http://www.chathamdemsnc.net is more colorful, at least. However, one of the comments on the front page of their website caught my eye:

2020 is just the year that Democrats need to win. The next US census takes place that year, and that is also when the next congressional districts will be redrawn. Democrats can use their electoral gains in 2020 to Gerrymander Republicans out of the House of Representatives.

Have we not heard about Democrat complaints regarding Republican Gerrymandering over and over again? 

Later on the website, the Democrat website says

Building on and extending the historic legacy of the Democratic Party, the Chatham County Democratic Party is committed to Fairness, Truth in Government, and Equality.

Here we have a case study on hypocrisy: a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious belief or principle that one does not really possess.

Do not blindly accept what either political party is telling you, and require them (peacefully, of course; riots and semi-riots are not peaceful) to follow their stated principles.

Long Range Planning - how to pay?

The Chatham County Long-Range Planning Committee will present their latest thoughts to the county this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

I have seen the draft documents, and they represent a wide range of options that, based on the committee's collective and so-called progressive (not necessarily unanimous) opinion, will improve Chatham County over the next 25 years.

That may be so. I like several of the ideas, am neutral about some, and cannot tolerate others.

But YOU need to make up your own minds.

WHY?

Because YOU are going to end up paying for whatever this committee recommends to the County Commissioners. Lots of ideas equals lots of need for dollars to pay for ideas. Where do you think those dollars come from? Your wallet.

So if you want to have some small impact on how our Commission spends YOUR dollars, go to one of the input sessions:

Tuesday, February 21, at Chatham Central High School, in the Commons (outside the cafeteria), 5-7 PM 

Wednesday, February 22, at the Chatham Community Library, Holmes Meeting Room, 5-7 PM 

Thursday, February 23, at the Silk Hope Ruritan Center, Main Hall, 5-7 PM

It is YOUR money.

We are a divided county

Several recent posts on the Chatlist discussed the 2016 elections. I looked at the Chatham County official results and did a bit of ciphering to see what they can tell us other than raw numbers.

If you break out the county into its 18 voting precincts you see some clear trends towards voting Democrat or Republican. In the table below I counted the independent Holland candidacy in the GOP column as he was clearly not a Democrat candidate.



Across the board Republican-voting precincts
Albright, Bennet, Bonlee, Goldson, Three Rivers, Harpers Crossroads, and Hickory Mountain.

Mostly Republican-voting precints
Hadley Mills, New Hope, Oakland

Across the board Democrat-voting precincts
Bynum, East Siler City, Pittsboro, Manns Chapel, North Williams, West Williams.

Mostly Democrat-voting precincts
West Siler City, East Williams.

Number of precincts who voted for candidates
President: 11 for Trump, 7 for Clinton
US Senate: 12 for Burr, 6 for Ross
US House: 12 for Walker, 6 for Glidewell
Governor: tied 9 for McCrory, 9 for Cooper
Commissioner 1: 12 for Stobbs, 6 for Howard
Commissioner 2: 10 for Holland, 8 for Dasher

SO WHAT, you ask? This analysis says that despite the individual votes which led to Democracts winning overall across Chatham County, there is a lot of political division across the county. While our current county commission has a solid Democrat majority, according to my analysis there is certainly not a solid Democrat majority support across the County.

Our politicians, at ALL levels of government regardless of party need to realize (and be reminded again and again) they work for the best interest of the citizens and NOT for the success of their party, and that for effective governing politicians need to follow the founding documents of our Constitutions and of our laws. Politicians are not just hired to do a job; they are hired to bring people together. Political parties make this difficult for our elected officials, as parties see politics as a contest to crush their opponents, not necessarily seeking the overall good of the voting public.

Our citizens, REGARDLESS of political leanings, need to realize that political parties are businesses that exist for the party members, and are not focused on the overall good of the citizenry. We all need to help and constrain our elected officials at all levels by gaining information from a variety of both left- and right-leaning news outlets. AND, we need to remember we are all neighbors and will eventually need each other.

Chatham County Legislative Priorities

Each year our County Commissioners determine what positions they (that is, we as county citizens) will take with the North Carolina legislature. On January 23 the Commissioners will receive recommendations from County Staff.

While I have strongly disagreed with positions our Commissioners have taken in the past, I hope that they support some of these very reasonable approaches to improving life in Chatham County. Among them are:

1. Remove rural broadband barriers: allow local governments to partner with broadband projects, increase state funding for rural broadband, and remove constraints that allow providers to pick and choose where they will serve customers.
2. Reinstate the Jordan Lake Rules: quit screwing around with silly approaches (like the Solarbees) to improving the water quality in Jordan Lake, and enforce the agreements made several years ago to reduce upstream pollution.
3. Chatham Park Special Assessment: the ability to propose a special tax assessment on Chatham Park infrastructure.
4. Severing mineral rights: since fracking (my opinion: fracking is EVIL) is still a threat to the county, ensure that property owners have clear title to the mineral rights beneath their lands. This is more difficult than it seems since a lot of titles go back to the King’s land grants.
5. Eliminate Economic Tiers: Chatham County economics is evaluated on a whole basis. Because northeast Chatham County tends to be wealthier than southeast Chatham County the average impairs economic development funds for the western part of the County.

Hopefully our Commissioners will look favorably on these recommendations.