Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Fleming County Bipartisanship On Education. Great Story!

The Flemingsburg Gazette is a weekly paper in a small town, owned by a wild-eyed liberal.

Fortunately, Guy Townsend has shifted gears from endless rants against George Bush to a cogent dismantling of the local school system and a clear depiction of rampant waste.

Townsend's September 21 article is fabulous:

Speaking of your tax dollars, word has reached us that in one of the county’s elementary schools something like 97 fifth-graders are having to get by with only 53 reading books because there isn’t any money in the budget to buy books. (The situation appears to be even worse in the high school.) We’re working on this now and hope to be able to provide more detailed information soon in a news story. If those figures are accurate, the Fleming County school administration has failed to provide enough funding to one of our elementary schools to enable it to buy books for 44 students. This is the same Fleming County school administration which has been able to find funding to pay a retired administrator (who is already receiving a sizeable pension) $42,000 to do a job that the system would only have to pay a new hire $19,000 to do. That’s a difference of $23,000. I’ll bet you could buy 44 reading books for $23,000.

Also found a special treat in the September 14 edition (all opinion columns are on the same page, just scroll down). A guest column by Kentucky College Republican Chairman Derek Hall:

I NEVER agree with Guy Townsend, and I want to make that clear, but of recent, he has been singing my song on education. His numbers don’t lie; Fleming County is failing educationally and it will cost us more in the future than you may ever imagine. Fleming County is full of unrealized potential, and we need leaders that can help us achieve new levels of success. That’s why I am officially asking Kelly Crain to resign as our Superintendent of Fleming County Schools and give us the opportunity to bring in an individual concerned with positive progress. I understand that my solution may offend some folks, but understand that I am not attacking Kelly Crain personally, only professionally.

Keep fighting the fight guys. We're counting on you.