[geeks] Re: Taxes (was: Computerfests)

[wa2egp at att.net]

> We need education, not regulation, IMO.

Amen.


> I don't believe that education should be the responsibility of the
> taxpayer.  We're okay with the idea of paying for college, why aren't we
> okay with the idea of paying for -all- education?  School finance is a
> hot issue in local governement.  Texas and California rank near the top
> in school spending.  CA has the last or second-to-last ranked education
> system in the country.  TX isn't too much better.  More funding is not
> the answer.  More efficient use of funding is.

Do you want to be Secretary of Education?  Really.  I mean it.  At least
you won't call me a terrorist.

> Fiat funding tends to lead to slack attention to efficiency.  I see this
> firsthand every day, working for a state agency.  In august (the last
> month of our fiscal year), it's the worst, since that end-of-year
> spending frenzy takes hold and we buy all manner of useless crap in
> order to keep our funding.  No one ever asks if we're overfunded.

Yep, if you don't spend your budget, you get less next year.
 
> I saw the same thing in public education when I helped out with
> administrative duties at my high school.  In the last few months of the
> school year, teachers would buy all sorts of useless crap just to keep
> their budgets.

Few months!  Heck for certain supplies we were given ONE DAY!  And the
marking period grades were due the same day.  No time to order the stuff
we really need.  (To qualify, I work for a district that was taken  
over by the State of New Jersey 18 years ago for a five year takeover 
because of fiscal mismanagement.  This year the district is 81 million
in the hole.  According to a court ruling, we must spend half the budget
on new technology, nothing to repair the old.  "Throw the non-working 
computers out, we'll buy new ones". 20% of the new ones don't work.
Next year, the principal has 460K in the budget for 200 wifi laptops
plus other stuff and we have unsed fiber optic coming out of the wahzoo.
^C #end rant
#

That was a close one ;->

> If you take away fiat funding, and schools are funded directly by the
> parents of the students attending, you have a competitive incentive to: 
>    1) Use money efficiently, because there's no guarantee of it being
>       there next year.
>    2) Provide the best education possible and otherwise keep parents
>       happy so that they'll get more students in the future.
> 

> The difference is that I don't think that can happen because of the
> inherent inefficiency and tendency towards corruption that cames with
> centralized governmental control.  So, I'd rather see people take care
> of themselves and leave the government solely to take care of crime,
> roads, and borders.

Sounds like a republic..but I'm not politically sophisticated. 

> And this thread should really move to geeks...
 
Uh...yes.  I'd hate to see it die.
Bob