Education

All the candidates will tell you that they "value education" and "support our schools." We've been hearing the same rhetoric every year as the career county politicians come and go, yet nothing changes.

No longer.

The School Board budgeting process has to be revised and fit into an overall long-term plan for the County. We can't wait until our classes are overcrowded before we start thinking about building the next school. We can't wait for our schools at PTAs to cry out for five to ten years before their needs are met.

• We must work closer together. Currently, Commission and the School Board don't meet other than once a year to work on the budget. At the very least a "mid-year summitt" must be convened, and quarterly education meetings would be ideal.
  
• Our budgeting process must be improved. Commission doesn't even see the original School Board request- they only see the budget after it has been modified by the Mayor's office. That must change. One obvious improvement would be to add another grant admininistrator, since the one (half) person doing grants now brings in 20 times her salary.
  
• Technology. Knox County spends less than 2% of its budget on technology, well below its peers. A new Management IS program can give us real measurements of the effects of various programs, allowing us to direct dollars from programs that aren't working towards the ones that are.
  
• Infrastructure. Keeping the buildings in good repair can save costs long-term and prevent embarassing cancellations from water, heating, and air conditioning failures.
  
• Health. Easy-to-implement policies can reduce the impact of infections and disease that have been ravaging our schools and making all of us parents nervous. Improvements in nutrition and healthy lunch options have improved, but more can be done to combat childhood obesity and diabetes.
  
• Involvement. The County Commission should take every possible step to promote parental involvement, the one factor proven time and time again to create the best schools.

It's not enough for Knox County to fight to be above average in the State or to avoid the bottom 20% in the nation. Our goal should be to make Knox County schools one of the most admired in the country. Such a position builds strength in the community, job growth, and property values.

The Economic Policy Institute notes that a "compelling body of research" shows that money put into K-12 education (the right way) provides a strong return on investment in economic growth, as well as decreasing other costs in crime control and drug treatment. We need to stop thinking of a tax increase to improve our schools as a cost, but rather a investment that will lead to tax cuts and stronger economic growth.

For parents with children in schools, I'd like to hear your ideas and thoughts.