Editor;
I attended the Bulloch County Board of Education’s public forum on the state’s new IE2 (Investing in Educational Excellence) at Julia P. Bryant Elementary School. An overview of IE2 was presented followed by group breakout sessions to discuss the impact on each of our schools, meeting its goals under IE2.
IE2 is yet another plan designed to give cover to the politicians in Atlanta, who insist on maintaining their central control over education, in the state, at the expense of local school boards, teachers and most importantly the parents of our children.
IE2 is the state’s latest version in a series of government central planning programs designed to improve education. IE2 will not improve education any more than the numerous other plans the State has developed over the years by both Democrats and Republicans. All of these plans have come and gone, and what remains is a steady decline in education.
The question that needs to be asked is: “When are we going to stop doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results?” We need to change our approach to solve the problem. We need to answer the question “Who cares the most about a child’s education, the central planners in Atlanta or the parents of the child?”
The parents of the child need to be in charge of their child’s education. The parents should choose what school to send their child to, what classes their child should take, and how their child will be taught, to reflect the values of the parents.
The way to put the power in the hands of the child’s parents is to have a statewide school voucher system. Each child receives a voucher the parents can use to send the child to the school of their choice, public or private. Until the parents are in charge, instead of the politicians, our schools will not improve for all of our children.
We should demand that our state politicians approve a statewide voucher system, instead of another state central planning document (IE2) to solve the problem of declining education in our State.
Tom McElwee
Brooklet