Aiken County School Bond Referendum

There have been many letters published in the Aiken Standard for and against the achool bond over the past month. The Aiken Standard has vigorously supported the bond editorially but are to be complimented for the fairness displayed in publishing letters pro and con.On May 19 the paper published a good letter from Keith Bashant who opposes the bond issue. Keith had previously submitted a  very good but also very long letter that had to be reduced drastically to make it publishable.I thought the original letter was a very strong passionate heartfelt plea from  a man who has volunteered much of his time to improve the lot of many school children.

With his permission his original letter follows:

Create Educated Children – Not Buildings!

Education is the key to success.  Needed are RESULTS.  Aiken County School District’s $236 million building bond will spend a fortune, but won’t improve dismal academic performance.  My parents had high school diplomas, lived in an economically depressed small town, worked hard for low wages, valued education, taught personal responsibility, and honored God.  Their humble lives and example produced a high school valedictorian who became a U.S. Air Force officer.  For 24 years, I competed successfully against top-notch people from every state in America; and, together, we forged the world’s greatest air force.  Education, not facilities, made the difference in my life.  Now, for over five years, I’ve volunteered four days a week to tutor Aiken County public school boys in grades 3-5 at an after-school program.  I’ve had up to 12 boys in a 120 square foot room without air conditioning, chalkboards, and good lighting.  The least of my problems was the facility.  My boys lacked basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills.  Yet, their public school facility is far superior to my old public school.  The real determinants of a child’s education are behavior, discipline, attitude, respect for authority, teacher skills, and parental involvement.  District administrators argue nice facilities mean “caring for the children.”  I’ll argue preparing children for life means “caring for the children.”  The District’s education system has failed to teach my boys the basic skills needed to read and understand the directions and questions in their daily homework assignments.  These boys need an education system that focuses on the real obstacles to their learning, not on buildings.  I’ll vote "No" on the May 25th bond referendum…to put the education of my boys first.

1.  Not putting children first means administrators pour money into facilities based on District wants, not teacher needs.  The 2009 Annual School Report Cards reveal that 86% of the teachers at the affected schools told the SC Dept. of Education they were "satisfied with the social and physical environment" and were “satisfied with the learning environment.”  Teachers know facilities don’t prevent Johnny from learning. 

2.  Not putting children first means opposing free market competition to cut education waste, drive innovative solutions, and produce the best value per education dollar spent.  The District has a near monopoly:  91% of all K-12 students are in public schools.  Unlike the District, I support fierce competition in education:  school choice, school vouchers, school tax credits, charter schools, magnet schools, and home-schooling that give children enhanced education options.  The District needs to fight for a child-centered education model, and not an administratively bloated, under-performing public school system. 

3.  Not putting children first justifies moving two middle schools (Jackson and New Ellenton) from small towns to a remote campus that will discourage parental involvement vital to student success.  Parents of at-risk children often have serious transportation challenges.

4.  Not putting children first appeared in the last Federal assessment in which Aiken County data was available:  Class of 2005.  This assessment showed only 52% of Aiken County’s public school freshmen graduated 4 years later.  While the SC graduation rate was 56%, the national rate was 71%.  Sadly, because most states under-report their dropout rates, the national analysts developed a uniform system to determine accurate graduation rates:  SC ranked 47th. 

5.  Not putting children first means adopting low standards.  SC uses the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) to assess student performance.  The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) has conducted 24 million assessments on student proficiency nationwide over a 33-year period.  NWEA placed the PASS test standards in the bottom quartile [25%] when compared to proficiency standards in 27 states.  Low standards and low expectations condemn children to lifetimes of under-achievement.

6.  Not putting children first means waste and misdirected priorities.  For the current school year, the cost of an Aiken public school student was $8,857 which was $2,070 (30%) more than the cost of an Aiken private school student.  Reducing each public student’s cost to the private student’s cost would cut County expenses $54 million a year.  The private school’s standardized test scores are in the top 10% of the nation.

7.  Putting the District first means not fairly sharing the County’s burden in austere times.  The District’s FY 2008 total expenditures were $236,020,784; FY 2009 were $233,346,315; and FY 2010 were $230,779,026.  So, the District cut its budget by a paltry 1% in FY 2009 and 1% in FY 2010.

8.  Putting the District first means demanding more taxes from distressed families and businesses during a prolonged, economic slump.  The County’s unemployment rate is 10.2%, under-employment is rampant, businesses have folded, and others are in survival mode.  Yet, to meet District “needs,” homeowner property taxes must jump 4% ($118 per $100,000) and business property taxes 6% ($174 per $100,000).  These taxes eat further into disposable incomes and slow the economic recovery.  The $862 billion federal stimulus also diverted private sector dollars to public sector projects; and, over the last 15 months, the national unemployment rate rose from 7.6% to today’s 9.9%.  This County needs a vibrant private sector to create jobs and prosperity. 

The District can start caring about my boys by implementing reforms that improve THEIR academic performance:  First, create a child-centered education model that aggressively promotes behaviors of successful students and advocates school choice options.  Second, set high standards that challenge children and school staff to perform at their best.  Third, slash administrative costs and shift savings into the classroom to secure top-performing teachers.  Finally, make parent and community involvement in local school decisions a high priority.  Stop excusing poor academic performance on national metrics; start focusing on the major problems that prevent learning; and put money into reforms that actually improve education performance.  The lives of my boys depend upon basic education skills, not on buildings and a football complex.  On May 25, I’ll vote “No”…because I care about the lives of my boys!

Keith Bashant

Aiken, SC

803-502-0994