Educated Insights

One argument used to disarm economic incentives to promote economic growth is that the money used to lure in businesses might be better spent on infrastructure and education.  But, as John Hood tells us in the News & Observer, putting more towards education doesn’t necessarily mean raising taxes.  You can have a business-friendly community (which historically favors a well-educated populace) without supporting huge tax increases for education.  To begin with, it’s important to try trimming the fat from bloated education budgets, trying to get more from your education dollar. You could try consolidating school districts, as Lindalyn Kakadelis highlights in this piece. Or you could try re-evaluating the goal of public schools, focusing resources on proficiency standards instead of achievement growth, as Lindalyn touched on with Rick and Donna Martinez on State Government Radio.  School systems such as CMS that continue operating with misguided principles and whacked-out budget priorities, will only see their best students leave.  Lindalyn told the story of CMS’s plight to the Charlotte Observer‘s Online Forum.  The best option to keep an education system flourishing is to provide more options.  Warren Smith, host of Worldviews, heard this advice from Lindalyn.