I was present at the June 15th meeting when Schools Director Johnny Chandler gave a school budget report to the county commissioners, at which time he was told to see what he could do to slash the budget another 2.5 percent. Our current budget allows for over $7,000 dollars to be spent to educate each student. We already spend $1000 less per student than other counties, which adds up to about $8 million less in total spending per year. Now the school board is being asked to cut another $2 million from the budget. Chandler did say that some cuts may have to come from personnel but that he had no desire to cut teacher’s wages.

My question is this: are we being frugal or frivolous? Are we getting a quality education for less money because we are wise in our spending, or are we throwing good money after bad while we are watching our students struggle to meet the national standards?

During the budget report Chandler shared the TN Dept. Of Education report card for Dickson County schools*. And while K- 8 got great grades, the high schools didn’t fair as well. And yet this point went unrecognized. If I remember correctly, my daddy rewarded me when my grades were good but when I brought home bad grades, I was punished. Not that I am saying that the DOE should be punished, but what should we do when our high schools are reporting below average grades compared to the rest of the state in Math and Sciences? Comparing our ACT scores to the national averages ** we fell behind 43 states in Math and behind 39 in Sciences. Is this the cost of spending less money per student?

The average private school spends nearly half what each public school spends to educate one student***, and home schoolers spend pennies on the dollar. The fact is that public, private and home schooled students still attend the same colleges. At the meeting on the 15th, county commissioner Gray said she had been an educator for many years and she remembered doing quite well with 40 something students per class, a globe, dictionary and some encyclopedias. And although we all recognize that we need to stay up to date in this technological world for our students to compete, we also may need to rethink just where our money is being spent if our students are still not getting the education they deserve.

Many areas of our county spending are being examined for budget cuts (see The Story On The Dickson County Library). According to  Mayor Stone’s office, at this time, 35 percent of the people of Dickson County are paying property taxes while the other 65 percent do not yet still enjoy the same privileges ( i.e. schools, library, etc.). Maybe there is a way to change that uneven balance.

One of the reasons for the desired cut in school spending is to allow the county a way to pay back some of the debt services that include school projects from the late 1990s. We are using what we haven’t paid for while outgrowing it at the same time.

Perhaps there is a way to address the quality of our spending as we are examining the quantity.

*http://edu.reportcard.state.tn.us/pls/apex/f?p=200:30:904206927823463::NO:::
***$10,000 per student in taxpayer dollars? Ouch.http://www.reformk12.com/archives/000174.nclk
**National comparison chart http://www.act.org/news/data/08/states.html

The subject was introduced by Benny Spencer a few weeks ago at a County Commissioners’ budget meeting. Although it was not on the agenda, the idea to close the library was unleashed while the commissioners were trying to come up with ways to cut the county’s budget. Kind of like when you have to broach the subject of cutting the TV cable to make your own budget work. It may not be popular, but it does have to be discussed as an option.

It is my hope that the discussion of closing the library gets tossed out like last week’s periodicals! Curious to find out what was fact and what was fiction, I spoke with my county commissioner, the Mayor’s office and employees of the library.

My district county commissioner assured me that he was against closing the library and that I could contact him for updates on the situation. The Mayor’s office confirmed that closing the library was one of many possibilities, and that various areas of government spending were being looked at to balance the budget. The ladies at the library are not only concerned about their jobs but are also concerned about the people of Dickson; 5 years ago the Summer Reading Program consisted of 125 children, this year they will surpass their goal of 1000 children being enrolled.

What would our community be like without a public library? When industries consider areas to relocate or build new businesses they check to see what a county would have to offer its potential employees. What does it say to outsiders if we can not sustain a library? What does it say to families who want to move here? Recently , I spoke with a woman who relocated here after hurricane Katrina in LA, she said she could have moved anywhere and she and her family chose Dickson; indicating they would have passed it by if it had not had a library. Growing kids need books. Inquiring minds need books. Students need books. What would we do without our books?

Even though the library was not on the agenda for the County Commissioners’ budget meeting Monday the 15th, there were several supporters of the library in attendance- just in case the subject was brought up in discussion again. You can imagine that there are a lot of people concerned about this topic and some vowed to be at the budget meetings each Monday night while closing the library is under consideration.

Since the issue of cutting our library funding has been raised as a very real possibility, it would benefit us all to exercise our civil obligations by becoming aware of and participating in the operation of our local government. Much like a good old fashion civics lesson.

Contact your district County Commissioner ( your district number is on your voter registration card; commissioner’s contact info http://www.dicksoncounty.net) to let him or her know how you feel about this issue. You may want to sit in on a budget meeting – currently being held at the Annex Courthouse on the square in Charlotte at 6:30 on Monday nights. I found the last meeting to be fascinating even if it was a little boring, but I can NOT complain about anything that may or may not happen to the library if I sit at home and do nothing. That is how these things happen, folks, one minute we have a library and the next we don’t – all while we were sitting at home watching TV.

Be civic minded and alert! Get involved in Dickson.