From The Roundtable: Pedantic arrogance blocking inclination toward ‘yes’ vote on tax levy

The talk on the street is that this one is going down in defeat big time on April 8. “This one”is the proposal to raise the property tax levy by a substantial amount because the ColumbiaPublic Schools system has fumbled and bumbled its way through financial operations and is now some $10 million in the hole.
I’m pessimistic. Like most of you, in the past I have always voted in favor of issues relating to education. Like many of you now, I’m on the fence. One moment I’m storming mad; the next day perhaps I’m more agreeable to something that’s going to crank up my taxes.
Right now I’m in one of those “nay” moments squinting at a tiny architect’s rendering of a proposedschool building in Northeast Columbia that looks like it was drawn by a child. That old “well, we know what’s best for you” arrogance shines through when I read that the design is set in granite and this is the way it will be built. To paraphrase an elder: There will be no backtalk.
The outcome of the election could be determined by the weather that day and by which blocs of voters are either overrepresented or underrepresented at the polls. While some might argue that it is politically incorrect to divide voters into groups based on their financial resources, education and other factors, a last-minute surge of well-heeled, highly educated voters drawn from Columbia’s “professional” class has in the past pushed these education issues over the top. School officials know this, and you know they’re already working to cajole their legion of supplicants and their friends and families to get out the “yes” vote.
While no organized opposition has yet materialized, there’s plenty of grousing to suggest that school officials may not have the heft, even among their own troops, to override the pentup rancor that’s been expressed by a growing number of business leaders and the cadres of laborers and clerical workers who also happen to vote.
The Columbia Public Schools system is a $157 million business near the top of the list of largest employers, with more than 2,400 workers. But my initial inclination to vote “yes” is starting to shift to a “no” and a cry for compromise and sacrifice by the folks who are running this asylum.
I’ve become surfeited with the babblings of educators, which I call “ed-speak.” I’m worn out by the pedantic arrogance of school administrators and the sycophantic tendencies of the nine-member board of volunteer directors, although they mean well.
I’ve grown fatigued hearing about MAP tests, MAP test scores and regimen of teaching for these ridiculous tests. I’m appalled by an academically bankrupt federal program called “no child left behind” that can’t accept the fact that some students are smarter than other students. I’m exasperated because I never hear about excellence from educators preferring to “dumb things down” because that’s what’s politically correct these days. I’m in rebellion against mandates and the malicious meddling by federal and state government agencies we never asked for.
Many of us want some real action, and we want it now. The ideal “purge” that would satisfy some of us would be to dump everyone and start anew with a fresh slate, starting at the top. Of course that can’t and won’t happen, but the system could show us some tangible preelection sacrifice by cutting what most of us perceive to be grossly bloated administrative personnel costs.
Sacrifice is always unpleasant, but some pre-election bloodletting might push this issue over the finish line for many of us. At the same time, Columbia Public Schools must start talking about excellence. Excellence in education is a key economic recruiting tool for the greater Columbia area due to the toughening competition we face against other areas for both personnel and business investment. The business community must demand this educational excellence, or Columbia will lose its place competitively.
By failing to stress excellence, officials in the highest precincts of the local school administration are actually harming the economy of the Columbia area. At the same time, it’s the pedantic arrogance of these administrators that has allied many once-supportive voters against this key economic engine, Columbia Public Schools.
My wake-up call would be a “no” vote.
Then the public must ramp up its diligence over what school administrators and their board of directors are doing. A little humility and better communication on their side would work wonders. On our side, we have a pretty good Fourth Estate that’s fired up and ready to remain diligent and inquisitive as we continue to press for more transparency in public education.