What qualifies you to come talk about education? —Kent Bishop @ VLCoC 11 October 2011

The first question Kent Bishop asked at the Chamber's Candidates Forum, where he got eight minutes to speak for school consolidation while each of the candidates for Valdosta Mayor only got five, still hung in my mind at the end:

What qualifies you to come talk about education?

Like so many CUEE speakers, he isn't an educator and he hadn't done his homework.

You know, what I hear is that, from the other side, is that our taxes would go up because of consolidation. The facts just don't point to that. Generally what you'd see is some blending of the costs. And if we do that and average it out, we're gonna find the two millage rates will come out somewhere in the middle. It makes total sense.

Well, maybe it makes total sense if you like just making stuff up. Or you can see, hear, and read the extensive research by the Lowndes County Board of Education that demonstrates if consolidation passes taxes will go up and public school services will go down.

The speaker went on about ongoing white flight, without ever mentioning that consolidation would cause bright flight to head out of the county to Lanier and elsewhere.

He did come right out and admit something I've been saying:

We need a plan! Well, when are we gonna develop a plan? Well, I gotta tell you, we will not develop a plan until we have to. It's either gonna happen now because on November ninth the two sides will say, wow, we didn't think that was gonna pass! And somehow it did and they have to come in a process that will allow a good plan. I believe that when pressed our two school boards will come together, if this thing passes, and will develop an appropriate plan with input from all of our citizens, from our business community, and educators, gotta have that; from everybody.

That's right, CUEE and the Chamber and Vote Yes, or whatever they're calling themselves this week, have no plan to improve education, other than trying to pass a referendum to force the two school boards to come up with a plan.

It was so good of him to add educators as an afterthought, don't you think?

But notice who he named before educators: the business community. Some part of the business community is who has been pushing this bogus "unification" nonesense. Except it won't be nonsense if it passes and the school systems have to turn to the business community and their allied foundations to bail out the public schools in a local exercise of the Shock Doctrine. Then we'll find out what they really want to do to the public schools.

This speaker was shocked at lack of intelligent discourse! Well, so was I when I heard this talk. Or I would have been, if I hadn't come to expect this low level of magical thinking from the Chamber and CUEE.

Vote no on November 8^th for the children, and so we don't have to hear any more speeches like this one.

Here's the video:

What qualifies you to come talk about education? —Kent Bishop @ VLCoC 11 October 2011
candidates, elections, education, consolidation, resolution, alcohol,
Candidates Forum, Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce (VLCoC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 October 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq