It was my first foray into the frenzy of college
football. Neyland Stadium is fairly overwhelming, especially for a child.
Wrapped up in the excitement of the game day atmosphere only SEC rivalry games
can provide, I was nonetheless stuck between a crimson rock and a big orange
hard place. Third Saturday of October - if you don’t know what it really means,
you clearly ain’t from around here.
* * *
As a native of East Tennessee – Union County - and
with my loyal Big Orange fan mother and grandmother next to me in the stands, I
had opted for the UT sweatshirt, which nonetheless left me gripped by pangs of
betrayal considering my father was a long-time Alabama devotee, also sitting
next to me.
The ladies seemed satisfied. Dad offered little more
than a good-natured smirk. Alabama was ranked second in the nation. Tennessee
wasn’t on the charts.
The end of the first quarter seemed to be an ideal time
for a potty break, and it did not go unnoticed when I returned sans the
Tennessee sweatshirt, revealing the Alabama t-shirt underneath. Dad’s smirk
disappeared. Roll Tide, y’all. The Crimson die had been cast, and I haven’t
wavered since.
Final score: Alabama 56, Tennessee 28.
* * *
Most wouldn’t waste breath nitpicking the nuances of
team loyalty. Ultimately no one is affected, even if you flip and flop like a
fish out of water depending on how a season unfolds and what the rankings
reflect. But the same cannot be applied to matters of public policy… and it
especially shouldn’t be a prime characteristic of a state’s chief executive,
namely being chronically fickle and unapologetically wading in a pool of contradictions.
When Gov. Robert Bentley spoke of “school choice,”
specifically the “right” for parents to send their children from a failing
public school to a public school which isn’t in academic peril, it made sense.
It seemed fair. Most Alabamians wouldn’t advocate condemning a child to a
dismal and unfulfilling scholastic life.
But when the Alabama Senate reverted to the
depressing days of shady deals struck in smoky back rooms, gutting a “school
choice” bill and supplanting it with a naked grab to subsidize private school
education, remarkably Bentley didn’t blink. Like an awkward, pimple-ridden teen
desperate for acceptance from everyone, he readily jumped on board with the new
bill, despite his advocacy for public school choice. The new bill of course not
only forces taxpayers to subsidize a private education for others, it would
amount to corporate welfare for profit-driven private businesses and further
deplete already woefully scarce resources for our public schools.
And despite Bentley’s overzealous cheerleading
routine for the latest bill, he engaged in a half-hearted about-face, tossing
out a weak, fence-riding executive amendment that would have delayed implementation
of the tax credits for a mere two years.
If the tax credits were flawed, then why did he sign
the bill into law? And worse, if the tax credits constitute bad public policy –
and they assuredly do – then what possible difference does delaying the measure
make? It will still force the subsidization of a private school education for
thousands, and it will still eat into the public coffers that fund our public
schools. The laughably named Accountability Act (aka Private School Welfare Act)
will likely cost the state up to $65 million in lost tax revenue.
And worse, stalling tactics and lip service do nothing
to address the real issue: public schools that are deemed “failing.” If our
state is concerned about “failing” schools, then where is the plan and where
are the resources to tackle that problem? Private school tax credits will only
drain students and resources from public schools, not improve those schools. It’s
the equivalent of a dermatologist claiming he’s going to amputate your arm in
order to clear the acne on your face.
Ultimately both houses of the Alabama Legislature
soundly defeated the amendment, and the Private School Welfare Act will go into
effect, but it’s the governor’s chronic double talk that is additional cause
for concern.
It’s a proverbial case of having your cake and
eating it too for Governor Bentley, but with a serious issue in play affecting
our young people and taxpayers statewide. And frankly, this cake tastes pretty
damn awful either way. Lawmakers should not be turning their backs on our
public schools then adding insult to injury by forcing us to subsidize someone
else’s private education.
The Goldilocks approach to government only benefits
Goldilocks, and Alabama taxpayers should recognize and condemn that. Governor
Bentley wants to have it both ways, and regrettably both ways lead to a similar
failure. Public education will sadly take a step backward when these tax
freebies go into effect, resources are drained from our public school system
and the pockets of private businesses operating as schools are fattened.
But more importantly, Governor Bentley, how do you
expect to lead when you don’t even have a clue where you want to go?
About the author: Joseph O. Patton is the
editor-in-chief and founder of the Capital City Free Press. He is a former news
editor for the Coosa County News, lead reporter for the Montgomery Independent
and editor-in-chief of the AUMnibus, the student newspaper of
Auburn-Montgomery. Patton is also the creator of and writer for the satirical
news radio segment "Goat Hill Gossip," which previously aired on WAUD
in Auburn, Alabama and has appeared on several Central Alabama radio programs
as a political analyst.
Copyright © Capital City Free Press
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