May 30, 2004
Editorial
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Community residents understandably rank public education as the top issue currently confronting Hamilton County. They're also willing to support a tax increase to underwrite improvements in public schools — if the increase were specifically directed toward improvements in the education system here.
The acknowledgment of the problem and the willingness to pay more in taxes to improve schools are facts conveniently overlooked by a majority of county commissioners. The County Commission has failed to raise property taxes in each of the last four years. Increased funds for education have come from natural growth in revenues. Given the growing evidence that their constituents prefer otherwise, that shameful and harmful stance should change.
County commissioners can no longer hide beyond the flawed logic that hewing the line on taxes and short-shrifting the schools honors the will of those they are elected to serve. A significant majority of the representative sampling of residents in each of Hamilton County's nine districts is willing to pay more in taxes to fund school improvements. The number ranges from a low of 62 percent — which would be a substantial triumph in any election — to a high of 80 percent. It's apparent that residents are far ahead of commissioners on the issue of taxes and schools.
The growing concern about the condition and performance of the public schools is reflected in the survey conducted by the well-respected Wilkins Research Services on behalf of the local Public Education Foundation and funded by the Public Education Network. There is little doubt where education ranks among the major issues of the day.
Far more residents are concerned when respondents were asked to about the quality of public education 46 percent — than about the economy, employment and economic development 32 percent. Other important hot-button issues—crime, the environment. leadership — did not even rank in double digits. It's worth noting, as well, that Hamilton Countians are far more concerned than their peers across the nation about schools. Nationally, the economy and related topics have placed first it among concerns for a couple of years.
There's no room for commissioners to challenge the methodology of the survey, taken in April. The survey included over 900 respondents, with at least 100 from each voting district, and pretty much mirrors the county's population by race, by number of people with children in public schools and by place of residence.
The survey plainly shows growing support for the path public education here has taken in the last three years. The number of those surveyed who public education in the county has improved has increased steadily — from 18 percent to 25 percent — in that time, while there has been a significant decline — from 40 percent to 26 percent — in the number of those who say it has gotten worse. That surely is a reflection of the variety of positive public and private initiatives that continue to contribute to the palpable progress and student achievement recorded by the county's students.
Though there are those who surely will quibble about the validity of the survey and attach their own interpretations to the results, it is impossible to refute the overall import of the survey. Most Hamilton County parents — 72 percent — are satisfied with their oldest child’s school and would give it either an A or B in the traditional A-F grading system. However, there is far less satisfaction in the general population when respondents were asked to provide a grade for “the quality of education in our county.” Only 24 percent — half the figure on the national level — gave the system an A or B.
In spite of the dissatisfaction, 71 percent of those surveyed still support a tax increase to fund improvements in public schools. Those unhappy with the current system intuitively know that that the way to improve public education is to support rather than denigrate it. And the best and most efficient way, to increase overall satisfaction with the schools is to invest in the infrastructure, in the technology, textbooks and equipment, and in the human resources that hold the key to improved student performance.
County residents clearly support public education and understand the necessity to invest heavily of their time and their money to improve it. Their willingness to serve as advocates for change is easy to measure for those who choose to look. Hundreds joined County Mayor Claude Ramsey in an education summit to build a new awareness of schools and to create a blueprint for their future,
That’s a fine first step in the continuing effort to improve public education in the community. The people want better schools and indicate a welcome willingness to help pay for them. It’s up to the County Commission to rise above its own petty political concern and self-interest to honor their wishes.