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Tuesday, February 14, 2006FLS: Wilder Excoriates Lora For Questioning SpendingSpotsylvania School Board member Ray Lora questioned the wisdom of asking the Board of Supervisors for an additional $11 million dollars, even after a $4.6mil sales tax windfall and an additional $13mil from the state budget. Here's what is dissent earned him: Board member Martin Wilder weighed the school budget against needs such as public safety or transportation. 'You absolutely do not take money out of the pocket of public education to do those things,' he said.Which - as I'm sure Wilder knows - is a direct violation of item #6 of the Spotsylvania School Board's Code of Ethics: 6. I will encourage individual board member expression of opinion and establish an open, two-way communication process with all segments of the community.Wilder owes Lora an apology. Congratulations to Ray Lora for standing up to Martin Wilder, and to Lee Broughton for sticking up for Mr. Lora. It's high time we saw some common-sense on the part of our school board to rein in its most radical members. Wilder's recommendation to Lora to "line item" the School Budget is a joke. The budget as presented to the school board is in block format, with no degree of specification (as one can see here). Sure there are specific categories, but no details. How would one even begin to start? What's worse is that there's no correlation with other school systems in Virginia. Total cost of educating a student in the Spotsylvania schools is $10,500 per student for a $296 million budget. Nevermind that four out of five high schools are below the state average for SAT scores. Something is wrong with this school system, and it's not for lack of spending. I'm not trying to slam the Spotsylvania School Board directly. Yes we all want a good public education system, but there's a problem here that has nothing to do with tax dollars. Not only is there a spending problem, there's an attitude problem towards those who want to make the system work better and get it thinking outside of the box. The political dynamic foisted upon good people who want to make the education system work is frustrating for any budget analyst, and even more so for someone like Ray Lora who genuinely wants to see some efficiency.
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JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
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