After viewing the front page of The Meridian Star on March 28, I am very happy to proclaim that I live in the county. The “Dummycrats” got their way one more time and will once again set out to prove that they can improve the disaster known as public education with of all things new buildings and air conditioning. I will sleep better tonight knowing that the fate of our future is in their hands. I lived in Columbus and paid city taxes. The fine folks on the school board felt that to improve education we needed to spend $18 million to have one high school as opposed to the two we had. They held a meeting at 3:30 in the afternoon to get public input. Most people that pay taxes are at work at that time of day. They managed to get it done and boy has education improved. They have accomplished low test scores, more security guards, drugs, on-campus arrests and the usual. I moved to Tuscaloosa, Ala., where they had one central high school. They said education will improve if we build several high schools. This was done to the tune of about $66 million. This was achieved with a “temporary “ 1 percent sales tax increase. I feel sure they too are having the great success that was achieved in Columbus.

I am not against improving the education system, but brick and mortar will not do it. Parents have to start teaching their children respect and discipline. It is not the responsibility of the teachers/babysitters to do this. Our money would be better spent attracting and paying good teachers what they are worth and getting rid of the government mentality-deadbeat types. Children can be taught in a barn with a good teacher and proper discipline.

You folks that actually pay property taxes will have to bear the brunt of this farce. Just keep in mind this will eventually get paid off, but you will never see a decrease in your taxes. As school board president Fred Wile says “This is not the end of a race. It is a significant milestone in a long journey to improve public education in Meridian.”

In closing I will say “the road to poor public education goes on forever and the funding never ends.”



Kerry Blalock

Lauderdale County