Someone survey teachers 'bout budget

I got an idea. And you know it's a good one. Because over here at Screams from da porch, we have no bad ideas. (Just people who don't agree with the good ones.)

I keep hearing that there's all this support from teachers for the gazillion-dollar proposed school budget. Then I hear from some top county leaders that teachers are telling them that they don't support it, and that the higher-ups in the school system are bullying them into smiling and taking it.

So, only one way to find out, I suppose. (Cause, I mean, really, if your boss asks you if you likes something he/she likes and you really don't like it, what are you going to say? Yeah, that's what I thought.)

I figure someone should create and print a questionnaire that asks the teachers what they REALLY think of the proposed plan. Let's survey them.

Cause I think the public gives teachers a whole lot more credence than it does a bunch of fat cats with car allowances that rival some house notes. 

And, I want to know what they REALLY think about the plan. If I was making a decision on whether to jack taxes, I'd want insight from the teachers – the ones in the actual classrooms who have made a career educating students. Not from the ones in the Ivory Tower.

We already know they want this bad boy passed.

Alas, I don't see it happening. Cause someone will lose. 

If the teachers support it, then I'm pretty sure the commission will get on board. Score one for the superintendent. 

If they say it sucks, then the commission will tell the school folks to take the plan and hit the freakin' road. Score one for the county mayor. 

(Cause don't think for a minute that there isn't a spitting - I'm being polite - contest going on between the two of them about this.)

But, I digress.

Create a survey, print it, deliver it (no email) and come up with a way for teachers to securely answer the questions and deliver it to an objective third party (like Screams from da Porch) and without anyone watching. (You know, fear of retribution.)

Cause, quite frankly, if I'm a commissioner who controls the county's purse strings, I don't want to hear the obvious anymore.

And before the county/school system starts whining that it's in the poor house, know that Staples, which sucks by the way, sells reams of paper (500 count) for $7.50. I figure there's someone in county government who can click right smack here and order (what?) 14 reams. That's 7,000 sheets. How many teachers does Knox County employ? I figure it's enough.

The whole experiment won't cost much (except for the loser's pride). And you don't even have to form a committee to do it. Also, if you're having a hard time finding the money to pay for my ingenious survey, I hear the school system's PR department makes the county like a $1 million a year doing something. (Course it costs the county a gazillion to operate, too.)

Heh.