When the American colonies separated from Britain 232 years ago, we had a lot of grievances against our king. One of the biggest lay in the fact that the king's government and Parliament insisted on taxing the American colonies despite the fact that America had no direct representative in Parliament. Even worse, they attacked the power of the colonial assemblies that we did elect. They assured us that the king and Parliament would represent our important interests and that we needed no direct voice. America believed otherwise.
I had the opportunity to speak with a member of the Taylor County Board of Education on Tuesday night and what he said astounded me. First, the influence of the Board of Education has declined to almost nothing. In this member's reckoning, the elected Board of Educations in West Virginia make 5% of the decisions. Federal guidelines and state mandates eroded some of that authority, but much of it also has been shifted to state appointed bureaucrats. Second, this school board member explained that Governor Manchin proposed to eliminate the school boards altogether.
This was shocking, not just because of the potential to eliminate elected officials, but also due to the fact that these moves are not widely known. Even in the address Governor Manchin mentioned the issue in a fairly off hand way, according to this board member. The West Virginia Constitution fails to guarantee the existence of these institutions. Of course their powers and duties are not strongly defined either. Bureaucrats appointed by the governor run our schools more than the people we vote for.
This represents yet another shifty power grab. Boards of Education are not always popular and do not always do a great job. However they are still the voice of the people when it comes to how our tax money is spent in our school system. It is time to constitutionally guarantee their existence and grant them more authority. This will balance off the power of superintendents and appointed bureaucrats. Sure this will be less efficient, but the people will have a stronger say. The people in turn must remain educated about their school system and make sure to vote in effective and qualified individuals. If the people choose poorly then so be it. That is democracy. Like Winston Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all of the other ones. We should never turn over our school system to bureaucrats as long as our property taxes support these schools.
No taxation without representation!
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