2 Billion Is A LOT of Sweet Moolah

Do we live in strange times or what? Today I read that Jerry Weast has had his contract renewed for four more years, MoCo teachers got their raises, and most astonishing, the MoCo school board approved a staggering $1.98 BILLION budget. My friends, that is a LOT of money.

I cannot overstate the importance of education in today's world, but in a county our size, am I wrong to think that TWO BILLION dollars is one hell of a lot of our tax dollars? It seems to me that, for that kind of money, we could be hiring private tutors for each and every school aged child within the confines of our great county.

Call me old fashioned, but it simply beggars belief that we are spending that much money. Where's it all going? How much of that money is spent on lawyers and lawsuits? How much is spent on feel good programs which do little more than punch the politically correct ticket?

As the parent, I know what the MCPS is doing. I've seen it in action, up close and personal. I know that "portable classrooms" aren't really that. I know that some sex ed programs aren't really life lessons, but instead are are the County's way of indoctrinating our youth. And most of all, I know that $2 billion is a ton of money that, if it were spent properly and with a reasonable amount of oversight, we'd have thousands of Rhodes Scholars pouring out of each and every graduating class.

Forgive my cynicism, but Jerry Weast and his band of merry pranksters seem to have gotten one over on you and I - again.

$2 Billion! Wow!