Terrell: Are our priorities wrong?

A recent article in Georgia Trend magazine by Ben Young, editor-in-chief and publisher, caught my attention.
Young was touting leadership programs but what interested me was a couple of paragraphs he wrote about what Georgia needs to do to remain competitive in the business world.
The Atlanta writer quoted Wendy Stewart, identified as the Atlanta market president for Bank of America, with some critical facts about Georgia and the Southeast.
Accordingly, Stewart gave “…a sobering account of the poverty plaguing not just Georgia , but Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina, which have the worst high school graduation rates in the country.”
Stewart pointed out that, “Georgia spends less than $10,000 per student during the school year…with rural districts receiving even less for their students since school spending is based on population and not need.”
A check of a Barrow County School System website indicated Barrow County spends $9,677 per student while the state average is $8,955.
Stewart then pointed out that the State of Georgia spends $20,000 per year per incarcerated prisoner. Unfortunately, much of that may be mandated by the courts but that’s another story for another day.
The above expenditures, however, open up other arguments. For instance, there is one group that will argue it isn’t what you spend per student but how you spend it and what you get for the dollar.
Regardless, it is a sad reflection on where we are as a society.
Stewart listed a couple of other alarming stats.
She pointed out that we have “…an enormous gap between our minimum wage ($7.25) and our living wage in Georgia, a point at which no public assistance is needed. A single person needs nearly $12 an hour for minimum living requirements.”
Another glaring statistic shows that 20.7 percent of rural residents do not have a high school diploma while 13.3 percent of urban residents lack a diploma.
The report did not get better but these numbers are interesting when you compare them to a recent story produced by Judicial Watch (JW).
Judicial Watch, Inc., describes itself as a “…conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.”
In its December newsletter, JW said that illegal immigration is costing American taxpayers $134.9 billion on an annual basis.
These costs include education, medical care, law enforcement and welfare. JW pointed out that local taxpayers get stuck with about $89 billion while the federal government spends about $46 billion.
The foundation said illegal immigrants do contribute somewhat by paying taxes but figures released by the government show that the U.S only recouped about $19 billion.
This leaves us with an interesting question. How can the federal government ask U.S. citizens to repay student loans when many illegal immigrants have free access to public schools?
There is a solution that will help fund state educational programs but it won’t be very popular. Let our college and athletic programs put 1 percent of their revenues into a fund to help local school systems.
After all, they have the big bucks.
Take for example the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). They fired head football coach Jim Mora last month and it looks like they will have to pay him about $12 million for terminating his contract.
Some other coaches have similar clauses in their contracts.
Arizona State cut a check to coach Todd Graham for $12.1 million to leave according to a Los Angeles Times article by Nathan Fenno.
Arkansas fired coach Fred Bielema a couple of weeks ago, cutting him a check for $11.8 million while former Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin picked up $10.4 million for getting the axe.
Alabama’s Nick Saban is said to have a buy-out clause worth $26 million and Clemson’s Dabo Sweeney is thought to have a $40 million buy-out option.
It’s not that we can’t find the money to improve our quality of life. It boils down to what is important to us. Funny how the ball bounces and who writes the checks. The sad part is how we list our priorities.
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Jimmy Terrell is retired from a career in law enforcement in Barrow County and is a Winder city councilman-elect. He can be reached at ejterrell65@gmail.com.