Educators, USE YOUR VOICE
Mar 28th, 2009 by Cathy Jo Nelson
Librarians are constantly being advised when to contact congress and politicians. Most library organizations have a committee that researches legislative actions and spends time educating the members on issues that directly affect us. SCASL’s legislative committee is quite effective in alerting us to issues we should respond to, often spelling out who to contact and what to say. It’s a good system that works well. Most organizations have some kind of legislative comittee to do the same.
Reap what you sow
Too often those educators on the frontline feel their voice does not make a difference. So it is with much unease and trepidation that I read a forwarded email 
from my husband today, as it is calling for action from those very same frontline teachers to take action now regarding the government’s stimulus money that has had South Carolina and it’s governor getting spotlight attention in the national news. Mark Sanford, who has an agenda all on his own, is reaping high attention (just what he wants) in his declining to use the money offered South Carolina. His intentions here are not “for” us, They are “for” his name to be in the spotlight–we all know good or bad publicity is just that–publicity. He is seeking the national spotlight. He has greater ambitions on a national level, and cares little for our state, specifically the public education system he continuously maligns. He is sowing up his future career in politics, and it has nothing to do with South Carolina. We are but a mere stepping stone in his political journey, and he has nothing to lose now that he is in the downhill slide as leader of our state.
What is the outlook if we don’t get the much needed money?
I share bits and pieces of this email, and ask that if you are a South Carolina educator, you find the confidence to respond, not to me, but to Sanford. Let him know we are NOT happy with his choices, much less his self-serving political agenda:
….unless Governor Mark Sanford is convinced to seek the federal state stabilization stimulus funds designated for K-12 and higher education…here is a grim picture. Among the predictions:
— Double-digit tuition increases
— Thousands of teachers laid off
— Prisons closed and inmates released into society
— Millions of additional state borrowing merely to cover unemployment benefits to state employees who are laid off….the potential impact… “horrific,” and “every person will be ashamed” of what happens without the stimulus funds in the budget.
If there ever were a time for public educators to make their feelings on this matter known to Sanford, it is now….
Contact information for the Governor’s Office is as follows:
Governor Mark Sanford
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12267
Columbia, SC 29211
803-734-2100
Your Turn
Is this a kneejerk reaction? I’ve had quite few memorable ones, so I should recognize them. No, I dont think it’s kneejerk. So I will spread the message too. If you teach or have kids in public school or college, please react with an action statement directed at Sanford.
Okay, political rant is over.
Image: ‘South Carolina State Capitol‘
www.flickr.com/photos/82538566@N00/848791756
