Alabama’s Equity Funding

Nothing Fair About Alabama's Equity Funding Program

Gene Ponder
November 7, 2009

     Alabama public education is about to take another blow to the knee cap in January of 2010.  Governor Riley has issued yet another 7% proration warning to all superintendents throughout our state.   Depending upon which news program you watch, the blame game over proration is once again heating up.  We have already heard from big-government proponents that you taxpayers are the problem for the economic shortfalls of public education.   Big-government proponents insist that we are not collecting enough taxes during the current economic conditions to adequately fund public education.  Big-government proponents blame Alabama small business owners for avoiding their tax obligations. Big-government proponents sole answer to public education's budget shortfall seems to be more and more of the people's money.  I say hogwash to their blame and their solution!

    I am a public school educator.  I witness on a daily basis the fraud and abuse of state tax dollars.  I also witness the misappropriation of state funds.  I am a part of the most incompetent self-defeating entity in the State of Alabama; the vast bureaucracy of public education. Throwing more and more money at public education is not the answer, but the main problem with public education.  Money is important and vital to build, maintain and operate public facilities, such as: paying teachers, administrators, custodians, utilities, etc...    Communities, willing to raise their local tax dollars for their local schools, end up losing their tax dollars raised to other school districts in the state.  Therefore, a 1% increase in local sales taxes would result in a loss of an equal amount for our area from the state.  So, why should a community willingly raise more local tax dollars for education when the current equity funding program causes a loss in State revenues and ends up costing consumers more individually?

    Alabama practices public education welfare funding or what the State refers to as "equity funding".  The Alabama legislature adopted a court suggestion as to how to adequately fund State owned and State operated public facilities.  The federal court suggestion was to steal tax dollars from communities with high property and high sales taxes by transferring state public education tax dollars to communities with low property and low sales taxes.  Equity Funding requires people to contribute to a system of theft and waste.  For example, Baldwin County, Alabama alone loses $45 million dollars a year to the current equity or welfare funding system. 

    As a candidate for Lt. Governor of Alabama,  I propose a system of equality funding for public education.  Every student in the State of Alabama should be treated and funded equally.  Regardless of race, religion, age, gender, disability or location of residence, I support and maintain the position of treating and funding every single child in our State equally.  We must fight to end the current system of discrimination and inequality of state funding for public education.  I know that treating people equally under the law may seem inequitable to some of the bigots, who run and operate our State government, however, most Alabamians still believe in the morality of equality.

    When the State of Alabama funds every child equally, I believe taxpayers will willingly contribute more of their tax dollars to local education.  What a sad era of time we live, when treating people equally under the law seems to be unfair policy.  I propose, ending the wasteful and over bloated county school systems by implementing community schools.  Community schools will be controlled by people in the local community.  Community schools will increase community pride and increase local tax money for Alabama schools by reducing the top-down wasteful bureaucracy of county school systems.
  
In Liberty,

Gene Ponder
Candidate for Lt. Governor of Alabama 2010
www.electgeneponder.com