Bedford Primary School has been a staple of the community for many years. Its severs the county school system by taking in the youngest of our communities children. Many factors are driving this choice but the main force is money or a lack of it.
Shirking budgets from the state and federal government are a result of a down economy but also from the disdain elected officials feel towards education and social needs. A massive attempt is being made across our nation to reduce education costs and to get rid of the National Education Association.Reduced funding impacts students at all levels, not just the schools on the chopping blocks, all of our schools will be faced with large class sizes, reduced funding for sports, less or no arts, less teachers.
Lets face it, nobody wants to pay more taxes, but costs of books, fuel, supplies, the growing amount of students, and the cost of living is going up. We as a community, a state, a nation need to think about what is important to us. If we want our children to have a bright future we need to fund their education now. For our children, there is no redo or going back.
It has been said many times “pay now or pay later!” and some people feel this pertains to our current national debt. What is the cost associated with not giving our children a good education. Uneducated people make poor choices, this will lead us to higher crime rates, needing more prisons, teen pregnancy, and higher unemployment. We can pay to educate children now or pay for jail, Medicaid, food stamps……. later.
What to do? Call you elected officials at all levels. Let them know education is important and worth funding. Ask them to return funding to prior levels and to seriously consider raising funding above the prior levels.Lets make them work for us. In order to get their attention, we need to contact them in numbers. We need to stand together to let them know WE CARE! Our next School Board Meeting is in March.
Here is a list of local and state elected officials for Bedford.
State Representative
General Assembly Building
P.O. Box 406
Richmond, Virginia 23218
Phone: (804) 698-1019
Fax: (804) 698-6719
Email: DelLPutney@house.virginia.gov
Room Number: 947
Legislative Assistant: Betty Lou Layne
Secretary During Session: Betty Peaco
State Representative and Senator
http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform
This is the link on the state website that will give you the opportunity to type in your address and email our Rep (Lacy Putney) and our Senator (Steve Newman)
Bedford County Board of Supervisors
http://www.bedford.k12.va.us/supervisors/supervisors.htm
Bedford County School Board
http://www.bedford.k12.va.us/school_board/school_board.htm
