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© 1998 The Auburn Plainsman |
Election nears; education bids lack substance
Candidates are constantly stressing the value of the education vote - some of them are even trying to buy it. Some media outlets and their polls around the state predicted education would be the hot topic of the 1998 election. Some candidates scoffed. They were wrong. Don Siegelman knew education was an issue, so he tried to make it the issue with his "education lottery" proposal which he says will fund a massive scholarship plan paving the way for Alabama students everywhere to receive college degrees. Gov. Fob James countered with Alabama Scholars, a remake of an earlier proposal using "savings" from the higher education budget and the Special Education Trust Fund to pay for a scholarship plan similar to Siegelman's. Both candidates talk the talk, but neither will walk the walk. Siegelman and James are playing a game of dodge ball. They dodge the issues. They dodge the questions. The gentlemen from Montgomery can't explain the specifics of their programs. Siegelman still doesn't know how much money a lottery will generate. Nor does he know if students already in college will benefit if a lottery amendment passes. Meanwhile, James can't even tell voters how he will pay for his. Honestly, if there was enough money in Montgomery to send all "good students" to school, Fob and the Legislature would have done it a long time ago. The issue of this election has become how to get more people mediocre educations when the issue should have been how to make the educations Alabamians are receiving better. Neither James' nor Siegelman's scholarship proposals address the true perils of higher education: duplication and poor funding. They do not talk of improving the quality of our institutions through elimination of futile, duplicate programs, and they certainly do not talk of closing schools. They won't even acknowledge the current political structure preventing any Alabama school from ever being closed. Instead, they fill the airwaves with ambition-backed promises in hopes of a four-year stay in the Governor's Mansion. Neither James nor Siegelman call attention to the increase in enrollment our friends in Georgia have experienced since the inception of the HOPE Scholarship Program. It should be easy to understand, gentlemen. An increase in opportunity for education will mean an increase in statewide enrollment, which will in turn drive up the state's higher education costs. Where will that money come from? Neither candidate will tell you, because they don't know. This educational grandstanding has succeeded in most arenas. The state is buzzing with lottery talk. Auburn's campus is buzzing with the vote-against-Fob-because-he-screwed-us talk. Many corners of the state echo "Vote for Don, he'll save us" talk. They're all wrong. This election is not about a lottery. A lottery is quick fix. This state and its higher education system have problem which transcend any quick fix. This election is not about punishing Fob. Fob James may have pushed for higher education cuts, but Lt. Gov. Don Siegelman let the same budget pass across his desk and through his Senate, and he uttered not one sound. This election is not about Don the Savior. Just as Fob James is not our only problem, Don Siegelman is not an absolute solution. This election is about what is best for Alabama, its citizens, its educational institutions and its future. There is no quick fix, and when I look at a ballot on Nov. 3 and read the names of Don Siegelman and Fob James, I will come to the sad conclusion that this election offers no fix at all. |
