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Sunday, November 22, 2009

COLUMN - Politicians should examine their own motives in school funding battle - Holland, MI - The Holland Sentinel


COLUMN - Politicians should examine their own motives in school funding battle - Holland, MI - The Holland Sentinel:

"Lansing, MI — I have a vivid memory of my beautiful granddaughter, Lucy, standing in front of a mirror just after she turned two:

“No,” she said. “No, no, no, no.”

Pause.

Then, “No, no, no, no, no.”

“Just practicing for the terrible twos,” said my wife.

She was right, of course. If there’s something 2-year-olds are really good at, it’s saying “no” over and over and over again.

All this came to mind when I reflected on the continuing quarrel between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop over school funding. Alert readers will remember that in order to plug the state budget deficit — which was almost $3 billion — the Legislature first cut school spending. Then the governor cut it some more, saying the money just wasn’t there."