[cajungirl]

This is interestiing. My daughter lives in Texas in the best school district in the state. They like all of us have had bad times with layoffs etc and the school made a list of cuts they would have to have because of no money. The parents said no way and they volunteer 10 hours per week, most of the parents do it. They teach foreign language, man the library and cafeteria, do teacher aide duty, landscape and clean the grounds on weekends and some clean the bathrooms. It is done with great energy and pride, people who care about their kids and their schools and want the best. You don't hear whining. Men and women leave work to go up there. She is so happy with that school and takes her two year old to volunteer her time. The attitude is amazing and none of them are whining like these housing project people. The entitlement and narcissism of these people is unbelievable. You would expect that from the well to do according to popular sentiment. But the well to do in this case showed why they are successful,,they have pride and obligation and want to contribute. They also give pots of money to the school voluntarily and pay taxes which the great state of Texas robs to give to disadvantaged neighborhood schools. Now I guess I have to say that is okay but it is a situation that makes you wonder how far the govt will go to rob those who work and contribute for those who can't care other than to complain. The people I came from, if they ended up in a public housing project, would be volunteering before the issue came up out of shame and pride and a feeling you give back something. They did that all their lives ,,,where did this sense of entitlement come from. It disgusts me.

[johniegrad]

To me the interesting thing about your daughter's situation is that the taxpayers refused to surrender to the threats about losing services that the schools typical use to blackmail property owners.

This could be a good strategy for defeating attempted tax increases. I'd be willing to bet that the volunteers do a better job in half the time than the government employees did. Also, since their time is free taxes don't have to be raised.

Two impediments to implementing this as a grass roots strategy come to mind. First, it may be difficult to mobilize enough energy to do this except for tightly knit communities such as your daughters. Secondly, at some point along the line, AFSCME or some union will claim unfair labor practices for using volunteer labor which eliminates jobs.

Good post. I hope this idea catches on.

[netmilsmom]

That's why I love Texas. I will move there when they break away after Hitlary become pres of the other 48. I suspect Alaska will be smart too and become it's own country.

[Texan5]

It comes from being a second generation welfare recipient. These people are so stupid they don't even know that the "free" breakfast and lunch their kids get at public school every day is paid for by the property taxes extorted from those of who work. They are hopelessly ignorant, in my opinion.

[CIB-173RDABN]

The parents said no way and they volunteer 10 hours per week..

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The union workers in California do not allow parents to volunteer to do maintenance work. They would rather have no maintenance done (lack of money) then allow "non-union" workers do the work.

I would suspect this would be true in any heavly Democratic state.