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Adding to the tax burden are a range of state mandates passed in the 1980s, when General Assembly education budgets were growing year after year.
“Our school systems are a great deal different than they used to be, we’re required to do so much more,” she said.
“I really think the public school systems are doing a good job with special education, and we always need to do more with gifted and talented. . . . [But] I sometimes think our average child gets lost in the shuffle,” she said.
The PRIDE survey
Mrs. Massie said results of the PRIDE survey, which measured levels of substance abuse among all county public school students, were an eye-opener.
“Yes, I was [surprised]. Well, I’ll qualify that. When you look at what’s going on in the whole area, you see there’s going to be fall-out,” she said.
Student consumption of alcohol and cigarettes was not news to Mrs. Massie, she said. “I’m concerned certainly about the cocaine, the uppers and downers. It takes a lot of money for these other drugs, and I’m concerned about where that money’s coming from,” she said.
Fighting the problem should be done on several levels, she said: “You can have programs, such as
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