Education is important for our local social and economic development. County supervisors and School Board members set the stage that determines whether our schools maintain quality or begin a decline that becomes hard to reverse. Don’t have kids? School quality is one of the biggest factors in real estate values. Good schools attract quality housing construction that adds to the tax base and helps keep taxes low. We need to elect board members who recognize the importance of improving schools. Fluvanna’s recent test scores indicated a strong position at the high school level. But, scores for lower grades were not nearly so positive, in many cases ranking below state averages. This is a clear wake-up call – if corrective action is not taken a downward trend can only follow. The budget for the schools is controlled by the county supervisors. Without economic and financial support, the school board and school administrators are limited in their corrective actions.
Some supervisor candidates seem to have just written off development in Fluvanna County. “Do nothing, invest nothing” is their mantra. But this is a self-fulfilling attitude.
I have spent years as a professional researching companies as investments. One clear lesson is that companies that don’t grow are on the way down. It is less expensive to fix potential problems today when they are small than to have to repair badly broken systems in the future.
So turn out and vote local. The issues are important.
