Mr. Grant Lattin, Occoquan School Board Representative has resigned just 4 months after being reelected to the Prince William county School Board.   What a loss.  Mr. Lattin was a voice of reason and moderation on the board.  According to the Washington Post:

Lattin, a father of nine, said in a telephone interview that having a full-time work load in the District overseeing U.S. Navy lawyers and then rushing home to deal with School Board activities came “at the expense of my family.”

After almost nine years on the board, Lattin said, it was “time to adjust my priorities and spend some more time with my family.”

“We’ve kept the cost of public education at a manageable rate while at the same time providing a high-quality education,” Lattin said of his tenure. At the same time, he said, the school system’s budget situation is troublesome, and more funds are needed.

I expect that at some point, school board members grow weary of dealing with jerks.  Mr. Lattin  deserves a much needed rest from it all.  PWC doesn’t have enough money to operate a Nothern Virginia school system.  Having the lowest per-pupil spending is nothing to brag about. 

Prince William County has a problem.  Every time it pulls itself out of the cow pasture, the BOCS does does something to make sure it lands right back in the middle of the cow pie.  PWC prides itself on  operating on the cheap.  You can’t run a school system on the cheap.   All the slogans in the world aren’t going to make PWC Schools provide a  World Class education with over 30 students in a classroom and the most underpaid teachers in Northern Virginia. 

Unfortunately, this Board of Supervisors, like many who have gone before it, wants to get reelected on saving the tax payers a few bucks.  Rather than adding the couple of cents to the tax rate needed for schools, it cheaps and struts around like a barnyard rooster who is missing a few tail plumes, bragging and blowing about keeping taxes low.  Honest dialogue is needed.  There is an old expression about chicken salad….the BOCS needs to learn it real fast. 

Meanwhile, thank you for your 9 years of service, Mr. Lattin.  You deserve a break.  Enjoy your family.

19 Thoughts to “Grant Lattin, Occoquan School Board Representative, resigns”

  1. marinm

    “Unfortunately, this Board of Supervisors, like many who have gone before it, wants to get reelected on saving the tax payers a few bucks.”

    I dont’ remember the last time my tax bill went down due to the county spending less..? Am I in error?

    1. Is that a cause/effect question?

      Your tax bill went down in 2009 because your real estate assessment crashed.

  2. marinm

    Revenues decreased. Spending did not if I recall?

    Ok, let me clarify.

    When have the barnyard rooter(s) [your words] been successful and lowered spending and shown a return to the taxpayers?

    1. I don’t know what you mean by “spending.” Did they pay the cops less? NO. I know they sure cinched in the budget’s waist line though.

      Spending means nothing. If you need a 500 person police department, then that is what you need. You don’t let parks fall into ill repair and you don’t throw seniors with alzheimers to the wolves. yes, wait, that IS what they did.

    2. @marin, I will take care of those barnyard roosters right away. No point in having neutered roosters running around. What kind of return do you want to see returned to the taxpayers? Let’s talk specifics rather than just teapartyese.

  3. Watching

    As the county grows overall spending will increase. The county grew in population over the last decade and continues to grow. What needs to be looked at is the spending per capita. I believe it has held fairly steady over the past fews years but I could be incorrect. Per student spending has not increased at all on average or has gone down. Maybe someone can dig up the numbers. With regard to schools, both Fairfax and Loudoun spend much more per student and that spending is reflected on the number of top high schools they have on the recent list of top high schools in the nation.

    Higher end housing must be supported by a highly ranked school system. Prince William County has many higher end homes but won’t much longer if the school system continues to be overstretched.

  4. Watching

    http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/budget/Documents/10366.pdf

    Page 130 has spending per capita adjusted for inflation. I think everyone should all be on the same page with regard to facts.

  5. @Watching

    I should have put quotes around “spending.” “Spending” has become a teaparty buzz word that I am not going to play along with.

  6. Watching, Not sure where you wanted us to look. Please spell it out.

  7. Watching

    @moonhowling If you click on the above link it goes to a county budget document that has county spending per person from 1992-2010. The link brings up a pdf that shows per capita spending on page 130. Adjusted for inflation county spending has actually gone down. I just don’t believe the county has out of control spending. “Tea Party” people tend to think differently and I am not sure what they base their evaluation of “spending” on. I would rather evaluate the numbers………

    1. Thanks for the clarification, Watching. Budgets and I often don’t get along because I don’t know budget vocabulary.

      I think you are correct about “spending.” I guess I just bristled over the word because it is used as a loaded word by some. I know the county sure tightened its belt after the crash. Employees went for several years without a raise and they often doubled up and did the work of 2 people.

  8. @marinm

    I thought you meant I had misspelled roosters. Wouldn’t be the first time. I checked and the roosters are in order. So…what is it? I give.

  9. marinm

    @Moon-howler

    Nope, just pointing out that for all the clucking and cooing of the roosters the only time taxes have gone down is when the economy tanked. I don’t have a supervisor to thank for a lower tax bill.

    To Watching’s point about the budget and actual vs. adjusted. Keep in mind my income doesn’t get ‘adjusted’. I along with those on fixed incomes don’t get any “adjustment”. We pay actual funds. This reminds of this:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/former-goldmanite-and-head-new-york-fed-several-career-risk-free-restless-natives-let-them-e

    Here’s another interesting one, fwiw.

    http://www.esquire.com/features/portfolio/inflation-2011-prediction-0511

  10. On the other hand, you have schools, roads, libraries, snow removal and other ammenities that people in more rural areas do not have.

  11. Watching

    @marinm

    @marinm

    Thanks for the links, that first article with the Fed guy shows just how much of a bozo someone can be.

    I found the second article completely alarmist though. It was written in April 2011 and was wrong. The price of a barrel of oil has fallen to a current $91 and inflation has dropped to an annualized rate of 2.3%. The sky is not falling. It reminds me of what I call the FNE, Fox News Effect, where a whole generation of people are sitting around watching Fox News getting scared out of their minds. it is a shame to live in fear all the time. Ironically, that generation holds a majority of wealth in our nation but you would never know it.

    http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/

  12. marinm

    @Watching

    I bet the author was a gold bug. 🙂

    In reply to post 14 (my iPad is not cooperating in copying)

    The comparison on the thread was for NVA. If you compare rurals they have schools, and sidewalks, and roads and such with a smaller tax payout. Sometimes those communities do more with less. Maybe that’s a good example of what we should be doing…

  13. marinm

    FWIW and to not appear insensitive. Thank you Mr. Lattin for your service.

  14. Fair Play

    Grant Lattin was a voice for “reason and moderation on the board?” Many would disagree, saying instead that Grant Lattin was a voice that was consistently rude and disrespectful to parents and teachers. His recent public comment telling teachers if “you don’t like what it is (next year’s contract), you can go someplace else” is just one example and may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, forcing his resignation.

    1. I can’t imagine why his resignation would be forced. he was just reelected.

      Under what circumstances did he tell the teacher to go elsewhere? I can’t imagine him saying that. It sounds more like Chris Chistie.

      I did feel he was a voice of reason and moderation on the board. I can’t recall hearing him talk rudely but I also haven’t listened to every single school board meeting tape either.

      Did I forget to say welcome, Fair Play.

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