Kids in a Tennessee county have a long break from school and can thank President Obama for that.
First its state ObamaCare co-op shuts down and now a struggling school district in northern Tennessee has closed all three of its schools thanks to the costs imposed by President’s healthcare legacy.
Officials from Clay County, a small, rural school district, say that they are unable to raise the funds to comply with the onslaught of government mandates, but the un-Affordable Care Act was the straw that broke their back.
The budget is $9.5 million and there are around 100 students in the school district.
Last year, the school board passed a plan to cover all school employees with health insurance in compliance with ObamaCare. When new property tax revenue proposals were defeated, the school board voted to cancel classes. The county has apparently been struggling for a few years, but will completely be in the red in coming weeks with no new source of income.
School officials are meeting with local officials to figure out what can be done, and they hope this will be a brief respite for students with classes resuming in November. Until then, the kids will be at home. I can’t imagine what parents are thinking and how they will scramble to provide childcare and supervision for the next three weeks – or longer.
The Tennessean reports:
Clay County Director of Schools Jerry Strong said the school board made the decision Thursday night after struggling with budget concerns for three years…
"Clay County's inability to generate the revenue to offset the mandates is what's caused this to come to a head," he said. "The straw that broke the camel's back was really the Affordable Care Act for us and it has made it very difficult for us to have our employees properly covered and meet the mandates of the law. That was going to require new revenue and the commission felt like they couldn't do that through a tax increase."
Strong said the county commission, which funds the schools, has declined to increase property taxes and a proposed wheel tax referendum vote won't take place until March.
…
County Commissioner Parrish Wright contends that the district does have enough funding to get through the end of the school year and officials could take up the issue later if the tax referendum doesn't pass.
Strangely, ObamaCare got no airtime in the recent Democratic debate, yet Americans are struggling with how to deal with its rippling impacts. It’s not the done deal that the President and his proponents suggest.
Spiking premiums, Americans with and without ObamaCare losing their healthcare coverage, and municipalities buckling under the weight of added regulatory burdens and costs are just a handful of the “benefits” afforded us by the un-Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, we’re more likely to see more stories like this in the future.