Dear Rep. Saine,

When you as a lawmaker were elected to office in North Carolina, you took a vow to uphold the state constitution no matter what area you represented. While the interests of any lawmaker’s constituents are of vital importance, it could be argued that the entire state is actually the represented area of any lawmaker. Any policy, law, or act passed will have an effect on all North Carolinians.

One of the most sacred components of the NC state constitution is the edict that the state will provide a quality public education for all students and will fully fund the schools that educate those students. If a lawmaker is beholden to supporting the state constitution and helping make public schools viable for all students, then it is almost as if each lawmaker is a de facto board member for each public school in the state.

That means you should be an advocate for all traditional public schools which is why it seems that having a state representative such as you serve as a board member for West Lake Prep Charter School and helping guide its application process seems a little more than contradictory to the very job you were elected to do.

In fact, you even created the private foundation that started the application.

According to a report from The Lincoln Times on Dec. 6, 2016, by Michelle Bernard “Another charter school proposed for Lincoln County”,

“An application for a new charter school was filed by Aaron Hoegle of Denver with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Office of Charter Schools.

West Lake Preparatory Academy would be located in eastern Lincoln County and would operate under the nonprofit Lincoln Charter Education Foundation, in partnership with the “education management organization” Charter Schools USA (CSUSA), which manages charter schools in seven states. The Lincoln Charter Education Foundation, according to the application, was initially created by state Rep. Jason Saine and former county commissioner Tom Anderson, who will each serve on the school’s board. The application says a waitlist of more than 1,000 students at Lincoln Charter School, the only charter school currently operating in Lincoln County, led Saine to create the foundation. Hoegle is listed as the foundation’s president, Anderson as its vice president and Saine as its treasurer. Preston Curtis, the son of state Sen. David Curtis, is listed as the board’s secretary. Former Lincoln County educator Glenda Walker and attorney Mathias Hunnoval round out the board’s membership” (http://www.lincolntimesnews.com/2016/12/06/another-charter-school-proposed-lincoln-county/).

If there is a waiting list of 1000 students in a rural county for a charter school, then what has not been done to help the very public schools that already service these students? Why is there a need to have a private company like Charter Schools USA come in a take state money to “manage” a school that will threaten the vitality of the very public schools that you are sworn to protect and uphold?

Why create another situation where some (NOT ALL) students get to go to a state-of-the art school based on a lottery system when you could take that money being used to pay CSUSA and reinvest it in schools that serve ALL Lincoln County students. As the “5^th Most Effective Member of the State House” (www.jasonsaine.com), you could actually make all public schools more effective by acting as a true servant and being an advocate for all NC students.

Maybe a better question might be “Would you stand up in front of the State School Board and fight for funds for all Lincoln County Schools the way that you stood in front of the Charter School Advisory Board on December 8^th to ‘fight’ for West Lake?”

Granted, you may respond with the argument for school choice and that there should be competition like there is in the free market. But when should a state service be based on competition when it is supposedly guaranteed by the state constitution? To say that competition is good for schools and that students would benefit from that choice is a loaded proposition as traditional schools are not allowed to even operate in such a way as charter schools are. Besides, traditional public schools accept all students. Charter schools do not. Yet, fully fund those traditional schools with resources and they sure can be competitive.

You may say that the public school system is failing the students and that charter schools are a viable solution. Yet, public schools provide a great reflection of a society and how it prioritizes education. When our schools are told that they are failing, those with the power to affect change are really the ones who deserve the failing grades. And as your website states, you are supposedly effective and can affect change.

You may say that you are honoring the parents who believe that tax monies allotted to their children should be spent in ways that best “educate” their children. But are not the tax monies we use to educate children really intended for the support of a viable public education system for those children? The state does not simply invest in children; it invests in a system that allows for children to be educated. As a sage old friend, mentor, and master teacher once stated, “Public education, despite the appalling trends of the past couple of decades, is a sacred trust the efficacy of which will assure that a participatory, representative democracy will thrive…or wilt. The best interests of all of us are well served by a sound public school system.”

He’s absolutely correct.

And money should not be an issue when it comes to funding our public schools, at least according to some of your actions and words. You made a lot of news in 2015 when you spent nearly $20,000 of campaign money on clothes. An August 10th, 2015 report by Jim Morrill (“Rep. Jason Saine defends $19,000 clothing buy“) stated,

“N.C. Rep. Jason Saine on Monday defended spending more than $19,000 in campaign money on clothes, including some from a custom tailor in Charlotte.

Saine, a Lincolnton Republican, cited the spending on his most recent campaign report. It was first reported on The Daily Haymaker, a conservative website.

Saine spent $17,908 on clothes from Tom James Co., which bills itself as “the world’s largest manufacturer of custom clothing.”

That’s over half the salary of many of the teachers I work with even after those “historic” raises.

Yet it is a quote by you in that report that really frames the need for fully funding the schools that we already have. You said,

“I get the sticker shock. But it’s part of the cost of doing the business that I’m in.”

Well, you are supposed to be in the business of supporting all of our public schools. So, instead of heading up private concerns to take public monies, why don’t you just be effective and fully fund the schools we already have for all students despite what you may think is sticker shock.

That’s the cost of doing the business of what the state is obliged to do.