Current Moral & Civic Concerns

On January 31st I, along with other pastors and members of the Faith Based Community in Troup County, attended a meeting with Dr. Cole Pugh, Superintendent of Schools for the Troup County School System.

In this meeting, Dr. Pugh, spoke with us regarding his assessment of the financial dilemma facing the Troup County School System.  According to him, this financial dilemma, which he asserts is caused by a reduction in funding from the State of Georgia, is forcing the Board of Education to consider taking some rather drastic austerity measures, such as eliminating art and music programs in our elementary schools, shortening the school year, consolidating campuses, (closing old schools and building new ones) limiting salary increases, laying off employees, forcing employees to take unpaid days off, and more.  None of which are desirable options.

While it is not the mission of the Troup Baptist Association to try and dictate to the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools what they should and should not do in this matter, and we have no official position regarding this matter, it is our mission to encourage our churches, pastors, and members to become involved in the decision making process regarding this matter.  To that end, I have posted the contact information for the Superintendent of Schools and members of the Board of Education on the association web site.  (Click HERE for Contact Information for Our Local, State, & National Officials.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find the current members of the Board of Education.)  I encourage you to engage in this process by contacting your representative on the Board of Education and familiarizing yourself with this situation.  I also encourage you to encourage those in your church to do the same.  Rest assured, whatever decision they make will have a profound impact upon all citizens of Troup County.

The Superintendent has set-up an e-mail address for questions and recommendations concerning budgeting and facility planning.  I encourage you to both use and publicize this address.  It is: budgetquestions@troup.org    Also, the Board of Education web site contains some detailed information regarding this issue:  www.troup.org

Finally, I encourage you to pray for the Superintendent and the Board of Education as they consider the decisions they must make.

Brother Aaron.