In second NC lunchbox bust, grammar and probably funding at risk

A preschool child in North Carolina was busted by the food cops at her school in early February, and the incident became a topic for national discussion. I did a column for Examiner after talking to a staffer in the office of Rep. G. L. Pridgen (R) who is looking into the matter. Now another child's mom has come forward to share her story.

I covered most of the situation in that earlier column but I didn't mention the lunch scandal is caused by greed of sorts. Some funding is tied to the federal guidelines a school must go by when it comes to lunches.

First Lady Michelle Obama's endeavors had an impact; food is a top priority.

The website The Blaze has a copy of a letter posted online. The principal of West Hoke Elementary School sent the letter to parents in an attempt to explain a policy embedded in a bureaucratic program linked to a school's rating.

Bear in mind education is a very big business, not just for the administrative academics who dictate policy, procedures and curricula that would make most any teacher want to pull every hair out of her head. Federal dollars pumped into education benefit food vendors, consultants (channel Bill Ayers), policy wonk think tanks and innumerable other concerns finding green in the ABC sector.

School funding aside, take a close look at the principal's letter. Those school lunches weren't the only thing tossed out the door. Commas, semi-colons and syntax were tossed as well.

The federal government has no business being directly involved in education. I'll repeat something I've said many times here.

Take all the federal money and trim it by at least 30 percent. Block the remainder to the states and put teachers and parents in charge of how it is spent. Remove the bureaucrats and wonks from the process.

It is no one's business what a parent packs in a child's lunchbox as long as the contents are legal and the child is not visibly ill from malnutrition or starvation. Get Big Brother out of the schools. We'll save a fortune and the kids will be the biggest beneficiaries.

We should also discuss whether a food cop has the right to search a child's lunchbox. Last time I looked the Constitution was still there although our president and many members of Congress have overlooked that fact.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Feb. 18, 2012)