Shame on me. That's right -- shame on me. Shame on all you parents, too, who own homes here and have kids going to school in Beaufort County -- and shame on the rest of us primary homeowners in South Carolina.

Not one of us pays a dime from our primary home property taxes toward our school operating budget. We want something for nothing. We want the people who live outside of South Carolina and South Carolina business owners to pay for our children's school operating budget.

Does anyone really believe this policy of passing off the cost of our children's education to out-of-state, part-time residents and business owners is really sustainable? The Beaufort County Board of Education wants iPads and laptops in our classrooms, but as primary homeowners you are not willing to shoulder any of the cost.

In 2006, a provision in a state bill (I'm told it was snuck into the bill) shifted the burden of the school operating budget from primary homeowners to secondary homeowners and business owners. As a result, primary homeowners' property taxes have been cut in half, while everyone else's taxes have gone up dramatically.

Change seems to be a fashionable word in our society these days. Why don't we change this totally inequitable taxation provision and create a fairer property tax system by having the people who actually use the school system pay for it.

Charlie Reed

Hilton Head Island