Everyone claims that education in a top priority for them. But they are not telling the truth. I will admit that as a teacher I am a bit biased, but the facts are there for everyone to see. My own school district has a budget cut of about 20 million dollars for next year, our Superintendent has called this "catastrophic."
This budget cut will lead to job losses across the country and a lowering of the level of education that our students are receiving. At a time when our students need to compete with students from other countries in a global arena we are going backwards. These cuts are going to take assistants out of classrooms where they are needed to reinforce the reading skills of students who are already reading below grade level. They will cut back on music, art, P.E. and computer classes that studies have shown that our students need. This will also cut out A.P and other college prep classes that our high schools have provided students to help them succeed. The school districts will also not be able to buy the technology we need to keep our students competitive with those in Asia and Europe.
The budget cuts will cut teaching positions as well. This will up class sizes even after studies and common sense tells us that smaller class sizes equals more success for our students. Pay cuts for teachers may also happen which will discourage good teachers and future good teachers from staying or getting into the profession.
Today I watched Meet the Press on NBC and Republican from Ohio, Rep. John Boehner was the guest. He was talking about Pres. Obama's plan that includes 165 million dollars for education. He stated that giving that amount of money to education would not help the economy. I took this to mean that right now education is not this man's priority which is sad. But what really made me angry was that he had voted for the Wall Street bailout plan that gave BILLIONS to investment firms on Wall Street with no checks placed on it. These CEOs still spent millions on offices and end of the year bonuses. Bonuses? To people working in companies that were failing? How is this helping our country at all? Where was John Boehner when this was going on? And now he is against Obama's plan that gives so little to education compared to what our government gave to Wall Street.
Many of our government officials had a stake in the same Wall Street companies that were failing so I understand that bailout, even if I don't like it. But to have no one watching where that money went is ridiculous. I get $100 a year to spend on supplies and I better have all my receipts ready for proof of where that money went. That these companies got billions with less stringent responsibility is laughable (or "cry"able.)
Our education system needs the funding from our government to be successful. School districts are not a "for profit" group. They rely on our government officials to realize how important education is to the future of our country - the economy included.
