Post budget blues
For better or worse, the budget is done, and it seems like the only good thing to be said for it is that at least it was done on time and the district has avoided taking the first step down the road to a state takeover. Beyond that, it should now be abundantly clear to everyone that the overarching problem is not $150,000 in legal fees for KALW, or $80,000 for JROTC or even $26,000 more for Ackerman's raise — these are crumbs, and even adding all of the crumbs together does not create a big enough piece of the pie to solve the problem, which is that THE PIE IS TOO SMALL!
Instead of squabbling with each other over why this crumb or that crumb has been apportioned here or there, wouldn't it make more sense to turn our attention to lobbying for a larger pie? Reading budgets is not my strong suit, but clearly there are those on this list who are not only adept at it but relish it. Would anyone be willing to do a close read of the state budget and try to find some money which could be freed up for our classrooms?
This sentiment has been expressed here before, but let me add my voice to the chorus. There are political elements at work in this country whose mission it is to undermine public education — to hand over to private enterprise every aspect of our schools, from curriculum and testing to custodial and food service. The rallying cry of these people is 'There is plenty of money given to public schools — they just need to spend it more wisely!' As we factionalize ourselves into smaller and smaller special interest groups (westside vs eastside, parents of K-12 vs parents of preschoolers, everyone vs the Rooftop families), we play right into their hands. We sound like them, for chrissake, pretending that there is enough money to go around, and that we just have to spend it more wisely. Can we not have the courage to set aside our differences and agree on one single thing — that there is NOT enough money for everything, that the situation has gone way beyond just making "wiser" spending decisions, that there is no "wise" choice between offering a decent preschool to a needy three year old and offering a decent middle school to a needy 12 year old? A week or so ago, our elected officials in Sacramento walked away from an opportunity to challenge the Governor on his broken promises to fully fund education, claiming that they would address that issue "later." I have news for them — "later" is too late for us. Our crisis is happening right now. The time has come for all of us to set aside the kind of political infighting which has us at each others' throats over symbolic crumbs, and join together to demand with one voice that our elected officials fund public education the way it needs to be funded, not with empty talk about "wiser" decisions, or doubletalk about restoring borrowed funding while withholding other funds, or promises to tackle the issue "later." Later is right now, and our kids can't wait.
By Nestwife
Instead of squabbling with each other over why this crumb or that crumb has been apportioned here or there, wouldn't it make more sense to turn our attention to lobbying for a larger pie? Reading budgets is not my strong suit, but clearly there are those on this list who are not only adept at it but relish it. Would anyone be willing to do a close read of the state budget and try to find some money which could be freed up for our classrooms?
This sentiment has been expressed here before, but let me add my voice to the chorus. There are political elements at work in this country whose mission it is to undermine public education — to hand over to private enterprise every aspect of our schools, from curriculum and testing to custodial and food service. The rallying cry of these people is 'There is plenty of money given to public schools — they just need to spend it more wisely!' As we factionalize ourselves into smaller and smaller special interest groups (westside vs eastside, parents of K-12 vs parents of preschoolers, everyone vs the Rooftop families), we play right into their hands. We sound like them, for chrissake, pretending that there is enough money to go around, and that we just have to spend it more wisely. Can we not have the courage to set aside our differences and agree on one single thing — that there is NOT enough money for everything, that the situation has gone way beyond just making "wiser" spending decisions, that there is no "wise" choice between offering a decent preschool to a needy three year old and offering a decent middle school to a needy 12 year old? A week or so ago, our elected officials in Sacramento walked away from an opportunity to challenge the Governor on his broken promises to fully fund education, claiming that they would address that issue "later." I have news for them — "later" is too late for us. Our crisis is happening right now. The time has come for all of us to set aside the kind of political infighting which has us at each others' throats over symbolic crumbs, and join together to demand with one voice that our elected officials fund public education the way it needs to be funded, not with empty talk about "wiser" decisions, or doubletalk about restoring borrowed funding while withholding other funds, or promises to tackle the issue "later." Later is right now, and our kids can't wait.
By Nestwife
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