Poverty Underlies Education System’s Shortcomings
Here’s a letter to the editor in The Hill by Diann Woodard, president of the School Administrators (AFSA), the only national education union representing principals, assistant principals and school administrators.
The failure of our education system lies not within the walls of the public schools that serve children in crisis, but with the policymakers and policies in place that ignore the fundamental causes of low student achievement: unfair funding formulas, poverty and unproven education policies (“For America’s children, education outlook grows only dimmer,” Jan. 23, by Juan Williams).
Families are increasingly falling into poverty, experiencing a lack of housing and unable to provide adequate health care and nutrition for their children. These children need increased services, yet often do not receive them because of budget cuts, bureaucratic hurdles and gross inequities in state and local funding formulas.
Public schools welcome these children, for our doors are open to all. We do not hand-select the brightest, the ones with involved parents, or the students who will make us look good on half-hour media specials. Their time at school might provide their only stable environment, and we provide it with only a fraction of resources afforded to more affluent districts and private schools.
Dangerous Balanced Budget Amendment Fails in House
The U.S. House this afternoon voted down, by a 261-165 vote, a balanced budget amendment that its supporters hoped would impose sweeping and permanent austerity upon the United States with massive budget cuts. It needed a two-thirds majority to pass. Click here for more from Think Progress and here for our recent coverage.
Join Faith leaders for Court Steps Pray-In
In July, 11 religious leaders were arrested for holding “pray-in” in the Capitol Rotunda protesting federal budget cuts and calling on Congress to pass a budget to meet the needs of the poor, unemployed, children, seniors and others threatened by the cuts.
On Tues., Oct. 11, they will gather again shortly before they are due in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., to answer the charges. The faith leaders and other activists will meet at 8 a.m. on the steps of the court building at 500 Indiana Ave. N.W., and hold a brief prayer service before entering the court.
Several Republicans backing the budget cuts claimed that the poor and others wouldn’t be effected because religious groups would pick up the slack. Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy of Interfaith Alliance told Politico that notion was “sheer fantasy.”
I’ve heard some say, for example, that all of these cuts can be compensated as the religious community picks up the weight and needs. That is sheer fantasy. We are already carrying a huge burden of helping people who need help and it’s time for government to step up.
Extreme Political Agenda, Not Jobs, Behind Budget Cuts Across Country
Andy Richards on our Field Communications staff highlights the anti-jobs agenda of Republican state and national lawmakers.
Earlier this year, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels sat down with NPR. During the interview, he was asked whether he thought pushing a partisan political agenda that includes deep budget cuts were worth it even if it cost a lot of jobs. He empathetically answered, “Yes.” This zeal for moving extreme partisan policies at all costs has taken hold across the country with anti-working family governors and their political allies. These lawmakers ran on promises of creating jobs but instead are leaving behind massive job loss after passing ideologically-driven budgets with cuts to education, health care and other vital services that hurt working families and local communities.
Take for example Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and Michigan. Reports show that the punishing budget cuts and partisan agenda of Govs. Scott Walker, John Kasich, Rick Scott and Rick Snyder could cost more than 100,000 jobs. Here are the numbers, state-by-state:
- More than 21,000 jobs are likely to be lost because of Gov. Walker’s budget, according to a UW-Madison economist study.
- Innovation Ohio estimates Gov. Kasich’s budget will cause the loss of more than 51,000 jobs.
- Gov. Scott’s budget would cost well over 14,000 jobs, according to estimates from the St. Peterburg Times.
- A report released in Michigan last week shows that nearly 15,000 education jobs because of Gov. Snyder’s budget cuts.
Add the 28,000 jobs lost from the refusal of Walker, Kasich and Scott to build high-speed rail in their states to that total and you are well above 100,000.
But these four states are not the only ones facing expected job loss from painful political choices from of extreme legislators. Read the rest of this entry »
EPI Refutes Budget Cutters’ ‘We’re Broke’ Claim
It goes like this—“We’re going broke we can’t afford it.” It’s almost a mantra from the crowd of lawmakers and policy “experts” who are loudly and continually claiming the nation must make drastic cuts in family-help government programs; cut wages, pension and health care for public-sector workers and who also suggest working families should be satisfied with three decades of stagnant wages.
That’s just not true, writes Economic Policy Institute (EPI) President Larry Mishel, in a new briefing paper, We’re Not Broke, Nor Will We Be.
Nevertheless, while these claims have little in the way of truth, politicians and pundits have successfully used them to promote budget cutbacks and the notion that employers cannot afford decent pay and benefits.
The paper shows the economy has seen steady growth in income and wealth over the past 30 years and will see similar growth in the next 30 years. The caveat is the middle class hasn’t seen much benefit from that growth. Since 1979, the top 10 percent of households have received almost two-third of all the income gains, with the top 1 percent claiming 38.7 percent. Read the rest of this entry »
California Students Rise Up Against Massive Education Cuts
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Californians by the tens of thousands spoke as one yesterday demanding the primacy of public education in the state’s budget. Up and down the state, students held scores of demonstrations, rallies, marches and teach-ins at governmental centers, universities, community colleges, high schools and elementary schools.
The actions come as the 2010-2011 budget process looms and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after promising in January to increase education funding, instead cut $2.5 billion from education in his budget proposal.
In Sacramento, several thousand students, teachers and workers rallied on the steps of the Capitol building, spilling out over the grassy mall. They demanded state legislators and the governor fully fund public education and make it affordable and accessible to all.
State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D) and Assembly Speaker Manuel Perez (D), as well as several other legislators, pledged support for funding education. Assembly member Alberto Torrico (D) made a pitch for support of his bill that would create a 12.5 percent tax on oil extracted in the state to raise $2 billion a year for public education. He noted that California is the only state in the nation that doesn’t charge such a fee and that oil companies shouldn’t be getting off the hook while education suffers.
Cities Cut Fire Services, Risk Lives
There’s no dispute that economically strapped cities are facing large and difficult budget shortfalls. But when municipalities try to close the budget gap by shuttering firehouses and laying off firefighters, they are “playing Russian roulette,” says Fire Fighters (IAFF) President Harold Schaitberger.
Whatever you do that results in increasing response, you are absolutely playing Russian roulette.
The union is working with Congress to provide cities with some financial help to protect public safety jobs.
According to a recent USA Today story, the layoff of 22 firefighters and reduction of operations at two Flint, Mich., fire stations may have played a role in a fatal April house fire.
