The choice: Fund schools today, or prisons and welfare tomorrow

[flashl]

Gregory Jordan-Detamore and Khalif Dobsonare Philadelphia Student Union members

As Philadelphia public high school students, we experience firsthand the effects of inadequate school funding.

At Masterman High School, for example, one of the best schools in the city, most classes have about 33 students. There is such a shortage of space that classes are held in the lunchroom and library.

From time to time, teachers cannot give students handouts because the photocopy machines don't work or there is a paper shortage.

The school has problems keeping new teachers. There are no sports facilities other than a gym and a roof, and science "labs" are merely tables with utility hookups.

Conditions are worse at other schools. At West Philadelphia High, classrooms are packed and taught by teachers who haven't been adequately prepared for such large classes.

Classes are not preparing students for higher education or the technical workplace. Fights occur almost daily, and counselors are few. There are a limited number of books to work out of, and none to take home.

More funding would help reduce class sizes, instead of classrooms filled with 33 or more students. Teachers would prefer to teach at a school that gives them more resources and allows them more options in the way they teach, not a school that lacks basic materials.

...

If we really care about ourselves, our children, and our communities, then we must fight for adequate school funding now. We are going to pay one way or the other. Would you rather pay for more prison beds and welfare checks, or better schools that create better communities?

Philadelphia Inquirer

[But....]

1. The most pressing issue we have...

working on any other problems(except impeachment) starts with education.

[Rue]

2. But doing this would require that we think beyond the present!

That would make our heads hurt and end our society! :sarcasm:

Seriously, education is the basis of a decent life. Kicked and recommended.

[OneBlueSky]

3. the other side of the issue is evident in my local school district . . .

where two giant energy companies challenged their assessments for the past fifteen or twenty years and won their cases . . . not only did the district and the two towns involved have to repay the overages (plus interest, no less), they also lost the tax income from the greatly reduced assessments on the power plants in question, resulting in huge property tax increases over the past couple of years . . .

and they aren't done yet . . . one coal-burning plant was ordered to either upgrade their pollution control technology or shut down -- so they chose to shut down . . . they started dismantling the plant about two weeks ago, and next year's property tax bills are going to have to make up for the $11 million loss of the taxes the energy company won't be paying . . . and after all that's happened in the past two or three years, there is no way that homeowners can absorb this kind of increase . . . the school district is going to have to resign itself to fewer teachers, higher student/teacher ratios, fewer administrators and support staff, and curtailed transportation and extracurricular activities . . . nobody wants any of this, but we've run out of options . . .

while the community has been historically generous in supporting its schools, it's not gotten to the point that people are losing their homes because they can no longer afford the taxes . . . and an $11 million hit on top of what's already happened will be the straw that breaks the camel's back . . . the school district actually CUT taxes 3% this year in anticipation of the draconian steps they're going to have to take next year . . . if the state (New York) doesn't come through with some serious compensatory funding, what has been a pretty good school district is going to suffer immensely as homeowners are forced to vote down the proposed budget that will no doubt raise their taxes anywhere from 25% to 50% -- on top of the huge increases they've already endured . . .

[Faux pas]

4. I've been saying that since 1987, the same time I went to work

for the Calif Dept of Corrections. Retired now, and still don't understand the 'logic' of cutting funds for education. Eventually the state did wise up some what, mandatory schooling for inmates who tested below 8th grade level in reading and math.