The Budget Crisis: Cutting the Fat
Today, we all know that the economy is not what it used to be. The vast majority of us feel the economic strife and cut back when and where we have to in order to sustain our families and lifestyles. The problem is that there is another part of the population: the one that does not feel the economic crunch of today’s society either at all or to a minimal extent. Why is this? The reason is that they are either in the top 10% of the American societal wealth or that they are the ones making budget cuts everywhere but where it hurts them.
One example can be found in the Miami Herald by Fred Grimm. He writes about how some of the legislators use using the budget’s cushion for personal luxuries like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. The article reported one senator, Mike Haridopolos, spent $12,495 in restaurant bills. He did not pay for these visits out of his own pocket, however, he paid for them from the Committee for Florida’s Fiscal Future. Another example that the article shows is how Representative Kendrick Meek racked up $16,207 in his 44 visits to the steak house all of which were funded by his campaign fund expenditure report.
The budget does not have enough money for education but it seems to have enough of a cushion for extra expenditures like the ones above. Here in the sunshine state, along with most of the country, we have problems with our budget and more cuts are expected to be coming. The state budget has a significant portion of it already going to education and therefore the legislatures look at it as something to cut. One article suggested that we raise taxes to fund the failing education system. The problem is that the legislation did not want to raise taxes. The other problem is that the budget seemed to not want to give.
I think that the ways that the school boards and the legislation are dealing with the budget crisis are not in anyone’s best interest except for their own. I understand that the legislation has things to deal with, such as the No Child Left Behind act, which ties their hands even further from helping education in all areas. I also know that there is no easy solution and unless we modify much of what we, as the public, expect from education and “the system” the budget crisis is one that will not go away. We need to trim the fat of our expenses from the budget. If we are going to cut teacher’s salaries, educational funding, the arts, extra curricular activities, counseling, and even closing some school then I think that we need to look at our budget and what makes a school a place for the adolescent to grow into the citizen we expect them to be in today’s society.
Where the legislature is cutting the fat currently does not make a school an educational facility but it makes schools a glorified baby sitting service. Teachers have a hard enough time trying to teach their students when they are under pressure to get “high test scores” and often this is where the No Child Left Behind Act comes into play by pushing out the under achievers and classifying students that normally should not have a label on them. I feel that the education system in our country, if it continues as it has been, will not produce exemplary citizens that can represent our country but rather it will divide our country and divide the people of educated status and non educated status. I believe that our country can not afford that kind of social clash. When the world politics are getting sticky and internal strife rage there is always a catastrophe of some kind lurking.
I feel that we need to stop allowing our representatives to spend our tax money and donations like sand in an hourglass. We need to hold them accountable and use that money to fund what we give it to them for, to better our society and foster our children. Imagine that every senator and representative spends an average of $10,000 at things like restaurants or other unimportant events. That would mean 100 senators so $1,000,000 saved. The 111th Congress had 435members and then that would amount to $4,350,000. While adding these numbers does not amount to the billions that is currently needed in funding for education it is a healthy start. If we also trim the fat other places as well, such as in inflated salaries, we may just find the money to save our children and the future of our country.
What we have to realize today is that we are sacrificing our children’s future for our present. If a student goes to school that has 30+ students in it (even though the class size average is 20…because there are some very small classes on campus), doesn’t get a break from “pure” academia, is expected to excel in this condition, is not provided for emotionally or physically (cuts in physical education, music, art, counseling, and extra and co-curricular activities), has a shortened day and only goes four days a week, and the classroom environment is lacking in quality equipment, then can we expect them to do well and more importantly learn? I strongly feel that the answer is no. This is happening to schools in school districts around the country, not just in lower income communities. It affects our past, present, and future. It is shocking to me to see how the education system have grown and developed in the past 100 years only to come almost full circle because of money. We can change it, if we cut the right fat.
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