Wednesday, July 01, 2009

To the polticians of America! Quit cutting edcation funding!

An open letter to the politicians in America,
I am begging you, and asking that all concerned parents and grandparents out there in America joins me in asking you to STOP cutting the education budgets!

I am wondering when you, politicians, are going to understand that if you cut education funding you are dooming the future of our country!

If you disrespect our kids I hope you plan on living in cardboard boxes when you are OLD, because if they don't get a proper education they can not support you when they grow up and are working!!!!

I am so disgusted with some of the politicians that we have in power right now it isn't even funny!

Most especially in my "home state" of Arizona (home state what a crock, but thats a different post for a different day!)

In Arizona the lovely politicians have chosen to cut $400 million from the education budget. Yes you read that right $400 MILLION!!!

What does that mean for our children?

Class sizes ... Will go up! Right now your child hopefully has a ratio below 24 students to one teacher. With the budget cuts you can expect this to increase. Which means that student behavior will go down, because despite popular thought we do not have eyes in the back of our heads!

Student achievement... Will go down, because there are so many children that need just a few minutes of one on one attention to get certain topics, and it will not be possible with larger class sizes.

Teacher training.... Does not exist. Trust me when I say, you want us to get more education. You as a parent should be concerned that your child's teacher is up to date on all of the latest techniques, theories, and applications that go into teaching your child.

School supervision... There are employees in the schools called paraprofessionals. These are the backbone of any school. Parapros are the eyes and ears in the hallways. Parapros are the extra hands, that a teacher needs. Many times parapros are the ones that give students that need extra time to learn a subject that time.

School supplies... Parents will be asked to provide more and more for their children. Teachers whose pay has been cut for the 5th time in 5 years are not going to be able to provide paper, and pencils for Johnny like they have in the past, they are now struggling to provide for their own families, and can not take care of 24-30 additional children. Schools will not be purchasing the latest and greatest textbooks and supplies (yes I know textbooks are not the in thing, but we all are well aware that parents expect kids to have them!)

Transportation... Their are school districts that now charge for students to ride the bus if you live within 2 miles of the school. I don't know about you but 2 miles is an awful long walk for my kindergartner, so I would either pay it or drive him myself.

Health... One of the things that I have noticed is that schools seem to be cutting the nursing staff. So when a serious illness, injury, allergic reaction, fight, etc happens the teachers and office staff, who are untrained to handle the situation are stuck handling it. In many cases if a trained LPN, or RN was on duty a child's health can be helped. Plus a school nurse can make judgement calls that I as a teacher do not feel confident making, like when a student says they do not feel well, should I call home or not? Add to it, if you do not have a nurse on staff, when a child gets sick, the child has to a lot of the time remain in the classroom, infecting everyone else until the parent can pick them up.

Extracurricular... Sports, after school clubs, even lunchtime clubs and activities are getting the axe. Why? Because the schools can't afford to pay the staff to run the activities. I suppose if you have no family other than your students you can do this without extra pay, but most schools will not allow that to happen, just in case the teacher gets injured or something happens at the activity.

Cleanliness... Janitorial staff loses days, loses hours. So our classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, bathrooms become germ magnets. Which takes us right back to health. Also cut is the money for paper towels, soap, toilet paper, bleach, mops, etc. Who wants their child to not be able to wipe after using the restroom? Or even wash their hands? Not I!

I know that I have friends that homeschool for all of the reasons that I have listed above. But these cuts affect you as well. What happens when because of the economy you have to return work and can not stay at home any longer? Or what happens when the group that you work with in homeschooling who uses resources from your local school district is no longer allowed to use those resources because they are not there? Plus are you really willing to risk the future of our nation on this?

History shows that we need educated people to have a sucessful nation. I am a firm believer in part of the reasons for our economic troubles right now is because of a lack of education, a lack of funding, a lack of caring in the past.

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