Falling Short on a Public Education
Budgets balanced
on the backs of
children
by
M arian W right E delman
Once upon a time, America
professed to believe in a strong
public education system. While
we still talk about public education as the
great equalizer that can offer a pathway
out of poverty, the nation is falling far
short in assuring millions of poor chil­
dren, especially those of color, upward
mobility.
As if children and families were not
suffering enough during this economic
downturn, too many states are choosing
to balance budgets on the backs of chil­
dren. They're shifting more costs away
from government onto children and fami­
lies who have fewer means to bear
them. It's shameful.
O f the 46 states that publish data in a
manner allowing historical comparisons,
37 are providing less funding per student
to local school districts this school year
than they provided last year, and 30 are
providing less funding than they
did four years ago.
Seventeen states have cut per-
student funding more than 10
percent from pre-recession lev­
els, and four. South Carolina, Ari­
zona, California, and Hawaii,
have reduced per-student funding for K-
12 schools by more than 20 percent.
Since the G reat Recession began,
Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, M as­
sachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, and
other states have cut funding from early
education programs to help close budget
shortfalls. New Jersey cut funding for
after-school programs. In a 2009 survey
o f California parents, 41 percent re­
ported their child's school was cutting
summer programs.
Cuts limiting student learning time are
likely to intensify.
An American Association of School
Administrators survey reports 17 per­
cent of respondents were considering
shortening the school week to four days,
and 40 percent were considering elim i­
nating summer school programs.
Summer learning loss is a major con­
tributor to the achievement gap between
poor and children and their more affluent
peers. Districts across the country are
beginning to cut extracurricular activi­
ties and to charge fees for supplies like
biology safety goggles or printer ink.
These spending cuts come at a time
when American education is in dire straits.
The United States ranks 24th among
30 developed countries in overall educa­
tional achievement for 15-year-olds. A
study of education systems in 60 coun­
tries ranks the United States 31 st in math
achievement and 23rd in science achieve­
ment for 15-year-olds.
More than 60 percent of all fourth,
eighth, and 12th-grade public school stu­
dents in every racial and income group
are reading or doing math below grade
level. Nearly 80 percent or more of
African-American and Latino students
MONOMI
in these grades are reading or doing math
below grade level.
Children should be getting more qual­
ity instructional time, not less, to prepare
to compete in the rapidly globalizing
economy. Instead they're being held back
and provided fewer school days and
hours by stopgap solutions to budget
problems they didn't cause. Too many
adults seem to lack the moral clarity and
common sense for making decisions about
what to cut and what to invest in.
How can we expect our children to
create a better America if we don't give
them a good education?
C uts being p roposed in W a sh in g ­
ton and in the states and lo c alities
around the co u n try m ay be saving a
few d o lla rs on a b alan ce sheet to ­
day, but to m o rro w they w ill cost us
d early as a nation.
How sh o rtsig h ted we are. W here
are our p rio ritie s? W hat are our v a l­
u es?
Marian Wright Edelman is presi­
dent o f the Children's Defense Fund.
MMft
Race Baiting in the Republican Campaigns
Tactics appeal
to people’s
fears
by
J udge G reg M athis
The 2008 election of
B arack O bam a to the
United States presidency
gave many of us hope that, indeed, Ameri­
can issues of race - and how it relates to
politics - had somewhat diminished.
We knew that we w eren’t yet a ‘post
racial’ society, but we believed that
O bam a’s election marked a giant leap
forward.
Fast forward to 2012: the presidential
race is heating up and Republican candi­
dates are trying to establish ground in a
crowded field. Comments by some of
the presidential hopefuls clearly demon­
strate that, although voters may have
been able to look beyond race, our can­
didates are having a hard time doing the
Jlortlani» Ohbscruer
same.
Republican Presidential candidate
and form er U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum ,
w hile speaking on the cam paign trail
about so-called entitled programs like
M edicaid and food stam ps, co m ­
m ented that he ‘wants to make black
peo p le’s lives better by giving them
som ebody e lse ’s m oney.’ Santorum
stated that he was going to travel to the
NAACP convention to “tell the African-
American community why they should
dem and paychecks instead of food
stam ps.”
Santorum and Gingrich, with their
statements, have put black face on pro­
grams that provide necessary assistance
to the needy. This harkens back to Ronald
Santorum and Gingrich, with their
statements, have put blackface on
programs that provide necessary
assistance to the needy.
,
has backed o ff of those statem ents,
saying he was m isheard. But we know
better.
To add insult to injury, former Speaker
of the House Newt Gingrich recently
Established 1970
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47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
Charles H. Washington
EoiTOR.Michael L eig h to n
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Reagan who, while running for president
in 1976, spoke of the mythical welfare
queen who, in his descriptions, was Af­
rican-American and a drain on society.
Like Reagan, Santorum and Gingrich
are flat out misinformed. The reality is
that the overwhelming majority of en­
titlem ent program beneficiaries are
white. Over 60 percent of welfare re­
cipients are white, 33 percent are black,
and whites receive 34 percent of federal
food assistance while African-Ameri­
cans receive 22 percent.
Far too often, race baiting in political
campaigns has been used as a way to
appeal to the latent racist sentiments of
voters.
By playing off of people’s fears, can­
didates try to grow their popularity and,
hopefully, sweep into office. W e’ve come
too far in society for politics to revert
back to these tactics. While O bam a’s
history-making victory may have shown
how much w e’ve grown, these recent
developments show just how much more
work we have to do.
Judge Mathis is a longtime advo­
cate fo r equal justice. His life story o f
a street youth who rose from jail to
judge has provided hope to millions.
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