Furlough Days Are Driving Me Mad
Schools are closed today in San Francisco.
Its not a holiday. Its another furlough day for students inthe cityspublic schools — one of four this year — in response to Californias fiscal crisis.
As a parent, furlough daysdrive me crazy.Myteens arethrilled to have the day off, of course, and their dad works at home so they arent on their own. But I know many working parents, particularly those with young children,who face the choice of finding a babysitter or leaving their kids unsupervised all day.
Meanwhile, ourchildren are already going to school in dilapidated buildings and learning from shabby, outdated books (one of my sonsworks out of atwenty-year-old math textbook), whilemusic, art and other programs are beingslashed. Teachers are forced to do more with less– thenblamed when students dont succeed. And now the number of learning hours they have each year is being eroded as well.
What isespecially crazy-making about the dismantling of our public education system is that that the people in charge should know better. California, where I live, already ranks a dismal 43rd nationwide in terms of per pupil spending, according to Education Week, whichgivesthe state a lackluster”C” for the quality ofthe education it provides.Yet as we speak, Republican lawmakers in Sacramento are refusing to consider a tax extension, proposed by Jerry Brown, which would prevent even larger education cuts.
It isnt just in California thatstudents arefalling behind, of course. Compared to children in other countries, U.S. students show onlymediocre rankings on math and reading tests. So it creates a sense of cognitive dissonance when politicians and pundits alike speak reverently about the importance of education, while continuing to hack away at education budgets — despite mounting evidence that the U.S. Is losing its educational edge.
The other day the principal at one of my childrens schools was talking about rationing paper in case the schools budget is slashed again next year. Later that same day, I read a New York Times article about the eye-popping pay packages Wall Street hedge fund managers received last year.
Its truethat there is no connection between executive pay and school funding. And there isonly an indirectconnection between the amount of money we spend on schools versus what we pay for defense each year (according to some calculations,the U.S. spendsclose to half ofits tax revenue on defense).Butthese numbers point out the relative value we as a societyplace on educating our children.
A childish part of me wants to stamp my foot and say, Its not fair!
Another, equally childish part likes to imaginewhat it would be like ifa fraction of thestaggering sums that gotoexecutive salaries or the defense budget could go to schools around the country.
Its a measure of myfrustration — afrustration I know many parentsshare — that the situation reduces me to foot stamping and fantasizing. But Im convinced that even a mature, clear-eyed look at our current funding priorities–shaving days off our kids school year while executive salaries and defense dollars continue their stratospheric rise —would conclude that, as a society, weve lost our way.
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