Education Budget Dance

It’s that time again when state legislatures around the country are doing the budget dance. I say dance because most are scrambling to find the money to pay for items that they can brag about later for praise and votes. Today’s third rail of state politics is education: touch it and die. Count the many times politicians use the phrase “the children”.

Now while education is obviously important, why are school districts always broke? Maybe education should get back to the basics.

I personally have three requests of schooling for my kids: that at the end of the day, they can read, write, and do basic math. That way they can fill out a job application, read a manual, and balance their checkbooks. It would be nice if they could find Guam on a map, and pay their dues dissecting a frog.

But some schools are wasting valuable time teaching things that some of us parents feel is our territory. For example, teaching six-year-olds tolerance about sexuality, whether it be hetero, homo, or trans is something schools might want to hold off on until we can beat the academic pants off Japan again. Touchy-feely courses like “Land, Rocks, & Time” sound more like a 70’s funk band than a course worth credits.

So where do we cut in education? Well since seeing is believing, next time you’re at your kids’ school, check out the trashcans at lunch. The kids don’t really like the food. Remember when we came to school with our brown paper bags or super hero lunch boxes. We came to school with bologna sandwiches, and sometimes Spaghetti O’s with meatballs in our thermos. Today we’re told some parents can’t afford to feed their kids. Maybe that’s another thing to think about before you have ‘em. Our parents made sure we ate, so it can be done.

In fact, before we had school lunch, a glut of overpaid administrators with lavish offices and expense accounts, and thin curriculums, we had art and music classes, afterschool sports, drama and science clubs, and the schools paid for it.

I remember hearing adults when I was a kid talking about maintaining the academic standards, not always complaining about being last in this and always needing more money to fix the problem, and routinely using the phrase “the children” as the dagger.

Guilt-tripping everyone by using that phrase is a shameful way to jarr more property tax money from homeowners who basically have a government gun up to their heads. Once our schools concentrate on the three basics again and jettison the social clap-trap that’s turned our kids into pathetic whooses in need of an “emotional day” off, we may find we have more than enough money to educate kids and general budgets may not have to be so tight.

Politicians and more money to spend. Sorry, might have to re-think that one…

Bob Parks is a former congressional candidate, ex-Navy, single dad, graphic designer, life-long New England Patriots fan, and member/writer for the National Advisory Council of Project 21. He delivered this commentary on WJDF 97.3 during his weekly “Black and Right” segment.