I freaking love my children’s school. As a working mom living within a tight personal budget I am so grateful that I have an amazing public school run by an exceptional principal, a PTO that works their butts off to keep things like the library open and the lights on, and a cadre of volunteers who make sure things like recess happen. How lucky am I to have a safe neighborhood public school, with an A+ rating from the state where I can send my children every day so I can work to support my family and pay taxes like the good citizen I am?
So when the governor of my home state, Arizona, signed a law this week crushing our public school funding he poked the bear. And this bear is pissed. With the stroke of a pen he cut but $166 million from our state’s public school funding – especially in classroom-support funds. And in case you’re wondering we weren’t really swimming in dough as a public school system to begin with. The National Education Association already ranked Arizona as dead last in per pupil spending. For reals, dead last.
Now I shouldn’t be surprised that a guy who sent his kids to private schools that cost more than the state’s public college tuition should be overly sensitive to the rest of us working class Joes public school funding concerns. And certainly the fact that at least one city in Arizona is seriously considering a four-day school week (I mean is that even a thing? Can they really do that?) doesn’t concern him too much. I’m sure the governor is just thinking that if we were all stay-at-one moms like his wife then we wouldn’t have to sweat finding child care for that extra day we have to cover our kids. Bless his heart.
And I wish I could say this is just a case of Arizona being a little, well, crazy. You were all thinking it I just went ahead and said it out loud. But it is unfortunately not the case.
This is insane but it is the reality: 35 states are spending less per pupil in public education then they were before the Great Recession. So even though we’ve had seven years of inflation and by anyone’s measure at least a modest recovery from the free-falling economy of 2008 we are actually spending less as a nation on public education. In recent years states like Florida have cut $1 billion to its public education funding. And states like North Caroline, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are in a three-way second place tie with each yanking about $800 million each from their public schools.
This is not acceptable. We need to send a clear message to our elected officials that our children are not just line items. Their education is not a bargaining chip. It is non-negotiable that we have safe, highly performing, fully funded schools for our children. The bear has been poked and you’ve been put on notice.
For laughter and inspiration read my book The Working Mommy's Manual, available on Amazon.
Buy Online Now!