Crucial decisions about to be made in education budget
In a special message to Congress on Feb. 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy said, “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education.” Fifty-six years later, those deeply insightful words still ring true and are particularly relevant in light of the recently proposed federal education budget.
Under the premise of restoring local control of education, this budget would shrink the federal role in education by $10.6 billion dollars if enacted. In total, 22 programs would be affected, including several in K-12 public schools where roughly 84% of our children attend. Support for after-school programs, mental health, advanced coursework, career and technical education, arts and physical education, science and engineering, anti-bullying, and class size reduction would all be severely cut or eliminated.
The justification for this proposed change in policy is that these programs haven’t been effective, which is debatable. Either way, common sense tells us that cutting support to these important aspects of K-12 education certainly won’t make our schools any better. On the contrary, these deep cuts have the clear potential to make school services decidedly worse.
Whether or not this budget actually restores state and local control of education, one thing is true. Control will equate to managing dramatically reduced levels of funding.
In education, as with most endeavors that rely on capacity, the notions of doing more with less, addition by subtraction, and cutting our way to greatness qualify as pretenses. By contrast, if reasonable amounts of the federal funding earmarked for elimination were alternatively shifted to states and districts to use as they see fit, then the legislation would be game-changing.
As expected, the proposed budget is favorable to charter and choice schools, currently making up 6% and 10% of the existing school population, respectively. It allows $400 million to $500 million for charter school expansion, $1 billion to encourage public schools to allow choice within their districts and $250 million for innovation and research related to vouchers.
Some redirection of funding for these purposes would seem defensible, providing the schools are good ones and parents know how to make the choices. It is the impact of this legislation on public schools, however, that most warrants the attention of the American people. Parents and guardians of the 55 million children who attend public schools, in particular, would do well to take stock because these schools will be hit hard.
The final version of the budget will be determined by Congress in the way it appropriates funding. Whether you oppose or support this legislation, please let your voice be heard. Its implications are too pervasive to be silent.
In his message to Congress, JFK noted over half a century ago that education must remain a matter of state and local control. But he certainly did not have an approach like this one in mind. Instead, he argued that “too many state and local governments lack the resources to assure an adequate education for every child,” and advocated for a greater federal investment in education.
The cautionary tale here is that a failure to support our schools properly threatens the very fabric of American society. Our prosperity as a nation literally hangs in the balance.