Greed Is Destroying K-12 Education System
We now know the results of rampant greed among the politicians in those states that are cutting education budgets in their K-12 school systems. They would rather preserve the wealth of the wealthiest one percent than see any value in governments or governing of any kind. The cuts are for the most part in red states, causing their educational systems to crumble, which destroys the seed-corn of our democracy: educated children.
The CBPP Center on Public Policies and Priorities has just published a study on what has happened to our public school systems in many of those states.
“At least 23 states will provide less “general” or “formula” funding—the primary form of state support for elementary and secondary schools—in the current school year (2017) than when the Great Recession took hold in 2008, our survey of state budget documents finds,” said the CBPP. “Eight states have cut general funding per student by about10 percent or more over this period. Five of those eight —Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin enacted income tax rate cuts costing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars each year rather than restore education funding.”
And this is when there are 1.1 million more K-12 students to educate. The poster child for this red-state backlash is Governor Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, which because of an all-Republican legislature and majority Supreme Court has been able to enact draconian budget-cutting policies, as well as cutting taxes of the wealthiest—that included a ban on public employees collective bargaining (except for police and fire), and cutting the University of Wisconsin’s budget in order to turn it into a ‘trade school’, in his words. The result is projected to be a $2.2 billion state budget deficit over the next 2 years.
A total of 19 states have made new cuts in their public education system, even though the Great Recession is over. This means less educated children, and without adequate educational opportunities there is no functioning democracy, period.
It’s a no-brainer. Keeping their constituents less-educated has been a hallmark of conservative policies in the red states. And the results are painful for their future, says the CBPP.
• Weakening a key funding source for school districts. Some 47 percent of K-12 spending nationally comes from state funds (the share varies by state).[2] Cuts at the state level force local school districts to scale back educational services, Greed Is Destroying K-12 Education System | Huffington Post:
