Wednesday, March 03, 2010

A Stitch In Time Saves Nine

My local union wants to alert parents to the strain our district will be under if presumed drastic cuts to the education budget are implemented. To do this, we've been asked to stand across the street from school either tomorrow morning or Friday and hand out fliers--I assume these fliers will ask parents to contact their legislators and tell them not to cut education.

I'm a teacher. When the education budget takes a hit, I personally take a hit--either in the wallet, or in more work because of more students. So I have a personal stake in hoping that education isn't cut too much.

But I'm also a California taxpayer, one who plans on living in California for a very long time. This state is in a financial mess, and it's not going to be fixed if we declare 47% of the state budget off limits. We can either take our medicine now, or take even more of it later, and I'd rather just fix it now. If we don't fix it, the state will collapse--and I'll collapse with it.

So I can't in good conscience go out and ask parents to advocate for fewer cuts in education. To do so would not only be exceedingly self-serving, it would also violate some of my deepest political beliefs.

6 comments:

Ellen K said...

It's hitting everyone. I just found out that after having my department budget slashed 20% this year, we will be slashed an additional 25% next year. Lower property values means lower tax revenue. And that means less to spend. I still contend that if we ended many of the unfunded federal mandates, we would not be in this situation. I also think entire layers of administration could go away tomorrow and nobody would notice a difference. It's hitting everyone. But people who work in government and who send their kids to private schools may not be aware just how deep we are cutting. Funny how egalitarian some liberals can be when it's not their livelihood or family being affected.

James said...

Darren,

Why not hand out fliers that encourage fiscal responsibility and advise them to work to fix the system?

--James

Darren said...

I could do that, but I'm not *that* interested in becoming a pariah. While I have my own views, I'm not going to rain on the parade of those I work with.

I do have *some* social skills, you know.

KauaiMark said...

The same banners and fliers are going to be passed out tomorrow over here in SJ also.

Nancy Evans said...

Wow, a conservative teacher in Sacramento, CA of ALL places. What a breath of fresh air.

Darren said...

Thank you, Nancy. I hope you come back here and visit often.