The hidden education tradeoff: tax cuts now or real economic growth in the future

[Scuba]

http://www.progressive.org/news/2015/09/188317/hidden-education-tradeoff-tax-cuts-now-or-real-economic-growth-future

Parents in Milwaukee—as across the nation—know that their children’s futures depend on the quality of public education, and many of them are deeply upset about continuing cuts to public education funding. Parents, teachers, and students in the Milwaukee Public School District are holding “walk-ins” at over 100 schools on Friday, Sept. 18 to “celebrate and protect public education.” These events are a challenge to the plans of Gov. Scott Walker to privatize Milwaukee Public Schools and starve them of funding.

Some 41% of Milwaukee students attend largely unaccountable private voucher and charter schools, many of which have draining away resources needed by the public-schools systems to provide a quality education for all. The public system is thus nearing insolvency.

In Chicago, the school system is being decimated by top-down cuts and school shutdowns that have parents, students, and teachers up in arms over their lack of voice in the school system’s future. At Dyett High School in Chicago, school supporters have staged a dramatic hunger strike, currently over 31 days long, to stop its closing and implement community plans for reinventing the school. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel seems bent on promoting privatized voucher schools at the expense of the public system he is dismantling.

Along with the drive for privatization, embraced by both right-wingers and neo-liberals, schools across the nation have been victimized by budgetary chainsaws. In the name of cutting taxes, states are sacrificing their public school systems. No less than 47 states are now spending less than they did in 2007. “Savings have gone to finance tax cuts,” observes financial journalist Tom Saler. A distressing NY Times series by Louise Story details how local governments have handed out over $80 billion a year in corporate tax cuts, plus a wide menu of subsidies. This money is mostly going to the largest corporations and without demanding accountability on actual job creation and wage levels.

[fasttense]

1. And the tax cuts are NOT going to you

See they cut schools of funding so the rich get their tax cuts. Like Obama and congress back in 2007 gave the rich 2 years of tax give aways, so the states are doing the same thing now. But the families who are suffering the loss of educational services are NOT the families who are getting the tax cuts.

So the Waltons get to buy another Lexus for their drunk mother to wreck, and you get to see your daughter miss out on algebra. (She's a girl, so she really doesn't need math anyway. Ask Mrs. Walton or Mrs. Gates how much math they needed to get ahead.)

[Scuba]

2. ...

[LWolf]

3. Just this week

a substitute in the building listened to me rant about our clunky electronic grade book's bugs and malfunctions, and said, "We should go back to writing grades down in a grade book." I looked at him and said, "Do you want to come in at the end of the term to crunch an entire semesters grades by hand for all 100 students?"

"Oh," he said.

That got me to thinking; we have all of these technologies that make tasks faster and easier...why is there not more time? Yes, the job is always changing and evolving to some degree, but why is there never enough time to get the job done in a contractual work day?

Because we get more new things added to our daily duties every year, and we take on more tasks that others used to do, and higher class sizes, because there isn't enough money to staff schools adequately.

[mopinko]

4. there has been absolutely no mention of vouchers in chicago. none.

i dont support everything that rahm does, but that is a flat out falsehood.

[Scuba]

5. "No mention" is pretty definitive. Also wrong ...

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-19/opinion/ct-edit-school-vouchers-edit-0119-20140119_1_school-choice-charter-schools-recovery-school-district

[mopinko]

6. that was 5 years ago.

and rahm had nothing to do with it. get real.

and ftr, the charter schools have drunk the catholics school's milkshake. they are decimated.
the plain and simple fact is that cps has failed in many ways, for decades. they deserve everything they need, but they dont deserve a monopoly. the big chains are not here. charters are run by universities and interest groups like those wanting arts schools and cultural based schools. these things have been sorely lacking in the district schools.
hell ctu holds a charter.