Using the layoffs and increased class sizes in the Gateway School District, politicians launched their usual rhetorical barbs at the Governor for education funding cuts. No mention of course of the drop in local tax revenues thanks to a weakened economy or the fact that the loss of federal stimulus funds have curbed the state’s ability to provide enough to make up for the reduced revenue sources.
Three years ago, we warned that the infusion of federal stimulus funds to avoid layoffs would lead to exactly the situation Gateway faces. Rather than taking the occasion to slow the growth of spending by asking unions to make concessions, districts failed to make adjustments needed in the straitened financial environment that re-emerged when the stimulus ran out. Now the piper has to be paid.
The politicians who constantly push for more education funding never seem to grasp the fact that school employee costs and benefit packages are not sustainable. They never contemplate reforms such as eliminating the teachers’ right to strike or allowing districts to layoff teachers when financial conditions require and not just by eliminating programs. They would never dream of asking teachers to forgo raises until the economy picks up.
It is always about protecting unions using “education” as the excuse. If politicians cared about quality education they would enact voucher programs and more generously fund the scholarship program already in place. They never do. It is the most cynical of ruses-using children’s futures to justify protecting the power and income of union members.
