Now that stimulus funding for education is running out in many states, most are preparing for this delayed financial pain to hit next year.
Some schools are thinking of cutting teachers, which would increase class size. They're also considering cutting school hours and even cutting school weeks down to four days. For a lot of the poorest kids, that means the potential for even worse educational outcomes. More immediately, it means a lot of kids will go hungry an additional day of the week.
A new bill that would allow schools to serve lunch on weekends would help address child hunger, but it's disconcerting that such efforts come at times when schools are already struggling. Schools feed kids, and they also serve as child care for working parents. Cutting schools' ability to do those things isn't going to help the very poor, who are already struggling more now.
-- Monica Potts
