This week, America's 50 million public school kids pour back into our 90,000 public schools. The problem is, many of these schools are confronting the worstbudget crisis in decades. The combination of a lousy economy, state and local budget cuts, and unfunded federal mandates is forcing teacher layoffs and driving up class sizes all across America. Here in Boston, for example, five public schools have had to be closed in the last few months, and 400 teachers let go.
America's school budget crisis couldn't come at a worse time. The "No ChildLeft Behind Act" is just kicking in. It uses standardized tests to holdschools accountable for student achievement. If any racial or demographic group fails to advance for two consecutive years, the school has to offer tutoring and giveparents the option of transferring to a higher-scoring school.
Accountability like this is a fine idea, but it costs money. The Feds aren't coming up with nearly as much as they originally promised -- almost a third less than authorized, $6 billion under the mark. The federal budget, remember, is deep in deficit. So a lot of the cost of the No Child Left Behind Act is falling on the states and cities, which can't possibly afford it.
The Bush Administration, meanwhile, is doling out $1.7 trillion in tax cuts, mostly to very wealthy families. It's called supply-side economics. The theory is that the rich will invest the extra money they get from the tax cuts in new factories and equipment, and thereby grow the American economy. But we're in a global economy, and their money is as likely to go to East Asia or Europe in search of high returns as to America.
The only asset that's truly American, and likely to stay right here, is our people -- specifically, their capacity to be productive in the future because they have the education and knowledge they need. This is why skimping on our schools is bad, not just for the kids who now get stuck in larger classrooms with fewer teachers, but also bad for the future of the American economy. The real supply side lies not in financial capital but in human capital.
If we fail to educate our kids because we're giving tax benefits to people at the top instead of funding our schools, we're jeopardizing the future for all of us. It's a simple lesson that members of Congress and the White House shouldhave learned, in school.
