The threats of midyear cuts to school and higher-education funding in New York are making students, parents and local taxpayers nervous. The need to make major cuts had been put off through recession-fighting federal aid, but now the moment of truth is at hand.
If midyear cuts mean laying off teachers, we can expect class sizes to increase and some class offerings to be eliminated. If this is bad for the teachers, it is worse for the students, especially those who need extra attention or individualized educational plans. We are producing human beings, each with their own talents and aptitudes, not mass-produced sausages.
Laying off teachers means many of them will be on unemployment at least for a while. That costs the state money too.
New York State’s teachers’ unions have suggested alternatives that they say would save the state money and help close the deficit. They propose using part of New York’s $1.5 billion “rainy day” reserve fund, because it is definitely a time that fits that description. This way, we can buy time until the economy recovers. They also suggest bulk purchasing, and if that is a savings on the local level, it should be even more so statewide. Statewide energy cost-saving initiatives are another suggestion from the teachers’ unions.
It would seem that if the state wants local school districts to make significant cuts, it should show that it has exhausted all avenues for savings also.
Teachers have personally invested a great deal in our education process. Typically, the younger ones owe college loans for their undergraduate studies. Then they have earned or are earning master’s degrees, followed by continuing education courses. They work in the classroom, and they also serve as club advisors and coaches. No one, besides family and religious leaders, will have more influence on our future generations.
The 12-year-old girl who recently spoke to world leaders and demanded action on global warming, pollution and poverty also mentioned the importance of education. Indeed, it is our investment in the future. Education helps pull people out of poverty and the hopelessness that leads to crime, violence and wars. And the better educated our future generations are, the more likely they are to find solutions via science and technology to the problems we are aware of today and the ones we cannot predict.