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Saquan Stimpson for The Hechinger Report
The Hechinger Report
Time to fight for the funding our kids need to mend the coronavirus wreckage
The CARES Act was not enough. School board members, teachers,
superintendents and unions must put aside old differences to fight for
more help for kids.
by Andre Perry
May 12, 2020
Our way of life has shifted so radically as we distance ourselves from
one another to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, it’s even hard to
properly mourn the death of loved ones lost to it. The lack of
presidential leadership contributes to the vast uncertainty we all face.
But we must gather ourselves for more disruption and disquiet as a
looming recession threatens to further reduce tax revenues for states,
putting services we rely on at risk. Funding for schools will most
certainly be slashed because it’s one of the largest single
expenditures in state budgets. School staffs will be downsized and
student support services reduced if we don’t collectively fight for
federal relief and stimulus spending to make up for the shortages.
We pay taxes for times like these. But I’m not optimistic that an
administration that orchestrated the largest one-time reduction in the
corporate tax rate in U.S. history will see it that way. Leaders who
are willing to sacrifice lives to open up an economy, comparing workers
to military soldiers, won’t think twice about cutting services for
students with disabilities and low-income districts.
If there was ever a time to mobilize and organize to fight for adequate school funding it is now.
Most education policy experts recognize that the $13.2 billion the
CARES Act allocated for K-12 education is woefully inadequate.
Last month, School Board Partners, a group of dozens of school board
members from across the country, signed an open letter to Congress in
response to the CARES Act, the $2 trillion spending bill passed in
March, urging federal legislators to pass an “equity recovery bill”
that would “provide critical learning support for our country’s youth
and their families.” Most education policy experts recognize that the
$13.2 billion the CARES Act allocated for K-12 education is woefully
inadequate. It wouldn’t even cover the funding gaps that existed
between have and have-not schools before the coronavirus hit. Prior to
the pandemic, schools dominated by students of color received $23
billion less than majority white districts, according to education
think tank EdBuild.
Ultimately, we’ll need a stimulus: spending that goes beyond relief to
achieve a semblance of funding adequacy and equity. The board members’
letter to Congress states, “Lack of action will do irreparable damage
to a generation of kids and impact the quality of our workforce, far
into the future.” They are absolutely right.
Micah Ali, board president of the Compton Unified School District and
one of the letter’s signatories, told me in an email, “If we emerge
from this pandemic with a crippled education system, then we have
failed. This is not a numbers game — children’s livelihoods and futures
are at stake.”
Financial resources are positively correlated with student outcomes,
according to 2017 study by the education think tank the Learning Policy
Institute. The amount of funding a school receives is clearly connected
to class size, number of personnel, instructional support materials,
early childhood services, teacher compensation, transportation and
other critical amenities that impact student achievement. Budget cuts
after the Great Recession in 2008 led to sizable losses in academic
achievement for students living in counties most affected by the
economic downturn, according to a 2019 study.
Teachers and other school employees, including parent liaisons, aides,
social workers, nurses and counselors, know too well that funding
matters. Teachers have battled board members as well as state leaders
for adequate state funding in recent years, striking for increases.
Now, labor and districts must fight together for the financial
resources needed to properly educate children. School board members
can’t get the funding kids deserve alone; they must quickly ally
themselves and form alliances with unions, parents and community groups.
In their April letter, School Board Partners ask Congress for an
additional $200 billion to be allocated to the states to support K-12
schooling. This would include a commitment of $15 billion to provide
free broadband access and a laptop to every student in America who
needs one, and $9 billion for educator retraining. The group seeks $140
billion to enable school districts to increase time in school by
extending the school day and/or year, at least for the 2020-21 school
year. Signatories want $30 billion to pay for telehealth counselors and
doctors who can assess the mental and physical health of every
vulnerable student. Recognizing that students don’t live in schools,
they live in communities, the board members request a commitment of $6
billion to ensure every student has housing.
These are all worthy goals that everyone who cares about the future of our public education system should rally behind.
“School districts and charter schools have stayed the course and
pivoted in remarkable ways to feed and educate our children at this
time,” Ali said. “Shall we be rewarded by annihilating all ability for
us to do so in the future?”
The letter calls upon President Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Majority Leader Mitch McConnel to act now. However, they won’t move
until the rest of us will. If there’s one lesson the coronavirus has
taught us, it’s that we are deeply interconnected. When our neighbors
are sick, we are vulnerable. The School Board Partners wrote their call
to action for all of us, and it’s time we act as if we are all in this
together.
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