A few weeks back, Gov. Christine Gregoire called a group of education stakeholders together to talk about the newest state budget projections. You know the news isn't good when the governor says she can't take cuts to education "off the table." With education being the paramount duty of the state, one might expect funding to be protected somehow. One would be wrong. See, this new $2 billion deficit is just the latest challenge – we've cut the fat, stretched our pennies, and in higher education, got down to the bone. The question is, whose bones? If you believe that you can't grow the economy by cutting alone, those bones belong to the next generation of entrepreneurs, investors and teachers. Cut education – lay off teachers, reading assistants and counselors – what do you have? A short-sighted fix to a long-term budget problem. A carousel of cuts with no end in sight. That's some plan for economic development.
How did we get here? We made it impossible for legislators to use any tool but a budget axe to make chart our economic future. Initiative 1053 hangs around us like the proverbial albatross, taking away options, limiting the possibilities and all but ensuring that we figure out how to "cut our way to the solution." We still believe that we can fuel an economy on sales tax – in an environment where no one is spending money they don't have to. We fail to recognize that every layoff of a public employee puts one more person on unemployment compensation and takes one more consumer out of the marketplace. And we show our true colors about our belief that education is the ticket to the promised land by making it more and more difficult for kids to get what they need to succeed. Don't believe it? Talk to a school administrator about the cuts from this year alone:
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Their reward for good fiscal management in previous years? Depleted reserves. Districts from Tacoma to Federal Way to North Franklin are going into savings to protect teacher salaries, education programs and the number of school days.
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Drastic reductions in classified staff who provide critical services and support to schools and kids.
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Shortened school years and reduced days – less instruction time for kids.
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The end of summer school, after-school programs and access to advanced placement courses.
So the answer we give to our kids when they ask us what we did to solve the biggest crisis of our generation is: we whiffed.
I think it goes without saying – we need some new thinking here. New ways of structuring the work of education. New ways of thinking about funding. And new expectations for what it means to provide for the paramount duty we owe to our kids. This month, we will examine many angles of the current budget dilemma. We've asked guest bloggers – parents, teachers, administrators, legislators, community leaders – to join us to share their perspectives. I've talked to superintendents of many school districts who share their experience on an upcoming podcast. And we invite you to tell us your story. Send us your solutions. This mess didn't just happen to or with one of us, and it's going to take all of us to get out of it.
