Bailing out teachers, but didn’t the Stimulus take care of that?
President Obama is seeking to add $26 billion to an Afghanistan/Iraq war funding Bill for a total of $59 billion. The reason for this added money is to bail out teachers in States across the nation that are in trouble. $23 billion is targeted to education and teachers that are facing lay-offs due to these budget deficits.
Obviously the recovery that is constantly touted by the Obama Administration is not reaching the masses. Unemployment for the nation is 9.9%, with many States and Cities far above that level. The question that is not being asked though is what happened to the $100 billion in Stimulus funds that went to education just a year ago?
The Obama Stimulus was proclaimed as the answer to the unemployment and economic crisis the nation was submerged in at the beginning of 2009. It was hailed as a means to fast-track a recovery, creating and saving 3.5 million jobs. It was to ensure, by this date, that unemployment would not exceed 7.5% nationally. And education was a major part of that task.
In the Obama Stimulus $100 billion was dedicated to education. $53 billion was to go to a stabilization fund, so that staff and programs would not be cut. $5 billion went to incentive grants, available only after 2010. $13 billion went to schools with high numbers of low-income students. $12 billion went to special education grants. The remaining funds went to other education based programs.
Again, obviously the Obama Stimulus seems to have failed in this regard. Not only is there a need of the abovementioned $23 billion, but Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) is calling to have $100 billion made available for teachers. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is claiming that if the funding is not made avaibale some 300,000 teachers will lose their jobs.
The source of the money for this funding currently remains unknown.
Thus we are left with several inescapable questions and conclusions. The Obma Stimulus is a failure in conception, execution, and results. The deficit will continue to grow at an accellerated pace. It is completely feasible that the proposed funding, even at a level of $100 billion, will not be enough to remedy the situation, and in 2011 the nation will be faced with the same situation once again. Therefore any solution that does not start with the growth of the private sector will ultimately fail.
Education is not priceless, the Obama Administration has clearly given it a price. But at the same time the Administration and leading Democrats are unwilling to act in a manner that is fiscally responsible enough to ensure that education funding is not provided in drabs that enable a temporary solution to a long-term issue. Such action is an insult to teachers, and to the detriment of our children.
Perhaps the only benefit of this constant need for education funding, is that to oppose it is politically disadvantageous – especially in an election year. Therefore we reach another conclusion: the education of our nation pales in comparison to the need of the Democrat Party in maintaining power. It is a dismal display of ambition and distasteful. Yet there seems to be no other conclusion that can be drawn from the facts.
