I have been lurking on DailyKos for quite a while, but this is my first attempt at a diary. I decided to write because the so-called sequester and its effects seem to have largely dropped off the radar in recent weeks. While I oppose the sequester in its entirety, I am writing about my personal knowledge of one aspect of these budget cuts which, I believe, has been overlooked by many on both sides of the sequester issue. This issue is the effect of the sequester on the lives and education of military children throughout the world.
First, I would like to acknowledge my personal bias; as a teacher for the Department of Defense Education Activity (“DODEA”) and the mother of two children attending DODEA schools, I am personally affected by the sequester. For those of you not familiar with DODEA, it is a civilian agency under the Department of Defense (“DOD”) responsible for educating the dependents of military and civilian DOD personnel throughout the world. Thus, if a military service member is stationed in North Carolina, Germany, South Korea, or any of the other military installations the United States maintains both in the U.S. and overseas, his or her children most likely attend a DODEA operated school on the military base where s/he is stationed. Civilian DOD employees working overseas, such as myself, are also eligible to send their children to DODEA schools, although most students are the children of active duty military personnel.
Along with many other federal agencies, DODEA has been affected by the sequester. These effects include a drastic decrease in funds available for supplies such as copy paper, pencil sharpeners, and instructional materials; a decrease in the number and quality of extracurricular activities offered by the schools; and the furlough of DODEA employees resulting in fewer instructional days.
While the sequester will certainly affect my bank account, teachers are actually quite fortunate here. While other Department of Defense employees are being furloughed for up to eleven days, DODEA teachers only face five furlough days. This is primarily because teachers cannot be furloughed while on summer break and, once school is back in session, there are not enough weeks left in the fiscal year to furlough teachers for more than five days or one day per week for the first five weeks of school. Nonetheless, other school employees, such as school based administrators, office staff, custodians, and maintenance workers are facing the full eleven furlough days.
The bigger issue here, however, is the effect of these furloughs on the children. These military children and families are already sacrificing a lot for their loved ones to serve in the U.S. military. They are living far away from home and extended families, often in an unfamiliar culture; are required to move and change schools frequently; and have difficulty maintaining friendships because friends and neighbors are continually moving to new duty stations. Now these children, who are already paying a significant price that they never asked for, are losing five instructional days from their education. While this may not seem like a lot, it is especially significant as it comes at the beginning of the school year when students already have to relearn material and skills lost over the summer break. Moreover, school is the one constant in the lives of many of these children. A considerable number of these military children are attending a new school for the first time, struggling to learn a new routine, and attempting to forge new relationships with teachers and peers. The disruption caused by the furlough of employees and the resulting closure of schools is an additional stressor these children do not deserve.
At the same time the educational lives of many of these children are being disrupted at school, their families are facing the stress and hardship of reduced income. While the pay of military personnel is not directly affected by the sequester, many of their spouses will be bringing home less money. DODEA schools, for instance, give preference in hiring to the spouses of military personnel. Consequently, many of our teachers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers, office staff, and maintenance workers are the spouses of active duty military personnel. Many non-military parents also work at other civilian positions on base such as the commissary; exchanges; family support centers; day care centers; and Morale, Recreation, and Welfare facilities whose employees are also facing furloughs. When you are living overseas, there are few other options.
So, when someone tells you how wonderfully the sequester is working out (yes, my very conservative brother actually said this to me), ask them about the military children. Supporting the troops means more than putting a yellow ribbon magnet on the back of your car. While professing to “support” our troops, many conservatives also support a policy that is hurting the very families they profess to care so much about.
