No wonder radical right-wing Republicans like Gov. Corbett in Pennsylvania want to blame teachers for problems in public education.
They don’t want to admit that state education funding is lower than it was before the Wall Street self-induced crash and ensuing depression.
Michael Leachman and Chris Mai of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have just published a study that shows, “[s]tates’ new budgets are providing less per-pupil funding for kindergarten through 12th grade than they did six years ago — often far less. The reduced levels reflect… the lingering effects of the 2007-09 recession.”
About 44 percent of school funding is from “state funds… Cuts at the state level mean that local school districts have to either scale back the educational services they provide, raise more local tax revenue to cover the gap, or both.”
The fact of the matter is that the same forces which would destroy unions and democracy also are defunding public education. It is all but impossible to have a vibrant democracy without a well-funded, vibrant public education system.
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