Budget Cuts
By worldwise1
@worldwise1 (14885)
United States
August 13, 2008 9:36am CST
Something has been weighing heavily on my mind. I have real questions concerning the fact that budget cuts are being made in my area where they should not be made. For instance, it was recently decided that transportation to school for secondary education must go. Now parents are being forced to buy a pass at the cost of $25 per month so that their kids can get back and forth to school. One woman said it best: If you have four children and have to buy these passes for each one, it might come down to a choice between feeding them and educating them. This is truly a sad state of affairs. I believe that some kids will use this as an excuse to drop out of school due to the extra burden they feel will be placed upon their already struggling families. What are your thoughts on this?
3 people like this
5 responses
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
21 Aug 08
We really need to get someone that can help the working families. Everyone is getting so strapped for money and everyone wants more.
2 people like this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
24 Aug 08
Things would indeed be so much better, Thoroughrob, if some would stop looking down upon the poor and working class and think about the overall good of the society.
@carolbee (16230)
• United States
15 Aug 08
Unfortunately I believe our tax dollars are being used in areas where it's wasteful. It's so sad when choices such as educating kids or feeding them has to be a major decision. Both should be a simple option and no choices made. It might be feasible if a larger family is given a break and not charged $25 per child. Give them a family discount. Myself, along with mega others, are disgusted with fuel prices and groceries. When was the last time we were excited to see gasonline at $3.45 a gallon? It's just so sad.
2 people like this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
24 Aug 08
And the saddest part of all, carolbee, is the fact that the children are the ones being sacrificed. It's no wonder they report that American kids are so far behind in education.
1 person likes this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
24 Aug 08
School buses have always been furnished free of charge here also, weemam, but I guess this is all a part of the "New World Order."
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169449)
• United States
19 Aug 08
What did they cut, before they made that cut? It would depend on what else they had left to cut out. It is expensive to send kids to school. and I have a friend with four kids, she would have been sunk. Probably would have driven them herself. I know that is not an option for everyone, either. We do not have transportation to schools except for students with special needs and those that live a certain distance outside of the city limits. The rest of the time parents are responsible. But we are a very small town.
1 person likes this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
24 Aug 08
Life is usually much simpler in a small town, GG, than in a city. As you stated, many people do not have the option of driving their kids to school due to not owning cars or working outside the home. At a time when school attendance is already below par, everything possible should be done to make sure that these kids can get to school.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
24 Aug 08
I was wondering about two feasible solutions, the first one that families with four or more school age children be given a discount, and base it on the number of children, so if you have one $25 you pay regular but each additional one gets $5 less than the one before. However it would not work with poor families.
The other is maybe encouraging home schooling. I do not want poor kids to leave school just to help their families, so perhaps having some parents or teachers volunteer to homeschool might help.
Still the same education should be a priority and you should bug the local school board until they change this.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
24 Aug 08
It sounds like stigmatizing those who are poor. I remember hearing from my father and later my father=in-law about having to quit school in the third grade or the sixth in order to help on the family farm. I mean my father was self-made, he taught himself, but what if he had not? What if he had needed a tutor and did not go to the library? I mean rural kids cannot just walk to school not like those in the city, so the school board has them over a barrel.
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
24 Aug 08
I am finding an increase in disregard for what the people want, suspenseful. In most cases the people are not even being given a choice. I see it happening every day in some area.
1 person likes this
