There were some fine words (and some disturbing ones) last night from President Obama on education. The words that struck me most, however, were ones in another part of the speech altogether:
In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America — as a blueprint for our future.
This is why budgets matter.
Yes, yes, budget meetings are boring, and budgets are long, and who really understands what all those numbers mean?
If we can possibly escape our whining for a moment, though, what those numbers mean is nothing less than a community setting priorities: What really matters to us?
What matters to us we spend money on. How much money we spend demonstrates what we really think of something. Do we value safety? We spend money on police and fire departments. Do we value safe roads? We spend money on the Department of Public Works.
How much do we value education?
Moreover, what within education do we think is most important?
If we don't have enough money for everything--and we don't--we have to pick and choose: will we have small class sizes for elementary students? We need to increase the funds for elementary teachers. Do we value football? We have to pay for the coaches. Do we value buildings that aren't crumbling? We need to fund repairs. Libraries, nurses, books...they all cost money. They can't all be funded.
I think it's past time we stopped pretending that we can please everyone at least a little bit. We can't. We need to figure out what is absolutely necessary in educating our kids, and get rid of everything that isn't there. This doesn't mean those things can't be provided, but not on the public dollar. If something has a constituency but doesn't get public funds, then those who care can fund it privately. But it's time we stopped trying to do a bit of everything, and took our dollars and put them only where we get real education.
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It continually worries me that as a group Americans have a tendency to be very selfish. As long as they get their piece of the pie, they're pleased. So now folks in the constituencies of those politicians who are looking at the big picture and saying, "No, we don't need the stimulus money, put it where it's needed" are yapping about it and crying foul.
And you can bet that those politicians will have a very hard time getting re-elected, even though what they're saying is more responsible that what we often here from those primarily concerned with pleasing the local population. Yes, sure, every state could use lots of money. But with a potentially trillion dollar deficit looming....
The money has run out. Sooner or later, the credit's going to be cut off, too. Hate to think where we'll all be then.
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