"I thought we should be the envy of the world with our public schools."

 In 2005, when A Man Without a Country was published, author Kurt Vonnegut was interviewed by David Brancaccio on PBS. In the course of the interview, he said the following: 

...these people don't know anything about anything. They're incompetent. And, so, yes, they are getting a lot of our guys killed. But, also, they've emptied our treasuries. You know, we can't fix our roads. We can't fix the schools. 

It's my dream of America with great public schools. I thought we should be the envy of the world with our public schools. And I went to such a public school. So I knew that such a school was possible. Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. Produced not only me, but the head writer on the I LOVE LUCY show. 

And, my God, we had a daily paper. We had a debating team. Had a fencing team. We had a chorus, a jazz band, a serious orchestra. And all this with a Great Depression going on. And I wanted everybody to have such a school. And, yeah, we could afford it if we didn't spend all the money on weaponry.

The full interview, incidentally, is here, and is well worth reading. 

Vonnegut graduated from high school in 1940. As he notes, he was attending school during the 1930's...the Great Depression. 
What did we do in the Great Depression?

We built buildings like this:

Vernon Hill Elementary
(Providence Street Junior High)
Built 1931

We ran three sessions a day at Commerce High School, ensuring that people who might not have a job were getting education and further training for when jobs were available again.

High school dropout rates dropped.

Enrollment in public education rose. 

While there were initial cuts, by the middle of the decade, the argument that public education was a center value of the country, and one that needed to be supported, had won out.

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means meets tomorrow. I wish I knew what words would convince those in charge of making decisions that the last thing one should do during the economic downturn from a worldwide pandemic is underfund public education.
Needs are rising, not dropping.
And the Governor's budget does not keep the commitment to our kids.
In the middle of a storm, you protect what is most vulnerable. At least you're supposed to. 

I would like us, too, to be the envy of the world with our public schools.