I live and work in a small rural-suburban community. Everyone here works hard for what we have and we all love our town. Unfortunately because we're such a small town, funding is not always available for things like sports, band, and the arts. We do a lot of fundraising for our extracurriculars, but sometimes this isn't enough. This is why schools and school boards ask for their towns to pass educational tax levys.
Like many of my fellow Americans, I get a little testy when the government wants to raise taxes and take my money. School levys are a different beast. In this day and age, when schools need money, it is to fund programs that are important to enriching our children's lives, like sports, music, and the arts. Sure, our government leaders don't need any more money in their pockets, but our schools do.
Kids who love their town like mine do return after they graduate from college and make careers and raise families where they grew up and went to school. They are what keeps small towns like mine growing strong and thriving for the future. Sadly, without funding for extracurricular programs like sports, not to mention general funding to pay teachers and offer specialized classes, these kids won't make it out of high school with the necessary advantages they'll need to not only go to college, but to go on and succeed in life.
Where are we without sufficient funding for education and after school programs? How much better are we than a developing country? As Americans, we've long enjoyed being a super-power, partially based on our high class education systems, but this has been dropping at a frightful rate over the last 20-30 years. What will happen in 15 more years when no child has gotten the experience of learning an instrument in school or taking the field to learn teamwork and responsibility with a sports team? After we cut music, the arts, and sports, what will we cut next? English? Foreign language classes? Science?
Between budget cuts and levys not passing, the education system in our country is in sad shape. Whatever happened to "no child left behind?" By cutting funding for programs essential to the enrichment of our children's lives, we are leaving every child behind. If we lose enough money, we may as well plant the golden arches on top of our high schools and teach our youth how to flip burgers and say "Do you want fries with that?" as that will be as far as they're able to go in life.
I have to laugh at voters who stand up and claim to be proud Americans, waving their family values, their patriotism, and the flag in people's faces, yet at the same time executing explosive protests against raising taxes for schools. Our children are the future of our country, but without a good solid education including what our states deem as "extra" or "optional" programs. I find it highly unfortunate that people think buying a new car or a big tv is more important than paying a tax that will give our youth the advantages they need in order to stay ahead in life and become the leaders of tomorrow.
Next time your town is trying to pass a school levy, instead of thinking about what's in your wallet think about what's in your future. One day, the current high school students will be running the show. They will be our mayors, our governors, our legislators, our presidents. By not voting to provide our kids with the proper amount of education that they need, you the voter are hurting not only our children and their futures, but our country, and yourself. Think hard the next time you're faced with a school levy, and make the correct decision. Vote yes, always vote yes.
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