Feb. 8, 2005

The Face of the Federal Budget

Reg Weaver
President, NEA

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What they don't talk about is how people's lives are affected - all from the alteration of a single number in a single column in those reams of paper.

As educators, who work in publicly funded schools every day, we know too well how those columns can change the lives of the children we teach. The change of a five to a zero can mean even more students in an already-crowded classroom, or another year with the same 10-year-old textbooks. It can mean that a much needed reading aide won't be around next semester or that the weekly music class is cancelled.

The 2.7 million members of the National Education Association are forced to deal with those changes every year. For the past few years, it hasn't been easy. Every day I hear from teachers and school employees all over the country about how those seemingly harmless numbers end up hurting the children they care about so much.

I know that this doesn't sound like the same budget we have been hearing about this week in the news. The Administration will argue that education wasn't cut as much as other domestic issues, but the level of requirements won't be reduced either. Is this really the standard we should have for America's most important resource?

As the budget debate continues, teachers, school employees and parents want policymakers to remember this: It's not just how much federal money is invested in our schools, but how it is invested.

For America to succeed in the future, we must invest in children today. That means putting resources in the classroom. That's where children learn.