At the National Governors Association’s winter meeting on Monday, President Obama urged U.S. governors to boost funding for education. Obama urged the governors to increase funding for schools at the K-12 and higher education levels. Despite the fact that quality education is the basis of building up this nation’s future leaders, education is always cut from state budgets. Obama’s plea to the governors will most likely fall on deaf ears, but for once, it’d be nice if those in charge would act like they give a damn about education.
By now, we’ve all heard more than enough about how poorly the economy is doing. There’s no need to go in depth about that. When times are tough, sacrifices have to be made. In this economic climate, education is the easiest to take big cuts from. President Obama addressed that at the governor’s meeting.
“The fact is that too many states are making cuts in education that I think are simply too big,” Obama said. “Nothing more clearly signals what you value as a state than the decisions you make about where to invest.”
Obama’s basically calling state governors out by saying that when they cut education, they’re making a statement on how important they think education is. In simpler terms, no one cares about education.
But, that may be too simplistic of an analysis. As with many issues, the deal with funding education is largely divided along party lines. Republicans tend to believe that funding for education should come at the state level instead of the national level.
That method of thinking makes the most sense with education budgets as it allows states to adjust based on their specific economies. Obama’s plea during the meeting illustrated that idea as well.
I believe education is an issue that is best addressed at the state level,” he said, “and governors are in the best position to have the biggest impact.”
Obama urged the governors to increase education funding for K-12 schools and public universities and community colleges. Honestly, as a senior in college, my primary concern is the cuts to higher education. But, it makes sense to increase funding at every level. Giving more money to elementary schools will result in students who are better equipped to succeed in college and beyond. Increasing funding for K-12 schools is a solid way to ensure we have qualified students at every level, so I have to say that I’m behind that 100 percent.
It’s easy for a student about to graduate from college to feel indifferent toward what happens to your school once you’re gone, but in this case, I see how bad things have become in my four years at CSULB and I also see that there doesn’t seem to be any sign of things getting better.
California isn’t the only state that’s cut funding to its public colleges and universities. According to The Washington Post, over 40 states have cut funding to their universities in the last year. That’s a problem. How can we expect our country to succeed and thrive if we’re not investing in the students who will run it in the future?
Alexis Reza is a senior journalism major and opinions editor for the Daily 49er.