There is No Community in Public School Budget Cuts

Written by Christopher Williams

If Americans have realized nothing else in the first year of Trump’s presidency, it's clear that funding is one of our world’s strongest weapons.

You may have become numb to headlines informing you of the numerous budget cuts that have begun subtly altering the way you interact with daily life. I’m writing this from a treadmill. The TV playing CNN in front of me: 

“TRUMP THREATENS TO DENY NY FUNDING AFTER GOV BACKS MAMDANI.”

Notice I used the word inform. “Inform” means to teach. You could consider credible publications like this part of your education no matter when you graduated. You’re building upon that education right now, using reading comprehension skills you likely strengthened in school over a decade ago. This connection between fundamental skills like that is why you should care when lawmakers at ANY level attempt to cut funding to public schools. You shouldn’t have to be rich to truly understand the media that’s constantly in front of you. 

I’m from North Carolina. I was a student in the Wake County Public School System from kindergarten to 12th grade. My mom and two of my closest childhood friends are teachers in the same system we grew up in. The same system that helped our parents get us to college. The same system that had to cut its budget by $19 million dollars this school year. Still, things are just getting started. 

The month prior to me writing this, Governor Josh Stein vetoed a bill from republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly proposing the state opts into a federally-supported private school voucher program. This would add onto last year’s expansion of state-funded vouchers to pay the tuition of any student regardless of income. This may sound like a win, but it actually means that even those who can afford private school by themselves will now be able to attend private school for free, while other students face increasingly restricted resources at schools intended for any child. Governor Stein said himself in a statement,

“Cutting public education funding by billions of dollars while providing billions in tax giveaways to wealthy parents already sending their kids to private schools is the wrong choice.”

Vouchers aren’t a guaranteed solution. Private schools are not at all bound by the policies enforced by the NC Department of Public Instruction or the United States Department of Education. Private schools wouldn’t be required to provide the necessary special education services, free lunches, or even admission that makes public education a relatively accessible system even with all its flaws. It’s no wonder that a report from the NC DPI and the State Board of Instruction found that 90% of the students with the opportunity scholarship were already attending private school before the help came in. 

It’s not about increasing access. It's about making it harder for those already at a disadvantage, whether racially, developmentally, socioeconomically, or any other way you can think of. A 2019 Propublica article found 39 private schools that likely started as segregation academies during public school integration in the 1970s. The same article said 19 of those schools still had less than 15% enrollment of non-white children. This is in a state where total public school minority enrollment sits at 54%, according to Public Schools First NC. Funnily enough, the same organization points out that public school segregation in this state is actually INCREASING, despite us being in the mid-2020s. 

Public schools already act as resource hubs for the communities they serve. Students receive everything from structure and learning opportunities to counseling, steady meals, and a place where they’re consistently cared for. Instead of taking away resources from the very institutions holding families and communities together, we need to be uplifting them.

Volunteer at your child’s school. Donate school supplies so local teachers aren’t paying out-of-pocket to meaningfully impact their students. Make sure your lawmakers support funding for community schools and the hiring of coordinators to directly manage the social support these schools already provide. These are some of the only institutions truly open to any child in this country. Attacks against it are meant to keep you uninformed, complacent and unable to effectively protest when the leaders you elect are not serving you. 

There is no excuse for intellectual backsliding in an increasingly digital age. If there is something you wish your education included, work to provide it for children who still have time to experience it. Do not leave the generation after you in a worse position than you were in.