It’s getting to be that time of the year when we look forward to getting the Christmas tree out of the living room, wadding up the last of the paper that wrapped presents and settling in for what is really, really important.
The College Football Playoffs.
Four teams are in the first games on New Year’s Eve. Clemson will play the University of Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl; while the University of Alabama will play Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.
And two of these states, Alabama and Oklahoma, have something else in common other than college football teams.
Between 2008 and 2014, they cut funding for K 12 education more than any other states in the nation. According to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities state general funding per student, dropped 24.2 percent in Oklahoma and 17.3 percent in Alabama.
A look around the South shows cuts in Louisiana of 1.4 percent; Georgia of 1.8 percent; Arkansas of 2.5 percent; Florida of 2.6 percent; South Carolina of 5.8 percent and Mississippi of 9 percent. Tennessee increased funding by 2.8 percent during this same period.
There is probably a lesson somewhere in this info. You can decide what it may be.
I am not a bit surprised that Alabama has dropped funding per student by 17.3 percent since 2008, nor am I surprised that our former state school superintendent is working hard to take even more support away from our kids in his new role as a spokesman/president for an affiliate of the Business Council. After all, our former AL governor, Bob Riley, is a leading investor and proponent of charter schools, and he helped convince former Republican Representative, Jay Love of Montgomery, to leave his elected seat to work to promote charter schools. There’s a smell about all this, and it isn’t coming from Denmark or paper mills. Maybe it’s the smell of our state and its children’s hope for a better future going up in flames because some folks that should be working hard for us are working to see how they can manipulate the system, privatize it whenever possible, and make money off it.
I’m running as a Democrat for the State School Board, District 5 because I am determined to do everything I can to put a stop to these shenanigans, and shed light on the injustices that are taking place on a robber baron scale. I hope ya’ll will support me. I have fought for kids “Forever”, but I need to have a voice to be better heard. Join me! Together we can shed the spotlight of truth on what’s happening.
Joanne Shum
joanneshum5@gmail.com
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