Enough, Ohio

Everyone, please read this.

I don't think I can understate the importance of keeping education funding where it is.  I was taught several years ago that if one is not getting better, it is getting worse.  It's a belief I grasped onto firmly, and something that rings true for most (if not) everything.  If progress is not being made, we are only going backwards.  There is no "staying the same."

In Cairo, if you can get into college, you go for free.  Classrooms are filled to the brim, and an education is valued.  In fact, all many students need is an opportunity and the time and money to learn English and they have skills at least similar to many Americans if not more advanced.  So many are on the precipice of what we are used to in the States, and many many more have passed it.  It's why American jobs have been outsourced to India, China, etc.  Some may say "cheaper labor costs" but the cheaper labor costs only are possible because the workforce is at least as intelligent.

Cutting education funding in the state of Ohio right now will set our state back at least a decade.  The reduction in funding to university education is disheartening at best, but slicing the funding of public school districts is the quintessence of what state politics has become.  A leader reforms education and imposes tough yet fair standards for our districts, as well as offers the opportunity for many, many districts to build brand new schools.  A downpayment is made on education in Ohio, and the terms of the agreement are set.  New schools, here are more rigid standards.  Let's work together to make Ohio stand out in the educational landscape in this country, and finally compete on a global stage.

Now, these threats are proposed.  These new schools, while they'll still be functional, will most likely contain empty classrooms.  Not because there's not enough students--the schools were well planned to be utilized for several decades, and consolidations were made as necessary.  There will be, in fact, not enough TEACHERS.  Potential funding cuts will force districts to slash funding across the board.  Fremont already has "pay-to-play" athletics, so that budget can't be cut any further (for those curious, UM grad Charles Woodson stepped up and sponsored all the athletics at Fremont Ross High School).

On top of our schools, other proposed cuts include the libraries, which have already taken quite a hit in the budget process.  At the outset, I did not mind the library funding cut, as I think libraries should be largely a local issue--if you want good libraries in your town, vote on them yourself (more on the school side being different in a second).  Additionally, I hold strong belief that this state has an obligation to provide quality educational opportunities (intra and extra curricular) for our students, and a library should not be seen as a gateway to education or a right (like I consider education), but a luxury that citizens must be willing to sacrifice for.  However, I cringe at the thought of funding being cut for both.

Ohio's school funding method has been declared unconstitutional several times.  It hasn't been fixed.  Communities are still supporting their schools the best they can.  Buildings have been voted for and are being built with only the best for our state's children in mind, and the hope that we can boost our state forward--CONTINUE TO IMPROVE.  By pulling the rug out from underneath the districts and the taxpayers, the state is saying it doesn't care.

All of you, please visit this site and tell your State Senator that preserving funding for education is the most important thing they can do to be re-elected.  And then share this post with your friends, and have them say something too.  Tell them that it's important that we keep improving, because if we don't, the only other choice is that it gets worse.  The time is now.

NSS