by Rep. Steve Bergquist
As a teacher in our public schools, I know that money doesn’t solve every problem – but a severe lack of funding for Washington schools is standing in the way of what our students need.
Wealthy special interests have an army of lobbyists and think tanks pushing hard for their paramount duty: protecting tax breaks for the rich.
Sick, hungry and homeless kids can’t learn
Let me tell you about one of my students. Jonathan went to school hungry. His parents worked multiple jobs, and Jonathan worked at the local grocery store to help support his family. He had a dream of being the first in his family to attend college.
School can’t be your top priority when there’s no food on the table and the rent is late.
Jonathan only stayed in high school because we had extracurriculars like the tennis team and a strong support system of staff to help him succeed academically. He wouldn’t have graduated otherwise.
Every teacher knows kids who are worried more about having something to eat or where they’ll sleep next month. Students who drop out not because they aren’t intelligent, but because they had to make a choice between working full-time so their little brothers and sisters can eat or receiving an education.
And every school district is facing tough choices as their budgets get cut and cut and cut, year after year.
It doesn’t have to be this way
Kids like Jonathan shouldn’t have to choose between working to help feed his family and focusing on getting an education. Budget cuts and tuition hikes threaten the futures of kids who’d go hungry without food lifelines and who wouldn’t go college without the state need grant.
Families shouldn’t’ have to choose between education and work, and Washington shouldn’t have to choose between funding education and the safety net.
Attacking teachers and students won’t solve the problem of budget cuts. Whose side are the teachers on? The kids, our families and our future.
We can do better. We need to reward hard work and provide equal opportunity for all, so that our system truly is about merit and not just rigged to benefit the privileged.
Let’s Fund Education RIGHT, and stop rigging the system for the wealthy elite. Let’s close tax loopholes, fund our schools and take care of those in need. That’s the way to provide a better world for Washington’s children.
Help get this done by sharing this message. Together, we can build a stronger middle class, with opportunity not for some, but for all.