Cuts to Education Never Heal

Donned my red T-shirt this morning to protest ongoing cuts to Florida's education budget. It's interesting that whenever things get tight, legislators in this state sharpen their axes and hack away at schools. They're making noises about rolling back the class size amendment because "it's too expensive"--but not a peep about rolling back the pregnant pig confinement regulations, or last year's Amendment 1 (which got us into a chunk of this mess). Schools are already bleeding, but instead of giving them a transfusion or--God forbid!--helping the problem, they're planning additional amputations. If the patient bleeds to death while on the table, oh well. It's just kids we're talking about. It's not like they pay taxes or contribute to reelection campaigns.

What's even more infuriating is what it takes to get parents fired up. When they were talking about cutting elementary art, music, and PE teachers and elementary and middle school guidance counselors, nary a peep from the masses. Then someone looked at sports, and Lord, have mercy. You'd have thought they were rezoning everyone into Sodom High or Gomorrah Elementary.

Here's the thing: Should sports be cut entirely? Absolutely not. But they should face the same trimming the rest of the budget is expected to endure. Do we need ninth grade sports? The kids who are talented enough to win scholarships are talented enough to make JV rosters. Kids have a far greater chance to win college scholarships through academics than they do through sports. So why is no one screaming bloody murder when they talk about classroom and teacher cuts?

As a writer, the wife of a musician, and the mother of a pianist/tubist and a violinist/painter, what really chaps my ass is the laissez-faire attitude toward arts programs. ARTS ARE NOT FLUFF. If anything, the arts require practitioners to employ critical thinking skills. There's tons of research showing a direct connection between the arts and academic success. Visual artists translate those skills to spatial math and engineering problems. Skilled musicians are usually equally strong in mathematics. Drama students apply close reading strategies and integrate social studies information to create plausible characters. Much of what we know about ancient civilizations comes from the ARTifacts left behind--their sculpture, architecture, plays, and writings. Sports played an integral part in those societies, but the arts taught us all about them. We shouldn't treat basketball and lacrosse like sacred cows and drawing and drama like they're expendable. Each has value, but we have to find balance.

They're holding a huge rally at UCF tomorrow. Let's hope the good folks in Tallahassee are listening.