Main Street

SOS (Save Our Schools)

By Ashley Keith — Ohio

Like too many other Ohio families, Renee’s is struggling to cover the costs of raising a child with autism in a slow economy. Sometimes even everyday costs are unaffordable. “People need to know that they are one misfortune away from financial ruin,” says Renee. “Families like mine really have to make these tough decisions between housing, marriage, and the needs of a disabled child.” She expects that the new health care reforms will help her family stay afloat by helping cover the costs of out-of-pocket medical expenses, but that is only half the battle.

Like a lot of parents, every year when the stores start stocking more backpacks and fewer inflatable pools, she starts worrying about budget cuts and available resources. However, those concerns are magnified by her son’s special needs. Struggling to cover the costs that her health insurance provider refuses to cover during the summer, starts worrying about teacher layoffs in the fall. “The cost to educate a child with a disability is so high,” she explains. “He is in a class with six children, a teacher and a teacher’s aide. I’m holding my breath that next year things will be ok.”

As states like Ohio try to balance budgets and make strategic cuts, children with special needs may be forced into classrooms that are too crowded and understaffed to serve their needs. Why should Renee’s child, or anyone’s child, suffer a reduced quality of education because of what Wall Street has done to the economy? Where is the justice in requiring our children to pay for their misdeeds?

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown introduced the Local Jobs for America Act to provide funds to state and local government to save and create local jobs, and the passage of this bill may be exactly what parents like Renee need to keep teachers on the job.

Renee’s life demonstrates how we are all connected in this economy, how we are all in this mess together. When we lay off teachers to cut budgets, we jeopardize the future of our children, and the children who are most at risk and vulnerable often have to shoulder more than their fair share of the burden. Investing in our kids is probably the most humane and sound investment we can make, but without legislation like for the Local Jobs for America Act we will soon be shortchanging their future and our own. And in the short run, keeping teachers on the job puts money in the pockets of working people, who will spend it and boost business.

We’ve seen how investing in Wall Street works out. It’s time to get our priorities straight and invest more in our communities and our families instead.