Elaboration on Articles

Concerns: I have a few major concerns with the issue of these budget cuts. First of all, our government is denying today's children their right to a proper education. If we want our country to prosper, we cannot have the government trashing any chances of our generation being able to correct the problems that have been created by not allowing us a proper education. My other issue with these budget cuts is that more people are losing their jobs because there is no money to keep people working. How are people supposed to support their families if there is no income? I feel like our nation's children are having one of the most important of their very few rights taken away, the right to learn. Without schools and teacher, it is going to be really difficult for the next generation to be intellectual problem-solvers.

For the Millionaires Tax (Brown) It's Supposed to:

• Supposedly, 100% goes to the schools
• It only taxes "millionaires" (people who make 250,000 a year)
• Help cover the state's budget deficit
• Provide money for local law enforcement
• Prevent deeper cuts to education and other services
• Give money to counties with lower-level offenders that are being sent to jails instead of state prisons

Against Millionaires Tax (Munger):

• Supposedly, not all of the money is going straight to the schools
•   Brown plans to make multibillion-dollar cuts in schools if his tax idea is rejected
• He wants to alter the distribution of school funds by giving less money to some well-preforming schools and more money to low-preforming schools
• The state repays $10 billion-plus already owed to schools before aid should be reduced in some schools to increase it for others
• Legislators' and Brown's budgets are not matching up on how much money the current state's tax system will make
• Nor how much money will be made if the governor's plan would make more or less money if it is approved.

I would solve this issue by first off all sorting out government spending. If we can cut down on some unnecessary spending in our government, it might just save the schools. I am hoping that if the government can be taught proper spending habits, then we can slowly but surely get out of debt. And hopefully, as a result of that, our government will be able to lend more money to the schools to fix the damage by hiring back teachers and bringing back more electives so students will be more excited to go to school. It may take a while, but I hope that this is what will one day occur.

These budget cuts affect me because I am a student at a school that has been dealing with serious budget cuts. All but two of the eighth grade teachers were given pink slips. Those are my teachers who have also become my friends. Our school could lose a group of amazing teachers that make sure to help their students, even if it means spending extra time after school to support students if need be. Not to mention because the budgets are causing there to be less teachers therefore causing class sizes to be larger. Because of larger class sizes, there is way less of a chance that the teacher will really be able to help a student one-on-one for there are forty other students in the class that might also need help. I have about forty-five students in my English class and the only way to truly get one-on-one help is by having the teacher stay after school to help students. Legally, teachers only have to stay a half hour before and after school. However, the dedicated teachers I have stay after school for hours to provide help for their students. I can't imagine what that school would be if those amazing teachers weren't there.

This issue connects to our unit of study because just like when our nation was first starting out, our government has no money and is in serious debt. For instance, when we went through the Louisiana Purchase people were worried that the nation was spending money that they didn't really have. Not to mention when George Washington went into office, he had practically no money to build a nation off of. That is one f the main reasons he avoided war I believe. However, unlike George Washington, our president is digging a deep grave of debt because he is engaging in war and is not paying attention to his spending habits. That is why our schools are having budget cuts: the government has no money to dole out.

I will make a difference by planning a protest. I am hoping to band together most of the eighth grade (and hopefully a lot of the school) and protest against the budget cuts and laying off teachers. At the next board meeting (sometime in April) I am going to try and have a lot of the students group together, make posters, some can write speeches, and protest against the ridiculousness of the government taking away from our education. I will also try to write a letter to the president explaining the importance of making sure we keep our teachers. They aren't just teachers, they are friends who dedicate their lives to the spreading of knowledge. We need them.