Education Budget Cuts, Research Paper Example

Abstract

The U.S. public education system has been in steady decline for the past few years and the situation has further deteriorated due to budget cuts, resulting in reduced funding for the states’ school systems. This paper argues that cutting public education funding is a bad public policy and carries high opportunity costs in terms of America’s global competitiveness. The paper also looks into the No Child Left Behind program as well as its shortcomings.

Education Budget Cuts

One of the most disturbing outcomes of the budgets cuts at state levels has been on the public education sector. U.S. public education system has been in steady decline and requires more attention and funds rather than less. America’s public schools were once the envy of the world but other nations have since caught up and their students are scoring higher on math, science, and reading proficiency.

Ex U.S. President George W. Bush deserves credit for initiating his “No Child Left Behind” program but the program has failed to meet its objectives. No Child Left Behind focused on the aspects of high school education that did little to raise the students’ competency in science subjects. The program only focused on English reading proficiency and Math skills instead of the overall education system. To meet the goals set by No Child Left Behind, many teachers shifted their focus from science and arts subjects to teaching the test (Mefford).

The news media has been reporting on the continuous decline of our high school education system for the past few years but our public officials and administrators have failed to rise up to the challenge. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported in its 2005 report that U.S. ranked ninth among industrialized nations in the share of its population that had at least a high school degree and ranked seventh in terms of the population proportion that had a college degree (Lagorio, 2005). OECD issued its Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report for the year 2006 which showed that the average science score of U.S. 15 year olds lagged behind 16 of the 30 countries in the OECD. The countries ahead of U.S. included South Korea, Japan, China, Finland, and Singpore. The U.S. students were behind their counterparts in 23 countries in Math (Glod, 2007). OECD ranked U.S. 18^th among 36 nations in 2008 in terms of the share of high school students who graduate on time (UPI, 2008). OECD issued its next PISA report for the year 2009 last year and U.S. ranked 14^th out of 34 countries in reading skills, 17^th in science, and a below average 25^th in mathematics (The Huffington Post, 2010).U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan expressed her disappointment at the OECD’s 2009 PISA report and stressed the need for more investment in U.S. education system. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite has been happening in the U.S. across states

It’s understandable that U.S. states have been facing declining revenues due to lower tax revenues as a result of high unemployment rates. In addition, states have also been incurring more expenses on public welfare programs such as unemployment benefits. Federal government funding is hurting financially due to many of the similar factors. But these are dangerous policy actions by the states’ elected officials and administrators to target programs such as education that have higher opportunity costs in the long term. State officials should instead cut programs that deliver the least return on investment even if they are popular among their constituents such as social security benefits. Social security benefits could be scaled back instead of letting the program collapse under its own weight in the next few decades. Targeting education funding to fill budget gaps is a dangerous precedent because it holds the key to our nation’s ability to stay competitive in the global arena. Targeting education funding might be the least risky move politically but it is a violation of the oaths our officials took when they pledged to serve the best interests of the nation.

Since 2008, 34 states and the District of Columbia have instituted cuts in K-12 education and 43 states have instituted cuts in higher education. An estimated 8,200 families in Arizona lost eligibility for temporary cash assistance. Colorado cut public school spending by $260 million, an approximately 5% decline from the fiscal year 2010 and Florida’s 11 public universities raised tuition by more than 15% for the academic year 2010-11. Combined with a similar increase in 2009-10, this amounts to a two year increase of an astonishing 32%. Approximately, 9,400 students lost their state financial aid grants entirely in Minnesota and Virginia cut $700 million from K-12 education funding (Johnson, Oliff, & Williams, 2010). Lawmakers in Washington state are considering plans to cut $100 millions from K-12 and higher education programs (Mikkelsen, 2010), Alabama’s Governor Robert Bentley has informed the state’s school systems to expect as much as 10% cuts in their budgets in 2011 (Hardison, 2011), and  California’s Governor Jerry Brown has proposed $1.4 billion in state funding cuts to the University of California, California State University, and the state’s community college system (NOLA, 2011).

Now is not the time  to make politically popular decisions but instead those that are strategically beneficial. The global competition has never been more intense and its not a secret anymore that the quality of our high school education has been in steady decline. The nation has been resilient through all of the crisis it has been through and it certainly has the courage to sacrifice present comforts for the sake of ever better future.

Our Nation’s Future is at Stake

President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address has raised an important issue that America cannot afford to ignore anymore. Unemployment rate is still high so it was only natural to expect SOTU to put primary focus on the economy but President Obama’s speech came as a pleasant surprise. President Obama emphasized the need to revive America’s competitive spirit by increasing investments in education and innovative ideas. President Obama issued a special challenge to the students to consider a teaching career to educate our future leaders.

I am concerned with the drastic cuts in public education funding that have been occurring all across the nation. We are at a population disadvantage against the fastest growing economies such as India and China. Even if every single student in America graduates from high school and goes to college, China and India may still grant more college degrees than us due to their sheer population sizes.

Our best option is to produce students of higher quality and provide incentives to them to pursue a career in science and technology. Innovation and ideas have always been our core strength and other nations are attempting to develop the same competencies. As President Obama pointed out, China now has the world’s fastest super computer. Intel has built a research & development facility due to high quality of Chinese engineering and science graduates. Russia’s President Medvedev has issued directives to develop Russia’s own Silicon Valley. This is our generation’s Sputnik Moment and we will rise to the challenge.

Benjamin Franklin,

New York

References

Glod, M. (December 5, 2007). U.S. Teens Trail Peers Around World on Math-Science Test. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120400730.html

Hardison, J. (January 27, 2011). State schools prepare for budget cuts, proration. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from http://www.myfoxal.com/Global/story.asp?S=13923113

Johnson, N., Oliff, P., & Williams, E. (November 5, 2010). An Update on State Budget Cuts. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from Center on Budget and Priority Policies: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1214

Lagorio, C. (September 13, 2005). U.S. Education Slips In Rankings. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/13/national/main838207.shtml

Mefford, D. (n.d.). Why Was No Child Left Behind a Failure? Retrieved January 27, 2011, from EduBook: http://www.edubook.com/why-was-no-child-left-behind-a-failure/15467/

Mikkelsen, D. (December 11, 2010). Washington state budget cuts hit education, health care. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from http://www.king5.com/news/local/Washington-State-House-approves-budget-deal-111726154.html

NOLA. (January 20, 2011). Higher education a target for state budget cuts across the nation. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/01/higher_education_a_target_for.html

The Huffington Post. (December 7, 2010). U.S. Falls In World Education Rankings, Rated ‘Average’. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/us-falls-in-world-education-rankings_n_793185.html

UPI. (November 19, 2008). U.S. slipping in education rankings. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/19/US-slipping-in-education-rankings/UPI-90221227104776/