The Educational Budget Cut

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/02/california_educ_1.html

So, in the face of a failing school system, the decided solution is to cut the educational budget. What kind of message is the governor trying to send to our students? As a first-year teacher who has invested my entire past 9 months and counting in my students, I feel disrespected and unvalued. But, beyond the ways that I take this cut personally, I am angry for my students and for the students of this generation. How am I suppose to stand in front of them every day and tell them how important education is when our very own governor is taking our money and putting it elsewhere? Laying off thousands of teachers will leave many more thousands of kids without classrooms. Teaching in a class of 28 kids is trying when the range of student abilities in any 4th grade class can be between 2nd grade and 5th grade. And yet, I know that I am lucky to be teaching in a school that caps our upper grades at 28. Maybe its the trials, long hours, late nights, emotional drain, and physical tiredness of the last few weeks that leave me in bitterness after hearing this news. I just can't help but hear the underlying message loud and clear as a result of this decision. "Teachers and education are worthless. Our youth are not worth investing in." If that's true then why the hell am I working so hard. Education isn't worth very much anyways...