JaBbA's Hut

This is ridiculous.

I live in Cleveland Hts., OH. Our district is facing a $9M deficit and will be closing at least one school and laying off a large number of staff. My children's school is one of the ones facing possible closure.

The reasons? #1 - Drop in federal support, due to the "tax breaks" that seem to be hurting me more than helping. #2 - Levy failure, due to a strong push from parents who send their children to private and parochial schools, and actively work against levy passage.

Now, a front page Plain Dealer article today pointed out some things I didn't know. Ohio is #1 in the country in public funding of private schools, especially with the state law that says that any child who lives more than 2 miles from their school must be bused at taxpayer expense. And we're #32 in funding of public schools.

I'm pretty annoyed by this, but THIS sent me over the edge.

"To some extent it is a win-win," said Marianne White, spokeswoman for Sen. Robert Gardner, a Madison Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee. "It would be a lot more expensive if all these children were going to public schools."

Why? BECAUSE I SEE PRIVATE SCHOOL PARENTS AT BOARD MEETINGS AND AT POLLING PLACES ACTIVELY WORKING AGAINST LEVY PASSAGE.

• There were organizations handing out anti-levy signs this weekend at the local Catholic schools.
  
• I heard that a Jewish woman stood outside one of the polling places telling people that they're not good Jews if they vote for the levy. (I also heard that an old Jewish man took great offense at her activities, and proudly proclaimed that he was voting for the levy because he wanted to live in a strong community. Good for him. )
  
• I stood next to a woman at a board meeting bitterly complaining about how she had to pay such high taxes and she wasn't sending her children to public schools, why should she pay taxes? Of course, she was at the meeting because the board was going to cut the bus service for her children...because the levy had failed.
  

(To be fair...I know many private/parochial school parents who vote for the levys. But apparently not enough of them. I get the feeling that there's a reason for that -- I tend to know nice people who believe in strong communities.)

Adding insult to injury, someone at the Jan 26th board meeting was advocating for my local school to be shut down, because "all the people who live in that district are rich and are not having kids and sending those few kids to private school".

I live in this distrct by choice - I grew up here, and love this city. I have SIX children, all of whom are going to attend public schools. I am by no means rich. And I voted for the levy every time, even when I was single, even knowing I paid the highest local taxes in the state, because I know it's important for a strong community.

We need regime change. We began it here at the local level when we overwhelmingly denied an incumbent school board member who had participated in secret deals with old superintendents. We need a state government that finds a way to fund our public schools fairly, instead of trying to "save the institution of marriage". And we need a federal government that understands that it's the middle class, not the rich, that needs help.