A Matter of Priorities

Last week I was chatting with some parents about how the schools' PTO's are struggling to fund the programs that the students love and families have come to expect. I learned that donations were down. The same number of folks were contributing, but the amount they gave was about only about half of that given previously.

Today, I was talking to an educator about what he would need to help improve student learning in his school. At the top of his list was an after-school homework club that would help those students and families that just can't devote the necessary time at home. It wouldn't take much to make this happen... just a few thousand dollars to pay for supervision. Of course, where would he get the money for such a project in the current tight economy... without taking it from another important program?

I was thinking about this as I went through my e-mail and checked the news. When I saw the piece If Schools Were on Wall Street, I was reminded of a T-shirt that I had in my youth that asked, "What would it be like if the schools had all of the money they needed and the government had to hold bake sales to finance weapons and wars?" It's a matter of priorities.... still. Please take a look... If Schools Were on Wall Street