Gray Column: Schools shouldn't have to consider cuts

Hearing that Prince William County schools have to consider cutting 700 jobs, I am convinced our federal government has spent the last year bailing out the wrong institutions.

Not that we need to go around spending more stimulus dollars, which is leading to A higher national debt, but since we are spending, why not put it somewhere that needs it?

Think about it, we are footing the bill for fat-cat executives on Wall Street to receive their $10 million dollar bonuses while teachers only making between $30,000 to $50,000 a year are worrying about their job.

That's just wrong in so many ways. We need every single teacher available in our classrooms.

As much talk as we hear coming out of Washington from the president and members of Congress about how important education is, the money is obviously not there to back it up.

You might be thinking the money is being held up somehow in Richmond. Not likely. The only defense the state has is to fiddle around with funding formulas, which basically equates to a shell game of redistrib-uting funds that are already making up deficits.

The reality is Virginia, like most states, is hurting for dollars. The state's coffers are bone dry.

Remember, the state legislature couldn't even keep our rest areas open.

So the bottom line is states that are hard pressed -- meaning pretty much all of them -- need intervention from Capitol Hill.

Instead of wasting time arguing about who's to blame for the health care quagmire or whether "don't ask, don't tell" really works, they need to focus on assisting states with education funding.

It takes years to educate, recruit and retain good teachers. Counties like Prince William, which places an emphasis on getting world-class teachers for world-class education, shouldn't be considering laying them off.

In addition they shouldn't have to be considering watering down programs that support the educa-tion of our children.

Our local and state officials have to put considerable pressure on members of Congress to do whatever it takes to free up dollars for our local schools.

Our schools know how to spend the money; they just need the money to spend.

In the meantime, we all know that budget cuts mean belt tightening. So as parents, we need to be fore-warned that some of our educational luxuries, like extra bus services or after school programs, might be on the chopping block.

Lord knows that's already been happening. Anti-drug programs and other proactive initiatives are almost nonexistent when it comes to budgeting matters.

But when these things happen we need not blame our local school officials or spend time questioning their salaries -- as I have seen some do through online posts. No the real blame, or should I say source of frustra-tion, should be directed to both sides of Pennsylvania avenue in Washington, D.C.

Between the Congress and President Obama, providing proper funding for schools must be more than a rhetorical statement used in the State of the Union speech or congressional floor statements debating public vs. private schools.

The majority of our kids are in public schools and they need the funding now. Those other arguments are what elections are for.

Otherwise school districts like ours around the country will be scrambling for every dollar and still find themselves way short.

And if there is one thing we know about education: If you shortchange it now you will most definitely have to pay for it later.

Davon Gray works in Washington, D.C., and resides in Woodbridge. Contact him at davongray@verizon.net.