Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A cure or a bandaid?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/education/28educ.html?ref=todayspaper

For those of you who may not want to read the article, it's simply about some revisions made to Obama's stimulus plan, mostly funds towards education. Presumably, his stimulus plan would put $150 billion in the pockets of school districts, day care centers, and universities/colleges all over the nation.

Now, as a student and as an educator of children, I am the first to thank the Lord that Obama is following his promise of putting money into the right hands. He campaigned on the backs of college students all over America, most of which will probably end up owing the government more money than they ever thought they would. This is a nice way to say thank you, although I know it's much more than that.

In spite of my delightedness in this attempt, I must admit to some hesitancies. First, the stimulus ends in two years...what then? What happens to the schools who weren't able to spend all their money but the time has run out? Or the day care centers who may not need all of that money right now but could surely use it over the next few years? What happens to the universities who's enrollments go up because of more access to financial aid, but then they are unable to maintain after the two years?

Also, I must say, who is going to be in charge of deciding how the money is spent? I mean, in all honesty, the systems couldn't even figure out to save money and distribute it over the last decade, why would they be any better at it now?

Without being negative, I must say that maybe this shouldn't be passed just yet. I know that the educational system, arguably more then any other system right now, desperately needs a boost, but the systems need to know what to do with it when they get it and how to maintain once it runs out.

I hope all ends well with this.

1 comment:

Chanel said...

Yeah this is a very touchy topic. I agree with you that the education system is running on E right now and the stimulus plan sounds like a miracle that couldn't come soon enough, BUT u ask great questions. What happens after? A lot of education funds are generated in that manner though and its so wierd. A lot of Pittsburg's funds come through grants that have to be spent in the allotted time and then reapplied for after a certain amount of years and I don't really understand why. Maybe its to assess how the money was spent and make sure it wasn't being misappropriated. And that's a good thing. If this stimulus $ can be earned again after the 2 yr period once assessments have happened, then that's no problem. But if it just goes away...what was the point?