A Lament

Last night I received a text message from a friend who was attending the school board meeting. I don’t go to board meetings. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that I care too much, but that’s another story for another day.

The text included a list of names of people, members of the Harrisburg Unit District #3 certified teaching staff that will not have a job next year. As I read over the list, it occurred to me what a disservice we do the public when we talk about budget cuts in terms of “programs.” Cutting a “program” is so much more antiseptic than the translation, which is firing someone, maybe even your child’s teacher.

For those of you who don’t know me, I was a single mom for several years. I supported three children on my teaching salary. As I read over that list again this morning, I wondered if any of them are single moms and what they would do now. I felt a momentary sense of panic as I imagined how I would have reacted to the possibility of not being able to take care of my children.

In truth, there are teachers all over the state of Illinois who face a similar predicament this week. Men and women who have dedicated their lives to teaching our state’s children may now be unable to feed and clothe their own children because someone somewhere up the food chain dropped the ball. (I’d be willing to wager that the someone in question isn’t worrying about their mortgage either.)

I know that in today’s economy there are countless other professions in the same boat. Downsizing. Streamlining. They are all words for the same thing – firing people. And even though our government can’t pay the bills it owes, it continues to pass legislation that will eat deeper and deeper into the pockets of everyday Americans and drive us deeper and deeper in debt to whomever it is a country borrows money from when it overspends.

I’m not a politician or an economist, but even I know that you can’t continue to spend more money that you have or eventually somebody suffers. Today it was my colleagues – many of who were once my students and have become my friends. Next August it will be the many students who need classes and services that no longer exist. I can’t help but wonder when, if ever, those at the root of the problem will have to pay the piper for the damage they have caused this week.