Budget Cuts, Shmudget Pluts

While participating in my local Association rally in front of the District Office last Thursday I was asked to speak to a television reporter. We are in negotiations that are more than 10-months overdue, attempting to convince District leadership to release last year's COLA, which they currently have banked, of which they are currently offering around half of the money already received. This reporter asked what I thought of the Governor's budget cuts and their effects on our situation, my classroom, and so forth. This is, more or less, what I told him:

"Those cuts don't have anything to do with this situation. This is about money the District already has, money they are refusing to release to teachers, unlike every other district in the surrounding area... Those cuts may affect stuff that schools get, or stuff in my classrooms. Yes, I need new stuff, more books, more supplies, better facilities, and so on, but my kids don't need that stuff. They need me. If you want to close the achievement gap, you want me in that classroom, me and all my talented friends and colleagues. We are the single most powerful factor in determining the success or failure of the individual student, and you need to keep us around. But you can't keep us around when you play games with money, lie, fabricate unease regarding proposed cuts, and generally demonstrate a lack of respect and appreciation for our importance in the whole achievement gap closing equation. You can't keep us when you invest in programs over people. So yes, the Governor should understand that you get what you pay for, but budget cuts or no budget cuts, you protect your investment in the teachers whose energy and talent make the difference between advancement and stagnation. "