Wine, Cheese, Literature Textbooks: An Exploration of Elections & Schools
By: Opal Besaw
Tags: Schools, Funding, Elections

(Source: New York Times)

Some things get better with age: wine, cheese, literature textbooks… no, wait, that last one is wrong. So why am I using the same literature textbook my parents used in 1993? Because schools do not get enough funding. Teachers have to improvise off material that is nearly twenty years old, or older, and in some cases, there is not even a set curriculum for core subjects. Now that Montana has elected conservative candidates, our public education is likely to grow worse.

If you take away the building, the supplies, the support staff and even the teachers of a school, what are you left with but a cluster of lost students? Schools are dangerously underfunded, and we need to address this issue. Unfortunately, Greg Gianforte, Governor-elect of Montana, doesn’t seem willing. He said “the fairest tax is one you pay and I don’t” and called for no state sales tax to fund public education.

The teachers who mold our young people only make $23,700 as a low starting wage in Montana, far below what’s liveable. All school staff, from the custodians sanitizing our schools to slow the spread of COVID to the principal who has been in education for nearly twenty years, deserve to have a paycheck that reflects their vital role in our country. If we don’t start paying our staff and educators better wages, we lose the people who support our schools’ basic functioning.

In addition to being able to pay staff better, our schools need enough money to hire staff to support students, especially those with individualized needs. If schools are unable to hire enough staff to support students, then the available staff will be spread too thin to be present in the lives of each child.

Without adequate staffing, schools increase class sizes, and with so many students, teachers are unable to devote the proper amount of individualized attention. This makes the need for support staff even greater, but our leaders don’t seem to be listening.

Every American from the age of five to eighteen has access to a free and appropriate public education, which is already put at risk by the consistent defunding of Montana’s public schools. Unfortunately, there’s yet another challenge to the accessibility of public education: those in our government who would move to take education away from hard-working students under the guise of increasing decision-making power for families. Elsie Arntzen, Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction, is one of school choice’s biggest proponents. Matt Rosendale, Montana Representative-elect, even went as far as to say that school choice is “critical” to the Montana education system. This election, Arntzen and Rosendale were elected despite their anti-public education stances, meaning they’ll continue to put our public education system at risk.

Public school teachers work hard to make sure every student is as successful as he or she can be, regardless of financial circumstances. School choice would redirect the minuscule amount of funding that our public schools receive into private schools. These private schools are not required to meet every student’s needs. School choice would mean that not every student can be properly educated. Implementing school choice would be detrimental to the success of low-income students and those with disabilities.

Every public institution in America is affected by the elections, and now that they’re over, it’s up to us to pressure politicians to safeguard education so that all students have access to the current curriculum, functioning equipment and caring, compassionate, competent staff. Don’t stop your attention at the election; Montana’s public education deserves better.