You knew it was just a matter of time before someone asked, “Where’s the bailout for public schools?” With Wall Street and the banks on the receiving end of hundreds of billions of federal largesse, and the Big Three automakers next in line, Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is calling on the federal government to consider a bailout of the nation’s public schools.
”The question in my mind is this: At a time when we’re continuing the bailout of key industries, at what point do we have a bailout of public education?” asks Carvalho, whose district has already trimmed about $300 million from its budget, and could face an additional $65 million in cuts, according to the Miami Herald. The Miami-Dade school system is the nation’s fourth largest.
”The most commonly heard solution out of Washington these days is a bailout where the federal government intervenes to safeguard key industries and in the process, the quality of American life,” Carvalho said. “If that’s the rationale, than I cannot think of a more strategic investment than safeguarding the quality of public education.”
Meanwhile, over at Eduwonk, Andy Rotherham, who is nothing if not plugged in to the political machinery, reports “hearing some rumblings that a big pre-K program would make a great stimulus package education component.” But Rotherham thinks school construction makes more sense. “There is a real need for both traditional public schools and public charter schools and it’s a sensible way to create and maintain jobs,” he writes.
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