Thought for Food

January 28, 2009

We’ve been waiting for this for so long

You know the saying, “What if all the schools and hospitals had all the money they needed and the military had to hold bake sales?”

Well, that ain’t gonna happen. And that’s okay; I like a good bake sale.

But this stimulus package is a huge leap toward a goal that many of us have held so long and so tight that we feared it may have disintegrated to dust in our fists: a good, free education in a clean, well-equipped school for every single kid in America.

The NYT reports:

The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation’s school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education’s current budget.

The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.
Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government’s role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government.

Go, BO, go!

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