Supporting our local educational agencies isn’t just a right, it should be a requirement. Whether we have children currently in schools or not, we have to value the time, effort, energy, and resources that a quality education requires. Teaching and learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. People make it happen as a way to support not only an individual’s growth, but that of a community, and a society-at-large.
For this reason, and many others, I always get jazzed up when it comes time to vote for our local school budget. I’ll do whatever is necessary to make sure I get to voting, and I’ll encourage others to do the same.
While I understand that for most people, an increase in taxes is something to be avoided, I’m fully on board with higher local payments if it means more opportunity for students of all need levels to invest in their own learning, and the learning of their peers. After all, it is infinitely easier to pay a little more than it is to actually instruct learners.
As a classroom teacher for ten years, I know a very important secret: Teachers have the hardest job in education (being a student is pretty tough too). All the rest of us? While our jobs are still difficult, they are certainly easier. And, if we think about it through that lens, we owe it to our teachers to do more than simply celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day. We should also support our local budgets, and choose those representatives who we believe best support teaching and learning in our classrooms.
So, whether you’re set to vote today, as New York is, or at some other time (even if you don’t vote, hopefully this is food for thought), my wish is that you’ll remember that while in today’s world finances are always a concern, in today’s world, and tomorrow’s, education will need to be front and center.