Recently read an article on CaliforniaProgressReport.com which I believe says what most parents have in mind. Excerpts:

“… As Citicorps to Bear Stearns to Countrywide compete for front-page headlines, left to isolated local news stories is the nationwide slashing of public education funding.

The “trickle down” impact of failing to properly educate children — increased incarceration, a growing class-based achievement gap, and the exodus of skilled teachers from the profession – has gone largely unreported. And this is particularly true in California, where schools face the deepest cuts while Governor Schwarzenegger travels the state vowing not to preserve school funding by raising taxes.”

“While the United States Treasury throws a publicly funded life raft to millionaires, the nation’s economic policymakers ignore the growing school funding crisis. Teacher layoff notices are being handed out, plans are being made for increasing class size, and school districts across the nation are desperately seeking money-saving strategies.

But based on media coverage, one would not think that there is any impact to school cuts. The school funding crisis fits the category of “what else is new,” while the unexpected financial crisis at institutions like Bear Stearns constitutes ‘news.’”

“The ultimate irony of the media’s linking of the fortunes of the rich to the greater good, and its downplaying of the school funding crisis, is that the failures of Bear Stearns and others sends exactly the opposite message. Hedge fund profits, taxed at a ridiculously low 15%, did little to help schools in their heyday, while their backing of reckless mortgage investments contributed to the current education crisis.

In other words, what has been good for the rich has not been good for the majority of schoolchildren, or for the majority of the nation…”