Spring Break
Better Leaders = Better Budget
Mark Hensch
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Opinion
Michigan's economy is a sinking ship, and the issue of the day is what people should throw off to keep the state afloat. The options are many - cuts could affect business, housing or even the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, facets of academia are getting slashed the quickest. Even worse, our state lacks leaders capable of standing up to big business and cutting it down to size.
As reported by the Associated Press on Oct. 26, Michigan's Gov. Jennifer Granholm is planning on cutting education by $127 for every public-school student in Michigan. To add salt to the wound, Michigan's fearless leader has already chopped off $165 per public-school student. The boat is going down fast, and children aren't getting life buoys - or any kind of respectable public schooling.
When one starts such a blaze in public education funds, chances are the conflagration will spread. As moves like the above hurt Michigan's public schools, the rot spreads deeper and is now infecting Michigan's libraries. As reported in The Collegian on Oct. 22, it is likely the state of Michigan will lower allotted funds for its public libraries. Though nothing is set in stone yet, if it comes to pass libraries will lose hours, staff and programming. What is the icing on the cake? Inter-library book trading like MeLCat could disappear, leaving Hillsdale and other colleges without a valuable resource for those pesky research papers.
If the children really are our future, Michigan's government is looking in the wrong crystal ball. Public schooling and libraries are in sorry enough shape what with dwindling attendance, unionization and poor management decisions without budget cuts nailing the coffin closed. By suffocating the field of academics this tightly, Michigan's overlords in Lansing are creating a future with fewer opportunities for our youth.
Most disconcerting of all is how differently the current budget crisis could have turned out. Back in 2007, Granholm and her underlying government tried taxing various services. Beset by protests from such businesses, they backed off and the rest is history.
This one moment of indecision is still hurting Michigan tax payers today - they are now shouldering a $2.3 billion budget shortfall. Had the government possessed enough steely reserve back in 2007, we'd have stronger schooling at the expense of higher taxes in our services industry. It isn't easy hurting one segment of the economy over another, but Michigan's politicians should have looked the business sector in the eye and said "sorry, we're going to take some of your money for the public good."
It is a trade more people should willingly make. Yes, higher service taxes mean more expensive restaurants, bars and movie theaters. Despite this, it is unlikely the service industry will foster the same level of creativity and innovation a sound education will. Without teaching people the art of forward thinking, Michigan will remain caught in its own fiscal doldrum, sinking deeper and deeper into the sea of recession.
As reported by the Associated Press on Oct. 26, Michigan's Gov. Jennifer Granholm is planning on cutting education by $127 for every public-school student in Michigan. To add salt to the wound, Michigan's fearless leader has already chopped off $165 per public-school student. The boat is going down fast, and children aren't getting life buoys - or any kind of respectable public schooling.
When one starts such a blaze in public education funds, chances are the conflagration will spread. As moves like the above hurt Michigan's public schools, the rot spreads deeper and is now infecting Michigan's libraries. As reported in The Collegian on Oct. 22, it is likely the state of Michigan will lower allotted funds for its public libraries. Though nothing is set in stone yet, if it comes to pass libraries will lose hours, staff and programming. What is the icing on the cake? Inter-library book trading like MeLCat could disappear, leaving Hillsdale and other colleges without a valuable resource for those pesky research papers.
If the children really are our future, Michigan's government is looking in the wrong crystal ball. Public schooling and libraries are in sorry enough shape what with dwindling attendance, unionization and poor management decisions without budget cuts nailing the coffin closed. By suffocating the field of academics this tightly, Michigan's overlords in Lansing are creating a future with fewer opportunities for our youth.
Most disconcerting of all is how differently the current budget crisis could have turned out. Back in 2007, Granholm and her underlying government tried taxing various services. Beset by protests from such businesses, they backed off and the rest is history.
This one moment of indecision is still hurting Michigan tax payers today - they are now shouldering a $2.3 billion budget shortfall. Had the government possessed enough steely reserve back in 2007, we'd have stronger schooling at the expense of higher taxes in our services industry. It isn't easy hurting one segment of the economy over another, but Michigan's politicians should have looked the business sector in the eye and said "sorry, we're going to take some of your money for the public good."
It is a trade more people should willingly make. Yes, higher service taxes mean more expensive restaurants, bars and movie theaters. Despite this, it is unlikely the service industry will foster the same level of creativity and innovation a sound education will. Without teaching people the art of forward thinking, Michigan will remain caught in its own fiscal doldrum, sinking deeper and deeper into the sea of recession.
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