Opinion
NetJraskan
Thursday, Juno 90,1904
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Deborah D. McAdams
Matt Woody.
Martha Dunn.
Derek Samson.
Brian Sharp.
I 1)1 IOKI \l
Editor, 472-1766
. Features Editor
. Copy Desk Chief
... Staff Reporter
. .. Staff Reporter
Shoestring Schools
Budget cuts plague public education
A few weeks ago, public school officials were contemplating
putting telephones and computers in classrooms. Many
who probably have phones in their offices and cars ques
tioned the necessity of phones in the classroom.
This week, the phones are probably out, along with a few
salaries, teaching supplies, textbooks, the summer school pro
grams, tutors for at-risk students and some special education. The
Lincoln School Board faces an $8 million decrease in their
proposed 1994-95 budget.
News of the LPS tight-money situation came on the heels of an
increase in revenue for the city of Lincoln, which has contemplat
ed building an aquatic park. At least an aquatic park would
provide entertainment for all of the public school students who no
longer have the option of going to summer school.
Most everyone in the public discourse seems to agree that LPS
should bite bullet and take their cuts, just as the city and state
governments have had to do. However, there’s just one small
element absent from these public discussions.
Students.
How will Lincoln’s public school students be affected if their
educational opportunities are dictated by politics? Docs anyone
remotely care if the students feel they can continue to leam in
more crowded classroom? If they have to, can they continue to
learn in buildings that need repaired? How many feel they
couldn’t keep up without summer school or tutors?
They’re just kids, right? How could they possibly understand a
complicated budget system where millions of dollars are in
volved?
Kids would probably just see tax dollars as one giant slush
fund of money that should just go where it’s needed. Afterall,
most tax money shares the characteristic of coming from middle
income citizens.
Actually, tax dollars arc a giant slush fund of money sucked
into a vast bureaucracy where they may or may not be accounted
for. One branch of the bureaucracy doesn’t always help another,
even if the quality of public education is at stake.
When the city government tightened its belt two years ago, 30
positions were eliminated. It was a hardship for city departments
that translated into reduced services in some areas, including
Public Works and Parks and Recreation.
Bringing the budget ax down on public schools is another
matter. Education can affect, and sometimes determine, the
economic conditions of a person’s life.
Perhaps LPS doesn’t require the 10.7 percent increase it originally
requested, but public education deserves further scrutiny before
before budget cuts arc finalized.
Saving money by not filling potholes shouldn’t be compared to
saving money by not filling minds.
Km loui \i I’m k \
Stall' editorials represent the official policy of the Summer 1994 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set
by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the
university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent
the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan They establish the UNL
Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by
the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students
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July 4th more than fireworks
he land of the free. The home of
the brave.
Parades, cookouts and (lag
waivin’ festivals. Beer, burgers and
firework. No Fourth of July would be
complete without them. For one day,
everyone is patriotic.
God bless America.
That’show I always saw the Fourth.
Until 1 met Doug.
It was last year, when I was working
on a story about a soup kitchen. One
year ago this Independence Day, to be
exact.
People were lined up outside the
door when I got there. Fathers were
there with their children, trying to
make it until payday the next week.
Old people. Young people. Mentally
handicapped people. Forgotten peo
ple.
Doug was sitting alone, finishing
off his soup, bread and crackers when
I asked if I could bother him for a few
questions and a seat.
I started talking to him about the
meal, the Fourth, etc., and he told me
more than I bargained for.
“I’m homeless,” he said. “I have no
place to go, no place to eat. I cat once
a day and it’s right here.”
Doug told me about his life. About
the cops hassling him, trying to keep
him and others out of the public eye—
O Street was ofT limits. He talked
endlessly about books, and recom
mended authors I should check out.
He talked about the government, and
the politics that surround the issue of
homelessness in America.
Doug told me about the Nebraska
winters. How, one night when the
temperature dropped well below freez
ing, he had broken into an old storage
building to find some warmth. He got
arrested, charged and would probably
be going off to jail soon.
Problem solved: food and shelter.
I had gone there planning on get
ting the story, then going on to a
friend’s house, watching the fireworks
display at Holmes Lake that night and
shooting off some more fireworks at
This year’s Holmes Lake
fireworks jamboree will burn
$22,000 in 22 minutes. A shelter
like the People’s City Mission
receives $30,000 in city funds for
an entire year of operation.
home.
I left wondering what it was I should
be celebrating.Watching the fire
works explode that night, I thought
about Doug, and everyone else who
would wake up the next morning on a
park bench,or in ashelter somewhere.
I watched all that money that could
have been put to other uses, better
uses, turn the dark sky overhead into
a smoky haze. And 11 istened as a choir
sang “America the Beautiful” over the
radio.
A lot of people blindly hold the
belief that the homeless arc lazy folks
who would rather complain and go
hungry than find a job. Any Joe can
get a job at the comer Burger-Mart,
they say.
Sure. Unless Joe’s homeless.
There was a man who applied at a
fast food place where I used to work.
He sat out in the dining area for what
seemed like forever, filling out a one
page application. I saw it after he
turned it in to the manager; his writing
resembled that of a third grader. His
home was the Mission.
“Did you see his clothes? He
smelled! Probably hadn’t had a bath
for weeks.”
That’s all the manager said. Equal
Opportunity was out the window, and
his application found the circular file.
I realize that I am one of the lucky
ones. 1 have a home, food, an educa
tion, a job, a car—paradise for some
one who has nothing.
But who’s to say it couldn’t have
gone differently.
Given different circumstances, it
could have been anyone sitting there
in Doug’s place. It could have been
me.
Now it’s one year later, but things
haven’t gotten any better. This year’s
Holmes Lake fireworks jamboree will
bum $22,000 in 22 minutes. A shelter
like the People's City Mission re
ceives $30,000 in city funds for an
entire year of operation.
Somewhere our priorities have gone
wrong. This isn’t the way it’s sup
posed to be.
“All men are created equal.”
“They arc endowed with certain
unalienable rights, that among these
arc Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness ... And for support of this
Declaration ... we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives, our Fortunes,
and our sacred honor.”
The Declaration of Independence,
dated July 4,1776.
The New World was supposed to be
a second chance. A place to correct
everything that had gone wrong back
home.
Some things have gone as planned.
It’s been called the finest country that
was ever stolen — but that’s another
story.
A lot has gone wrong.
Maybe, this year, to honor our in
dependence, we should spend the hol
iday celebrat ing our people, instead of
our luxury.
God bless America.
God bless Doug.
Sharp i» a junior aewi-edltorlal major aad a
Daily Nebraikaa columnist.