I have this secret fantasy where as president I declare all crumbling schools across America natural disaster zones, bring in the army corp. of engineers, and have them rebuilt in state-of-the-art form before anyone can ask: “where’s the money coming from?” It would be kind of like how the military rebuilt the Pentagon in a matter of months after 9/11. Back in reality I’ve reconciled to the fact that even if all our schools were physically magnificent, their problems would not disappear, although it would certainly be a step in the right direction.

While not an expert on education policy, I do know a little about poverty, including that a direct connection exists between access to human services and school performance. When they are well-fed and healthy, and in a home with a steady income, kids do better scholastically. This is a major reason for Head Start’s success: it combines education and services, teaching and feeding children healthy food, and many times providing onsite enrollment for Medicaid, food stamps, or job placement programs. Available research, coupled with Head Start’s positive track record, shows that public education will succeed in poor neighborhoods only if there is adequate funding for both necessary human services and education.

Unfortunately in today’s world of recurring state budget crises, education and human services are constantly pitted against each other, fighting over scraps from the same inadequate pot of money. The result is they both lose, but because protecting human services is less politically valued than education, they are usually cut deeper. As of 2003, the Illinois state budget crisis has caused over a billion dollars’ worth of cuts in human services, health care, education and public safety. As a result of those cuts, the Illinois Department of Human Services lost close to 800 caseworkers, displacing 3,300 clients. And while availability of services is shrinking, demand continues to rise. There are 100,000 new applications for medical assistance and food stamps.

Like Illinois, most states today face a structural deficit, which means their revenue is not growing at a rate high enough to even maintain current funding levels in the future. This means schools and service providers will be fighting over who loses less money for years to come. Not an exciting proposition, because when one loses, they both lose. Fewer free lunches means declines in test scores, which means decreases in school funding down the road.

In my own work I’m all about innovative solutions, about finding new and effective ways to do things, usually without any money. But there is only one real solution to the education and human services funding problem: tax reform. At least in Illinois, when we begin each fiscal year with a $2 billion deficit, how can we ever adequately invest in education? The Blagojevich Administration’s current plan to deal with these structural shortfalls is to make marginal improvements to K-12 funding, while “trimming the fat” from human services and higher education. Last year “the fat” included 44,000 low-income students who did not receive the state financial assistance for college they were eligible for three years ago. How much more fat can we afford to trim?

To save our schools, and more importantly the children they serve, states have to face our financing problems like adults, and raise the state income tax. Anyone who says otherwise is probably trying to win an election. Shifting the burden to an income tax based system from a local property tax system would also help to alleviate the shocking funding inequalities that allow some school districts to spend $18,000 per pupil and others $5,000.

In Illinois Governor Blagojevich, like most politicians, is smart enough to know it’s political suicide to raise income taxes. In fact he was elected largely because he promised never to raise taxes. This makes it unlikely that he will ever champion such a cause.

So the pressure has to come from somewhere else. In Illinois a broad-based group of educators, human service providers, and business representatives have formed the A+ Coalition dedicated to pooling their political capital to put pressure on the state to make the changes that are needed—and place education and human services on a sound fiscal footing well into the future. Through the efforts of advocates like these and realistic and courageous legislators, a bipartisan bill has been introduced that offers comprehensive tax reform. HB750 in Illinois, sponsored by State Senator del Valle and others, takes on this tough issue, and while it probably will not pass this legislative session, sponsors and advocates are raising awareness to work for its passage in an upcoming session. Other states have similar initiatives, but more are needed. This work will not be easy, and is not for the faint of heart. But if we’re serious about the future of our children, then it’s a battle we have to fight, and win.

Citations for all statistics are available at:
http://www.workwelfareandfamilies.org/home/aplus.html

Luke Shaefer is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, where he studies US social welfare policy. He is also editor of CYSI Online, a publication that features articles by young social innovators. Most recently he was public policy associate at Work, Welfare & Families in Chicago, a statewide coalition that promotes state policies that benefit families in need. He lives in Evanston with his wife Susie.