When a great disaster, like a hurricane or an earthquake, strikes people in our country, the president often declares a state of emergency. This mobilizes resources; it cuts through red tape; and it focuses attention on the people who are in danger so they get the help they need -- and get it right away. Last week, leaders of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) from across the country called on President Bush to declare a state of emergency for America's poor children and to devote some of the peace dividend to their pressing needs.
There have been many reports and studies about the state of our youngest and poorest citizens. So we know that 20 percent of U.S. children under 18 are now living in poverty and that the number will rise to nearly 25 percent by the year 2000: That's one child in four. We know that nearly 10 million of the 36 million Americans who do not have health insurance -- and therefore decent health care -- are children. But facts and figures like these have not moved the government to action.
The AFT leaders talked about the realities behind the statistics, realities that teachers and all those who work with children in the schools face everyday. They talked about children who come to school hungry and sick and exhausted. They talked about children who are beside themselves because of some tremendous upheaval at home. Maybe a parent has been laid off or an older brother sent to jail.
Teachers and paraprofessionals have always helped their students deal with problems like these; they've considered it part of their job. But the problems are increasing in number and getting more severe. At the same time, schools have fewer and fewer resources.
Over the past ten years, the federal government reduced its financial responsibility for programs like Medicare and Medicaid and passed more and more of it on to the states. As a result, states have had less to spend on education. The current recession has meant that money for education has been trimmed even further; and local governments, also pinched by the recession, are unable to pick up the slack.
So school budgets have been slashed. Teachers have been laid off, and, in many districts, guidance counselors, psychologists and school nurses are a thing of the past. Classes are crowded: A teacher who used to teach 25 kids in a class might now have 40 -- but still only books for 25. Teachers and paraprofessionals are overwhelmed. And the increasing number of kids who desperately need help often are not able to get it. The schools themselves are falling apart: Roofs leak; toilets and washbowls don't work.
These problems do not affect children who belong to one ethnic group only or who live in one part of the country. As Sandra Feldman, president of New York City's United Federation of Teachers said, "Poverty does not discriminate; it destroys urban and rural children, white, African-American, Latino and Asian children alike." U.S. schools are now working to achieve the education goals for the year 2000 set forth by the president and the nation's governors. If we hope to achieve these goals - and to remain a competitive and healthy democracy in the next century -- we can't ignore America's poor children. These children depend on us for their future, but we also depend on them.
President Bush answers this challenge by saying that he cares very much, but that our country can't afford to spend any more money. We know that's not true. We know there is an enormous peace dividend: money we no longer need to spend defending ourselves from external enemies. What better way to spend it than to acknowledge the emergency our poor children are facing and target money to programs that will give them a chance to get the education they need?
Most of the programs we are talking about are already in place, and we know they work. Here's what we have in mind:
• An additional $2 billion for Chapter 1. Half would provide Chapter 1 services for one million educationally disadvantaged kids who don't get them now; the other half would be used for full-day early childhood education for 4- and 5-year-olds.
• An additional $800 million for the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This would increase the federal government's payment to the states for the education of handicapped children.
• An expansion of Medicaid to provide elementary school counselors who would help children facing temporary health or emotional crises and keep them from being inappropriately placed in special ed programs.
• An additional $1. 7 5 billion for Head Start. This would up the number of children served and expand coverage to 3- and 4-year-olds.
• $2.5 billion to fund health clinics at or near schools.
• $500 million (the first year) for a 5-year public works program to help rebuild schools.
• $100 million for other special programs for homeless children and those needing bilingual education or English as a second language.
• $2.5 billion for local programs for child care, prenatal care and preventive health care.
• $100 million for additional training for math and science teachers. This is real money, but it's no gamble. And if the money is transferred now, it would start making a difference by September.
Victims of floods and earthquakes didn't bring their misfortunes on themselves, and we give them help in rebuilding their lives. How can we deny poor children the chance to build theirs?