My Kid's Textbook Doesn't Know We Elected a Black President

It's also old enough to vote...

What happens when a state defunds its schools and teachers for two decades? The schools start cutting back. That can look like teachers who work for $1500 per month. That looks like 4-day-school weeks. That looks like schools without a Science lab, or a track, or books with a spine. That looks like a system barely hanging on.

It’s the Republican mantra. Defund a system. Wait for it to fold in on itself. Claim the system doesn’t work. Push to privatize it to enrich your donors. Rinse. Repeat.

This is the book my kid brought home during the first week of school last August. I was embarrassed. And, then I was angry.

She pulled the book out of her backpack and I had a flashback…I’m pretty sure my oldest son (he’s 16 years older than his sister) had the same book. This must be a joke? The book was published in 2005. It doesn’t have a spine and is held together with tape.

Okay, so the book was published 19 years ago. What’s the big deal? What’s missing from my child’s textbook?

Hurricane Katrina. The Patriot Act. Financial turmoil of 2008. Obama’s election. The Tea Party’s formation in reaction to Obama’s election. The ACA. Osama Bin Laden is dead. Benghazi. Ferguson. A white supremacist shooting and killing parishioners at Mother Emanuel. Trump’s election. The Muslim ban. Charlottesville. The Mueller Report. Impeachment. Jan 6. Biden’s election.

Of course those last two were only 3.5 years ago, but lordy! This book is almost old enough for a beer.

The textbook can likely be found in rural schools across the country, but especially in states that refuse to fund public schools. Missouri is one of those states.

Over 30% of Missouri schools are on a 4-day week due to defunding. A few years back, Missouri legislators tinkered around with the funding formula for Missouri schools. They lowered the bar to say they were fully funding schools which is required by the state Constitution. But they were lying…they were meeting a lower bar and cheating schools by millions of dollars each year. They also quit fully-funding transportation which made schools dip into their general funds to keep buses running.

Even worse? We are 50th in starting teacher pay and we rank 49th in educational funding. And now the Missouri GOP is looking to pass a voucher scheme. Perfect.

Back to the textbook though…I posted a picture of it on Twitter and there were so many folks who were horrified, but many comments were from others saying that kids use computers anyway, so quit whining. Like folks out in the sticks have access to reliable internet? And, even if it’s available, a lot can’t afford another monthly bill.

The attack on schools by the GOP has been going on for so long that many in rural spaces have stopped asking for more for their kids. They haven’t seen funded schools in so many decades that they’ve forgotten what funded schools look like. I often hear that teachers should just “stick to reading, writing, and math.” Friends, that is a third grade education. Don’t we want more?

Maybe? Maybe not.

I remember knocking a door in rural Missouri in a town where the local school had just fallen to a 4-day week due to chronic defunding. A mom answered the door and listened politely while I told her I was running. She looked at my literature and saw that I was a former teacher. She then asked if I was a Republican or Democrat. I answered her and she said she couldn’t vote for me because she is a Christian (that story will have to be an entire essay) but she did say there was something I could do for the schools. I thought, here it is! This is my break! She is going to talk about the 4-day week. Nope.

She told me that if I won, I should bring back school prayer. SCHOOL PRAYER.

Lady, your kid can pray anywhere and anytime he wants. Teachers just can’t lead prayer.

I was so taken aback. The state has stripped Missouri schools of funding, teachers, athletic facilities, art, science labs, and theater, but someone has told folks their children can’t pray and that is the issue they’re concerned with. They are playing games with our kids’ futures, but they have folks out here asking for less…trading in a well-rounded education for a lie.

One solution? We have to talk to our neighbors about the defunding of schools and who is defunding them—and please use that term. Our schools were formally funded at a higher rate than they are now. They are defunded. See the chart below.

We can and must do better for Missouri kids. They deserve well-qualified and well-paid teachers. They deserve Science labs and Art class. They deserve books that can tell an updated History.

“If we get public education right, everything else will follow. But if we get it wrong, not much else will matter.” Steve Kagen

I agree.

~Jess