Has it Really Come to this?

The other day I saw an article from Think Progress about a Pennsylvania school district that has found a way to save money using one principal's sheep to keep the grass mowed. That brought howls of laughter to my friends, and to me at first. But then I realized that because the school district where I live is just like everyone else's, broke and desperate, we could be doing the same thing - soon.

Think Progress' source for the story is the Pew Center for the States website Stateline in an article entitled 'Five ways students will feel budget cuts' by By Ben Wieder, a Stateline Staff Writer. While the sheep portion of the original story is anything but humorous, the Think Progress piece tries to put some lipstick on the story by including only 2 paraphrased paragraphs of the 4 concerning the Carlisle, Pennsylvania school district replacing groundskeepers with sheep. The original article potrays 4 other ways students and by proxy, parents will feel these draconian cuts.

School districts all over the US have taken damage from the recession and in some districts, the damage is palpable. From the Stateline article comes this nugget:

17 drivers have already been eliminated in Colorado’s Falcon School District, which includes parts of Colorado Springs. But the loss of familiar faces isn’t the biggest change on board the bus. This year, students are being charged $1 for each ride, with their trips tracked by a swipe card they use to get on the bus.

There are 58 bus drivers and buses in my small school district. My daughter rides #44 twice every school day. School lunch fees are up here to; costing almost three dollars a day. The middle school was creative in finding ways to manage for now, but for how long. The demographics of our school district show we have a wealthy enclave who support the school district, even though they are overwhelmingly republicans. For those of us who have enough money to pay, the squeeze is on. For those who are not as fortunate, the the coils of this serpent are crushing. How long before the Koch's win and we no longer have any sort of shared sacrifice at all?

I don't mean to ramble, but I remember my econ 101 class many, many years ago dscussed opportunity cost, that is the cost of not doing one thing for another. It seems to me that we all have born an opportunity cost for the crazies, the under-informed, and the politically apathetic. What is it you want for the country? I want us to be the adults we should be and teach our children respect and responsibility, along with being empathetic to those who are weaker in some manor. To be strong or maybe to be healthy, we all must pull the cart in the same direction. One thing is certain, if we continue to pull the cart from opposing ends, the cart will be destroyed.