I had dinner at a local restaurant last evening and heard a waitress lament the impact resulting from Governor Corbett’s decision to cut education funding rather than tax Marcellus Shale gas extraction (as does every other state that produces it).
The city elementary school which her young son attends has cut the librarian from five days to one day a week; all classes must visit that one day since it is closed the rest of the week. No longer can students come during breaks and free periods to find books, read or do research.
The waitress tries to take her son to the Lancaster Public Library on Duke St., the one nearest her home, but can’t get there often because of her work schedule. (Most libraries were forced to cut hours 2 years ago after Rendell slashed library funding). So her child, and plenty of others, are now hindered in their ability to improve their reading skills and enjoy reading as a wholesome past-time. Nor can she benefit from the educational programs. Don’t our politicians realize that this is why our children and our country is slipping ever farther behind much of the developed world?
Then there’s the librarian: her health care coverage has been eliminated now that she too is part time. The government will likely soon be paying her unemployment insurance for doing nothing instead of for teaching our children…and in the process, leave the economy with one less consumer and taxpayer.
Earlier in the afternoon, I asked the young lady cutting my hair at a local salon what she did for health insurance, since she could only get 20 hours a week of work. She said that she has a couple of more years on her parents’ policy. Thanks to Obama Care, children can be covered under their parents’ policies until the age of 25.
