I went to public school, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, given my inability to do basic math and the fact that we were extremely poor when I was a kid. I happen to be a big fan of public school, myself. I think that education should be free and accessible to all those who want it, and that we have an obligation as a society to ensure that the quality of public education remains high.

By graduating stronger, more intelligent students, we will build a better society. This is pretty basic, and I don’t think that I really need to spell it out for you. Education is good, and inequality in education is bad.

Which is why I was horrified to read this article in the Los Angeles Times about schools being forced to use private money to pay teacher salaries. The article is complete with a picture of students running a car wash to raise funds for their schools. And I wonder what kind of society we live in when the government borrows money to send out “rebate” checks to taxpayers and students hold bake sales to pay their teachers.

Teachers don’t make enough money as it is, and I’ve been hearing a lot of scuttlebutt from unnamed sources lately about districts which can’t pay their teachers. About paychecks that never arrive, and fighting for pay when timecards “mysteriously” disappear. The fact that the budget crisis has become so severe that we cannot afford to pay teachers in California is, er, awful. I mean there’s really no other word for it.

Now, I am all for getting parents and communities involved in their schools, and I think that private money does have a role in public education. I believe that people respect and value things more when they have to work for them; take the band program here, which almost died before parents and students stepped up to support it. I believe that in communities where more money is available, being able to use that money on education is great.

But I also think that all schools deserve a basic level of funding. Teachers should be paid reasonable salaries for the hours they work, for example, and they should receive benefits. Facilities should be clean and pleasant. Textbooks should be current and useful. Classrooms should be stocked with necessary supplies, libraries should have books in them, and students should have access to the tools they need to learn. These things should not be in jeopardy. Ever. Period.

Students should never have to hold car washes to make sure that their teachers get paid, and teachers should not have to pay out of pocket for basic classroom supplies. Is it any wonder that children become resentful and bitter when their society basically says that they are worthless? I think it’s hard to see the justice in things when your classroom has no art supplies and the government is going into debt to pay for a war and to bribe taxpayers with “rebate” checks.

I think it’s time to get our priorities straight. Math classes, or the war on drugs? Excellence in the sciences, or tax kickbacks for the wealthiest Americans? History, or bailing out financial companies that made risky investments and paid the price? We’ve been spending money that isn’t ours, and it’s time to start paying for it.