Budget problems? Amputate a whole department. 

Public education in Springfield is being faced with two major hits this year. The city is looking at a massive cut to public library funding to solve budget shortfalls while the school district decided last week to fire dozens of teachers mid-school year for the same reason. Why should one city service or one classification of staff be asked to bear the brunt of all cuts? Why not take a little from administration, a bit from technology subscriptions, and something from other operations?

Nothing sensible operates this way. If I want to lose 25 pounds, I don’t just cut off a leg and declare my goals met. If my personal spending needs to be reined in, I don’t just stop buying gas. I cut back a little in multiple places: dining, entertainment, that used-book habit, etc.

Both of these cuts are directly and exclusively to entities whose sole purpose is to serve and support our community. This isn’t sound logic from a community service perspective or from a business perspective. 

For the city, we already know the library brings extra foot traffic — and thus sales — to our downtown small businesses. We also know for the schools that reducing class options and increasing class sizes discourages enrollment. That means both these cuts begin a cycle of lower revenue and smaller budgets.

It’s really a shame that educational services are the ones being targeted here. As we can tell from these decisions, Springfield is already educationally underserved. Thankfully, we’re periodically given the chance to vote for new decision-makers.

Ky Fireside
Springfield