Lack of government, civil restraint doesn’t help economy

Last week Dallas Independent School District laid off almost 400 teachers, substitutes and counselors in an attempt to overcome an estimated budget shortfall of $84 million. That number is growing by almost $1 million a week, according to DISD officials.

The teacher layoff may help stop the financial leak, but in choosing to layoff teachers, DISD administration may have created a larger long-term problem than they realize.

Individual families often are advised to cut back on unnecessary expenses in times of crisis. We all do it. Starbucks seems to be struggling lately, mostly because that $4 cup of coffee isn’t as necessary as the gasoline needed to get us to school.

Teachers are necessary. Administrators who fail to protect the school system, which is the focus of their job, are not needed.

Everyday American children sit in classrooms around the country to learn how America operates. Job training, you might say, for how to run our country when it is their generation’s turn at the helm.

But because we can’t handle financial responsibility, they are being shortchanged. We will pay for it in our old age when an ill-equipped and unprepared generation comes to power.

Then we can sit back and tell them about our good old days, when anyone could purchase anything as long as the monthly payment was low enough. Back when we had houses so full of stuff that we had to rent storage buildings to help store it all. Back when we traded their future for a gaming system.

Financial accountability is sadly lacking in America, whether is it is a government entity or an individual household.

For years credit has been the link between take-home pay and the expenses of a chosen lifestyle. But the swinging bridge across the gap is looking pretty shaky these days.

For years Americans purchased big-ticket items by voluntarily locking up chunks of income for years. As long at the monthly payment was within reason, few people took time to study the effects of locking up that much income for a prolonged period of time.

We saw it, we wanted it and we threw a fit until we got it. Now we are letting the next generations pay for it.

Perhaps part of the economic problem is the lack of financial and civic education.

Very few schools are able to offer a curriculum that includes personal finance and community responsibility.

Since the majority of parents seem to believe children only need to learn what a school can offer, this part of an education is never addressed.

Instead overindulgent parents offer children easy access to money without first instilling in a child the value of the dollar.

As my Dad used to say, the value of a dollar seems smaller the harder you have to work for it, so it will be treated more carefully.

Personally, I believe teachers should be paid more than professional athletes. Their importance in molding America’s future is far more important than the ability to toss around pigskin on a Sunday afternoon.

DISD’s decision to layoff teachers is the culmination of several years worth of bad decisions. While it may help solve the district’s financial mess, it will only hurt the future of society. But who cares.

We won’t be the ones paying for it.

By Melissa Greene Associate Editor