On kids and cuts: Plain talk from a congressman

"To continue demoralizing our students and parents with programmatic cuts while rewarding failure in our financial system is unacceptable."

What about a bonus for our children?

By Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.)
Reprinted from the Mankato Free Press
March 21, 2009

On Monday evening, I attended the Mankato Public Schools forum on the upcoming budget adjustments. I observed this meeting as the father of a Roosevelt Elementary second grader. As students, parents, teachers and counselors spoke passionately about what the cuts would mean for the Mankato area and the activities they believe are worth sustaining, I found myself more proud than ever before that I am a part of this community.

When West freshman Michael Maurer spoke, I could not help remembering other young men like Michael who sat in my classroom. He spoke with confidence about the sense of belonging that he felt as part of the academic decathlon team. Countless times my colleagues and I watched as a shy, self-conscious freshman entered that big high school building, only to be transformed from an outsider in awe of the upperclassmen to an integral part of the fabric of the school community. The most common factor in this transformation was the student’s involvement in activities like speech, debate, cheerleading and academic decathlon.

Michael and his teammates spoke out because the hard choices involved in balancing the budget means these programs will likely be cut. Many of these students and parents understood that so much more than a “program” was being cut; rather a way to belong was ending.

The truly tragic thing is that when I came back to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the news broke that AIG would be doling out bonuses not to the beacons of the financial industry, but rather to the people who invented the exotic financial tools that caused part of the meltdown.

The anger and frustration that I feel is because this was so preventable. Last fall, after I voted against the first Wall Street bailout, my vote was characterized by some as irresponsible. At the time, I publicly cited the failure of the bailout package to address excessive executive compensation as one of the primary reasons I could not vote for it.

Today, we see how fundamentally unfair it is that the Wall Street bailout provides million-dollar bonuses to executives who made bad decisions. In contrast, the leadership of Ed Waltman and the Mankato School Board has made our school district a beacon to which others aspire. But sadly, there are no bonuses for schools. Even beacons like Mankato are facing deep and dramatic cuts this year.

I am saddened for the young people of our community who are seeing their opportunity to gain the sense of belonging and self-confidence that comes with participation in these activities eliminated while we watch fat-cat CEOs and unscrupulous financial brokers walk away with taxpayer dollars for a job poorly done.

As we prepare the fiscal year federal 2010 budget, I will continue to be governed by the conviction that a budget is far more than just a spreadsheet; it is a moral document that reflects our values as a country and rewards those who we believe to be inspirational examples for the rest of the country.

We can and must do better for our children. We must invest in them and the future and in inspiring the country to greater heights. To continue demoralizing our students and parents with programmatic cuts while rewarding failure in our financial system is unacceptable.

Tim Walz is a Democrat from Mankato who represents the 1st Congressional District of Minnesota.