Both Teachers, Husband and Wife Wait to Feel Sequester's Effects

FIRST PERSON | The impact of the sequester in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, is difficult to determine. Funding for education will be cut, affecting my wife and me, both teachers. Estimates show funding for Ohio's public education system will be reduced by nearly $50 million. More than 600 school jobs will be cut.

Both our jobs depend on federal funding. My wife, who teaches children with disabilities, is especially vulnerable to cuts. How will the sequester affect us? We don't know yet -- the process of staff reduction is slow, but it does have us, and many other teachers, a bit on edge. Fortunately for us, even in the worst case -- one of us losing our job -- we'll be able to get by.

The sequester is a poor solution to an invented deficit problem. Borrowing and lending, whether public or private, have always fueled economic growth. Government budgets are not the same as family budgets -- families don't have nearly unlimited borrowing potential. If the deficit were such an issue, why are rates on government bonds down? Why haven't we seen a huge jump in inflation?

Economics aside, there is a larger issue here: The deficit is primarily the result of tax cuts for the wealthy, two unfunded wars, and the bank bailout. Should average Americans bear the brunt of deficit reduction? Is it just to ask schools to do more with less, to squeeze more children into fewer classrooms, and cut early education programs, such as Head Start? Likewise, should the poor, sick, and elderly be made to suffer in the name of deficit reduction?

I hope most Americans will view the sequester as a referendum on the type of country in which they would like to live and will answer these questions with a resounding "no."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/both-teachers-husband-wife-wait-feel-sequesters-effects-192100808.html

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