Does Chicago Need More Money?

The first reason that military spending should be cut down on is that it takes away the focus from other incredibly important areas. One of the many areas that loose focus because of the large amount of military spending is the education sector. Primary education should be one of the main concerns of our government. Not only because it is where we teach our children about the world, but also it gives them the chance for a better future. They do not learn this from the military. The main reason that education is a better investment is because in the long run education helps the economy grow, since it creates a more skillful labor force. The amount of spending that goes into the military takes away from the potential of a long-term benefit to our

Donald Trump’s audacious administration is actually proposing a budget for 2018 that increases military spending by 54 billion dollars!(4) To make this feasible massive cuts have to be made to the detriment of bureaucratic organizations such as: the department of education, the EPA, department of labor, housing and urban development department. To give that number a frame of reference, the estimated cost of providing tuition free public universities under the 2016 Sanders plan is approximately 75 billion dollars.(5) We already have nearly eight hundred military bases around the world, do we really need to allocate more resources to this department in which we already have the ability to act unilaterally on a global scale with impunity?(6) Or are there other departments in our society that could benefit more from an influx in funding?

The United States has many conflicts, one of them is funding on public education. Despite the fact that funding on public education will not help students succeed academically with the money provided to the schools, every school deserves to get as much money because students will receive more proper education and will be more successful students in the future.

Chicago’s budget crisis has been one of the most unfortunate events of the decade. As a former student of Chicago Public Schools, myself and other students wanted the best for our education, but CPS school teachers and faculty are given the bad news that the City Council thinks we demand too much. Resulting in the Chicago Teachers Union strike of 2012, budget cuts, and many other events impacting things within the schools, it is no longer new to students, who also encounter what goes on outside, such as political news or neighborhood violence. Those in schools feel that it has been the place to be and to feel secure. Now that I have recently graduated, I have encountered a similar want for the best for my education through my college. As

Since last spring, Philadelphia school district leaders have been sounding the alarm about this year’s fiscal budget. Even after months of discussions and headlines, schools have opened with fewer resources than last year. On March 28th the School Reform Commission approved a lump sum budget which showed a need for an additional $220 million in revenue in order to provide schools with same resources as the “wholly insufficient” 2013-14 school year (McCorry). There will be many inadequate funding impacts on the quality of the education. Classroom resources would be stripped to untenable levels. The district would reduce as much as $2.2 million funding to the districts’ multiple pathways to graduation program which affects estimated 300 students. Another $1.5 million could be reduced from the elimination of preparation and professional development time for teachers at the district’s high needs promise academies. The district’s building maintenance budget could have reduction in amount of $9.6 million. Schools will be cleaned less frequently as a result. Building maintenance will also be curtailed as a result. District’s school police budget could also have reduction in amount of $2.4 million. School police officer vacancies will be unfilled, leaving an additional 27 elementary schools to share an officer.

The federal government has attempted to slice into the Department of Education’s budget since it was established in 1979. The department was originally founded in 1867, but soon became demoted since the government was afraid it would have too much power. “In the 1860s, a budget of $15,000 and four employees handled education fact-finding. By 1965, the Office of Education had more than 2,100 employees and a budget of $1.5 billion. As of mid-2010, the Department has nearly 4,300 employees and a budget of about $60 billion” (An overview of the U.S. Department of Education, 2010). To provide some comparable insight, in 2013 the Department of Defense’s budget of $663.8 billion (U.S. Department of Defense, 2009).

“The United States spent $598.5 billion dollars alone on the military in 2015. That is 54% of all spending in 2015. The US only spent $70 billion (6%) on education and $13.1 billion (1%) on food and agriculture.” (“Military Spending”). This shows what Americans really value.

In our reading "Choices are Everywhere: Why can't we just have it all?" from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis we learned that social security, national defense and healthcare programs are the top government spending categories (2013). While I believe all three are good places, I also feel like that 528.4 million dollars could have gone to our education system (not all but definitely some). According to usgovernmentspending.com the United States, in 2014, spend $1,283,079.6 million on healthcare (this includes local, state, and federal) while $962,948.4 million went to education (Total 2014 Government Spending). That is a $320,131.2 difference between total healthcare and education funding. I believe that is the opportunity cost; some of the money that went to PP that could have gone to education.

Look at Texas for example. The state is expected to receive 75,000 new students every year and yet the government has cut their budget by 13.5 percent. The government cannot expect our schools to improve if they keep decreasing the funding that helps better the educational

A lot of catholic schools are closing for many reasons such as a faltering economy, fewer Church members, rising costs and the inability of families to pay, secularization, and changing demographics. The school I chose is St. Agatha Catholic academy, which a is a kids program in Chicago. St. Agatha Catholic Academy is closing at the end no of 2016 due to low enrollment and financial difficulties. They recently turned into a pre kindergarten through the eight grade school last year, they only enrolled twelve children. The pastor of St. Agatha said that "It was pretty much expected. We're at a point (where) the community is inundated with pre-K programs. For me it

Chicago is facing a serious problem. Over this year 's Fourth of July Weekend, eighty four people were shot resulting in fourteen deaths. After this violent weekend, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel nearly called for total martial law, calling upon United States Military 's support to help protect Chicago 's citizens and patrol Chicacgo 's streets. So far in 2015, over 2,300 people have been shot in the city of Chicago, and it is only a matter of days until the death toll surpasses four hundred on the year. There are a number of factors that contribute to this inflated level of violent crime. Some would point to loose gun restrictions, others to gang fragmentation. I believe the most influential factor leading to these high rates of crime in certain

The United States military spending accounts for nearly 54% of federal discretionary spending. Of the $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending in the United States, military spending accounts for the widest amount of spending with $598.5 billion being spent, roughly 54%. The section of federal discretionary spending that was even remotely close to the money spent on the military is the federal discretionary spending that the government accrued at just under $73 billion which accounts for only 6% of the $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending. In 2011 the United States government spent about $718 billion on defense and international security assistance, more than it spent on Medicare. United States military expenditures are roughly the size of the next nine largest military budgets around the world, combined.

We should lower military funds. We should because we used We used a total of 610 billion dollars! The next seven countries used 601 billion dollars combined. Also in 2012, we spent the most money on our military funds. We used 711 billion and the closest country to using the same amount was China. China used about 143 billion dollars on its military funds. more money in 2014 than the next seven largest militaries combined.

For the second time in almost 4 years, over 350,000 Chicago Public School Students may not be able to go to school because of the CTU Strike that is currently in progress today (The Washington Post). The issue between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools has not been solved yet due to disagreements about the income received. The Chicago Teachers Union has made offers to school administrations; however, the responses were not in their favor. The union has been in progress of agreeing on a contract “since November 2011, [and the strike that occurred at the time] was the first to hit the Windy City in 25 years” (Liebelson). The issue must have erupted due to a misconception or a realization of problems occurring. Chicago Teachers Union choosing to strike does not affect charter schools since they are not a part of Chicago Public Schools. The issue of school strikes can be fixed by increasing the budgets and providing useful resources to teachers in order to improve the level of education.

Perhaps if the government were to "trim the fat" on their national defense budget which will reach $451 billion by 2007, there might be hope for the education system in our country. Instead of spending