Schools bailout would really help economy

Keith Baker, Heber City, Utah

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 | 2:02 a.m.

Parents and students are rightly upset about the Clark County School District’s pending budget cuts. After the Wall Street fat cats destroyed the economy, President George W. Bush bailed out Wall Street with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.

After people stopped buying Detroit’s gas guzzlers, Bush bailed out Detroit with $25 billion of the taxpayers’ money and Congress is considering giving Detroit another $25 billion. The schools have been badly affected by the economic crisis, but Bush has ignored the schools. Why should parents, teachers and students suffer for the mistakes of others, others who got bailed out of the mess they made? It’s time for a school bailout too.

A school bailout would be good for the economy. In fact, a school bailout is just what the economy needs.

The basic economic problem is that businesses and consumers have stopped buying. Restarting the economy requires spending government money to create more buying. Schools are uniquely positioned to buy, if they had money. There are lots of things schools need to buy, and mechanisms are in place for schools to spend money. All they need is more money, and they will buy, exactly what the economy needs.

Save the cheerleader. Save the students. Save the schools, and that will save the economy. Tell your congressmen: Bail out the schools. Do it now.

The writer is a retired U.S. Education Department researcher.