Fill in the blank: the Republican War on _______. If you picked anything that is neither perverse nor hateful, there’s a Republican War on It. Therefore it should come as no surprise that there’s a Republican War on Kids, demonstrated by their refusal to compromise on the Republican Sequester, demanding exceptions to fund welfare for the rich and military contractors, while insisting that thousands of kids be thrown out of Head Start.
Head Start programs will eliminate services for 57,265 children in the coming school year thanks to sequestration’s automatic, across-the-board spending cuts, according to new government data collected from individual programs. California, Texas, and New York will cut the largest number of spots, at 5,611, 4,410, and 3,847, respectively. Nineteen states and Puerto Rico will cut off services to more than 1,000 children.
The cuts also mean the reduction of 1.3 million calendar days at centers across the country. About 18,000 hours will be cut by centers that are dealing with reduced funding by starting days later or ending earlier. Some programs are also eliminating bus services, and children whose parents don’t have reliable transportation may not be able to attend.
The cuts will also impact Head Start staff. More than 18,000 employees will experience lay offs or reduced pay.
Children have already been kicked out of the preschool program thanks to sequestration, according to reports across the country. The new data confirms that more children will experience the same fate.
Preschool programs aren’t just about keeping kids busy, but have big benefits in the long run. Children who attend stand to see $11 in economic benefits over their lifetimes for every dollar spent thanks to effects such as a higher likelihood of staying in school, going to college, and avoiding teen pregnancy and crime. The economy in general also benefits, seeing $7 in savings for every dollar spent and an increase in human capital and economic output… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
The Republican claim that this is about deficit spending is a lie. They’re perfectly happy to spend up the ying-yang on welfare for billionaires! If they were serious ,they would not be cutting $422 million in a way that statistically guarantees future expenditures of $2.95 billion covering drug rehab, incarceration, etc. for some of the kids Republicans are now pushing out the door.
Most of you know, I do volunteer work in prison. I’m too old to experience this, but someone will step forward to take my place, when I am no longer here. That person will help prisoners that Republicans kicked out of Head Start. My replacement will be happy to help, but wouldn’t it be far better to spend far less to prevent them going to prison?
23 Responses to “The Republican War on Kids”
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Yes, TC, it would be far better to prevent them going to prison – many of the prisons are owned by Republicans profiting greatly from the hugely increased prison population in the last thirty years. I have read so many autobiographies over the years and listened to so many people who say that their whole life has turned on the meeting of one person – and it either went to the good or to the bad. You make the prisoners that you meet go to the good, despite the temptations and the pressures TC, and that is infinitely laudable.
Pat, p;art of whayt I teach them is that they own their own feelings, so I can't make them feel good. I just provide tools that help them learn how to feel good about themselves. But thank you.
BOO HISS to all those things and all those people called Republican. What is wrong with these poor excuses for human beings?
Amen Arielle! What's wrong? InsaniTEA!
You are a man of great honor TC. Keeping my kids on the right path was the most difficult job of my life but, it was so worth it….
Thannk you, ichard. Good for you.
Further proof that Republicanus/Teabaggers only "care" about children in utero, not after birth. Even in utero, it isn't that they care about the fetus, it is that they enjoy the power of controlling another's life and body.
You are so right!
Amen. Republican right to life ends at birth.
It makes no FINANCIAL sense for Rethuglicans to want to cut funding to Head Start programs, because they SAVE THE COUNTRY MONEY!!!
http://thinkprogress.org/education/2013/02/13/1587281/case-for-universal-preschool/
(Oops … sorry – I forgot. It's because a good deal of the kids in those programs are … colored, don't you know?)
Yep!
I almost used that article, instead of the one I did. Good one!
Republicans accept two colors only. White and green.
It's disgusting that these people even consider themselves caring at all. How could people just abandon children and leave them with no future? Shame on them & maybe karma catch up with them soon!
Welcome, Laura! 🙂
May it be so!
The Deficit: Most voters believe it is still going up when in fact it is dropping like a rock. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151772797394255&set=a.416444264254.190398.43179984254&type=1
Education: See this:http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/26/1103368/-The-One-Comic-That-Explains-Just-How-Screwed-America-Is?detail=email
Joanne, I read this, it was so true.
Thank you Joanne. Those are great ghraphics!
I actually believed that there would be such a backlash from voters that the sequester would quickly end. My sister calls me Pollyanna a lot, I guess she is right. The kids who go to Headstart need every bit of help they can get to succeed in life, for many of them, the lunches and snacks will be all they eat that day. So I Need a Name is right, and so is Lynn. The thinly veiled racism and misogony are out in the open, and if our sheeple don't wake up soon, my granddaughter is going to have a terrible life. TC, you and I both know that many who are in prison are there because they lived a life of poverty and had no chance for an education. I wish there were more like you to help them.
Thank you Edie. I wish there were more of us too, and especially more that would advocate that prisoners are people too.
I have a great idea, while sequestration has to be across the board, why not limit it to red states? They're the ones who caused it, they should be the only ones affected.
I like your idea, Bob.
I like it too, Bob, except for one thing. The people who the sequester hurts mosts are the ones most likely to turn those Red states Blue.