OUR FUTURE NOW! PODCAST EPISODE # 6
Why Covid-19 is causing schools to slash budgets is the title of the sixth episode of Our Future: Now! A National Children’s Campaign Podcast. The show’s co-host Jonah Gottlieb and Natalie Mebane are joined by Giovanni Hernandez, an organizer for NCC and current student at Sacramento State University who is transferring to America University in the fall; and Ed Navarro, who is the Principal at Rincon Valley Middle School In Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School in Santa Rosa, California.
To listen to the Podcast, you can go here. It can also be heard on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts and at the National Children’s Campaign and Parentology websites.
During the nearly 22-minute episode the discussion focuses on how schools are facing reduced budgets, what schools will be losing as a result of this lack of funding, and why the Senate needs to act now to pass the HEROES Act.
Below is a guide to what is discussed during key points in the podcast:
- At 4 minutes: Hernandez talks about how Governor Gavin Newsome (D-Calif.) has responded to his state’s $54 billion, coronavirus-exacerbated budget deficit by proposing nearly $8 billion in education cuts.
- At 5 minutes 20 seconds: Navarro talks about how those budget cuts will cost his school district more than $30 million in funding over the next two years.
- At 7 minutes 5 seconds: Navarro talks further about how programs that help engage students or that support them during trying times are always put on the chopping block when budgets shrink. His district is not only dealing with impact of the coronavirus, but is still recovering from devastating wildfires.
- At 9 minutes 35 seconds: Navarro talks about how those wildfires forced him and his family to stay with Gottlieb for a little while. Most importantly, the experience made Navarro realize that you need to take care of the student as a person first, some who were traumatized by losing their homes, before you can properly educate them.
- At 12 minutes 5 seconds: Hernandez talks further about the proposed California budget cuts to higher education and the bind that puts college students in. He decided to transfer to an out of state university when the opportunity presented himself, but he worries about his peers who don’t have the flexibility he has.
- At 16 minutes 50 seconds: Navarro talk about how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-Ky.) decision to delay consideration of relief for states is hurting schools right now. He also talks about how the rush to reopen the states is often being done in a shortsighted fashion that could prolong the problems the country is facing.
- At 19 minutes: Hernandez and Navarro talk about what they would say to federal lawmakers if given the chance: stop playing politics as usual and get to work on behalf of the American people by investing in young people public education by helping states plug their funding gaps.