Pontiac Parent Tells How Funding Crunch Hits Home

Vera Burdette

"Every day something is being removed from our classrooms because of lack of funding," she said. "There's no money."

Under the so-called "No Child Left Behind" law, states are being shortchanged as the federal government creates new costly rules and regulations without adequate funding.

"The funding will change future lives," Burdette says. "It's critical that the money is here and wherever it's needed. It will make a difference. It would cut down on dropouts."

The 10,000-student district is already grappling with finding and keeping special-needs teachers. Emotionally impaired and gifted children alike are suffering from the lack of attention.

"We shouldn't have to send our kids somewhere else. We should have it inside our schools," she said.

Burdette is an example of why the National Education Association (NEA) and the Pontiac school district, as lead plaintiff in a suit against the federal bureaucrats, simply want the Administration to follow its own law and either provide adequate funding or stop unfairly labeling schools as "failing" and teachers as "unqualified," and forcing parents to use their own local taxpayer dollars to meet these new federal mandates.

"It's critical now," said Burdette, who is concerned about her son's future. "What are the next two to three years going to hold? We're lacking too much as it is."

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Another View: Find out why Pontiac teacher Teni Clark says "what it truly means to be an effective teacher is becoming lost in unfunded mandates."

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