Testing Me

Question Number 37: If a sixteen-year-old girl files a lawsuit on behalf of the students in her state that currently ranks forty-seventh among all states in its per-pupil spending on education, spending two thousand eight hundred fifty-six dollars less per pupil than the national average, and sixty-two percent of the people in that state believed spending on education was insufficient while the governor continues his program to cut fifteen billion dollars from social programs including public education and a candidate for that same job has just spent another seventy million dollars on her campaign to become governor, can you find the numbers that make this problem go away?
No? Welcome to my world. We expect to leave no child behind, but we don't have money or time to teach them art or music or science or social studies. Programs for reading recovery and teaching assistant positions have disappeared and funding for those little plastic counters that make teaching math easier for kindergarteners has dried up. These next few weeks are some of the hardest and yet happiest at our school. Now that we have finished our state mandated testing, we have the relative freedom to bring out the paints, or build those models of California missions. The kids know that we're headed for that last big turn, and they're ready to burst with anticiapation. These are the weeks we have our Science Fair, and our Multi-Cultural Assembly. Second graders are finally going on that field trip. School can be fun again. In the meantime, our staff waits for the budget ax to come down one more time. Next year there may not be field trips. Or paint.
Question Number 38: How bad does it have to get?