SUFFER THE CHILDREN

Once again, our children’s needs, welfare and health are being compromised under the guise of sharing the pain.
Our faltering economy is creating gigantic budget deficits at the federal, state and city levels, now and down the road. In order to close these monetary short falls our elected representatives are proposing cutting the budgets of various organizations that serve our children.
Governor David Paterson has recommended slashing library funding by over 20 percent. Libraries have a tough time receiving a fair share when times are good and are expected to give back when times are bad. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has earmarked the city libraries for cutbacks in days and hours of operation too.
Libraries will be needed more than ever by both the young and old during these difficult economic times. After school programs will lose funding and our students will not have the libraries to go to for homework help or just a place to study.
The libraries provide internet access that children and adults alike will need to use in the coming months if they cannot afford access from home.
Day care centers are also being targeted for budget cuts.
The New York City Board of Education has been ordered to make cuts to a system that just achieved adequate funding from Albany. Bloomberg ordered a total of $565 million in cuts this year and next. Schools will not be built, repairs will not be made, seats will not be added to the already overcrowded districts throughout the borough.
The MTA is projecting a 23 percent fare increase that will add to the cost of living, working and going to school in the city. Subway lines and many bus lines are targeted for closing which will only add to our daily burden. Our schoolchildren will be impacted by these cuts.
Even the colleges, especially the CUNY system, have protested proposed tuition rate hikes. Faculty, staff and students collected over 45,000 postcards addressed to Paterson, Bloomberg and CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein containing the message, “Quality education is the best investment, especially in hard economic times … Invest in CUNY with public dollars - not tuition hikes.”
It should be noted that the Brooklyn, Queens and Lehman College campuses were established during the Great Depression. Investment in CUNY pays off - 90 percent of CUNY community college graduates are employed within six months of earning an associate degree, and CUNY graduates overall pump $15 billion a year into the state economy.
Bloomberg has even suggested closing the city’s 44 free dental clinics this spring to save a mere $2.5 million and jeopardize the health of the city’s neediest children. The New York State Dental Association fears that instead of finding Medicaid dental programs, 17,000 children who currently use the clinics will skip check-ups all together.
As our elected officials swing their budget axes we implore them to consider the long-term damage that is done whenever we cause our children to suffer.