I am a special education teacher in a small rural school district. I work in a district where the teachers and staff work hard, wear many hats and have learned how to do more with less, all so that our students get the education they deserve. We have accepted contracts where we took a 0% increase because our district just didn’t have the money. We have asked working families and farmers to put the needs of our students before their struggling families and vote yet again to raise their property taxes. We have endured program cuts where students lost learning opportunities and some of our staff lost jobs.

This is all because public school districts in our country are inadequately and disproportionately funded. Although special education is a federal mandate, the federal government kicks in less than 15% of the funding required. Somewhere along the way, property taxes have become a norm in funding public education, creating disparities between rural and metro, rich and poor, black and white.

Bernie Sanders believes that “every human being has the fundamental right to a good education.” That is why Bernie developed his Thurgood Marshall plan for education. The plan includes a reevaluation of the use of property taxes to fund public education. It ensures that schools in rural communities, as well as other underfunded communities, receive equitable funding. Sanders wants to “renovate, modernize, and green the nation’s schools” by closing the gap in school infrastructure funding. The federal government will finally provide at least 50% of special education funding.

If you agree that there needs to be equity in education funding and in student opportunity, check out Bernie’s Thurgood Marshall Plan for Education at BernieSanders.com/issues/.

Angie Hanson

Albert Lea