In yet another attack
on education, 99 public school workers in East St. Louis, Ill., are losing their
jobs. Out of those, 85 are badly needed teachers’ aides who work with children
with special learning issues.
Job losses and budget
cuts are nothing new in East St. Louis. Like most other industrial centers in
the country, it has been largely de-industrialized. East St. Louis is one of
the poorest cities in the country. According to U.S. Census data, 31.8 percent
of families live below the poverty line. For people under the age of 18, the
poverty rate is 48.6 percent. The population is 96.4 percent Black.
The East St. Louis
schools are currently under the “emergency” control of the state government.
What did the state do? It ordered the school board to hire a special
administrator named Jed Deets for $800 a day. Deets is in charge of slashing
education funding and laying off workers so that even more of the wealth in Illinois
can go to the rich instead of providing desperately needed services to poor and
working-class families in East St. Louis.
The salaries for the
top administrators of the schools in East St. Louis add insult to injury. The
superintendent is paid $171,600 a year; the assistant superintendent $130,104;
the chief financial officer $111,734; the executive director of personnel
$111,867; and the finance director $109,705.
Why are there always
trillions of dollars for bailouts, hundreds of millions of dollars in “incentives”
for corporations and money for ridiculous salaries for administrators but not
money for teachers’ aides and education for those who need it the most? No more
budget cuts! Chop from the top: tax the rich!
