Don't Touch the Education Budget!

Recently, a debate has broken out between President Obama and his democrats, and the republicans of the House and the Senate about the 2011 budget. Obama proposed a budget with very few cuts, as expected, and the republicans, vehemently opposed it, again, as expected. A debate has broken out between the two parties because the democrats want to keep spending high to stimulate the economy, while the republicans want to cut spending universally in order to stimulate the economy. This debate has raged and America and government employees are in jeopardy because a government shut down is possible if the two parties do not come to an agreement by March 18. In the midst of the debate, Obama has declared education as one of the things that he refuses to subject to budget cuts. The article titled "Obama Says U.S. Can't Sacrifice Education in Cutting Deficit" in the San Francisco Chronicle details the president's viewpoint regarding education with respect to the 2011 budget:

Obama has made education a centerpiece of his agenda to bolster U.S. economic competitiveness. Amid a debate with Republican lawmakers over how to trim the $3.7 trillion budget, the president is proposing to shift money from other departments and programs in order to provide more money to fund his education priorities. Among these are increasing the number of science, technology and mathematics teachers and producing an additional 8 million college graduates by 2020.

Rather than looking for a quick-fix to boost the economy, the president is looking towards the future, looking to build the start of a generation of American schoolchildren who are smarter, more efficient and more proficient than the generation before them. He is unwilling to cut spending because he sees that education truly should be the centerpiece of any presidential agenda because it is one of the centerpieces of a strong nation.