By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

CAHOKIA, Ill. – Enough of the whining.

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Officials in the Cahokia, Illinois school district are setting off alarms throughout their community by announcing a preliminary budget that would eliminate 52 jobs and all school sports next year, according to the Associated Press.

The cuts won’t be definite until state officials finalize their education budget, according to the news report. But the state is already $1.2 million behind in payments to the district, and if nothing changes the school will run out of money in a year.

“It’s very depressing and very hard to keep motivated,” Superintendent Art Ryan was quoted as saying. “We’re being mandated to deal with the fact that we live in a state that is broke.”

Okay, so deal with it and do something about it. And that “something” should definitely not involve taking extracurricular activities away from children. Perhaps even some layoffs could be avoided.

The school board could start by examining its labor budget. Do the various union contracts in the district have any fat that could be cut, like automatic, annual pay raises for teachers or other types of expensive bonuses? Are employees required to help pay for their health insurance premiums or pension contributions? If not, they should be.

We’re certain union leaders would be willing to make some contract concessions to help their younger members avoid layoffs, or help students maintain their afterschool programs. After all, they always say the kids come first.

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Staff and students could also get off their butts and start planning various types of fundraisers to pay for extracurricular activities next year. Certainly there is enough local pride to save the sports teams and other activities that keep kids occupied and off the streets. Somebody just needs to plan the fundraisers and make an appeal to the businesses and residents of the community.

If the folks in Cahokia need a few pointers, they could go to any private or parochial school and get a lesson on fundraising. Those schools don’t count on government to provide money for their needs. They get out and hustle and earn the extra dollars it takes to fund the school basketball team or the school play.

The superintendent is correct. The state of Illinois is pretty much broke, due to the lingering effects of the recession. Instead of crying about that fact, and struggling to find motivation, Ryan should take the bull by the horns and lead the cost-cutting and fundraising efforts himself.

It would be a powerful and useful lesson for students – how to react to adversity and become self-sufficient when the rest of the world lets you down.