Aye, aye, aye…

By now, most my readers know that the Republicans in Michigan have carved roughly $1 billion out of our state education budget and are ready to reduce the per-pupil funding by another $150/student this year. But what you probably don’t know that things have gotten so bad in our state’s schools that some of them don’t even have toilet paper for our kids to use when they go to school.

I’m not kidding.

This is from our new State House Democratic Leader, Tim Greimel:

House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) today denounced legislative Republicans’ drastic school funding cuts have resulted in a lack of the most basic school supplies, including toilet paper, in the Pontiac City School District. The cuts have also resulted in the layoffs of 95 employees, including 42 teachers, in the past year. The Pontiac school district lies within Greimel’s House District 29. “It might be funny if it weren’t true. Our kids in Pontiac can’t even use textbooks in place of toilet paper, because classrooms don’t have enough of those, either,” Greimel said. “Since the start of this year, the hard-working and dedicated teachers of Pontiac have been paying out-of-pocket for toilet paper in their own classrooms. What’s happening here is utterly shameful, and all the more so because it could have been avoided.” {…} “Republicans don’t mind that their slash-and-burn approach to school funding is hurting our kids and destroying their right to get a quality education,” Greimel said. “When the Pontiac schools faced a $2.4 million shortfall in funding from the state, it responded by laying off dozens of teachers and cutting spending on necessities such as textbooks and toilet paper. The only possible result of that is having our kids crammed into overcrowded classrooms that lack even the most basic supplies. Our children deserve better than this, and that’s why House Democrats demand that education funding be restored and that Republicans stop raiding the School Aid Fund to pay for massive corporate tax breaks.”

This has crossed the line from outrageous to absurd. With more school “reform” on the horizon for this year, I can only imagine what’s next. Candles and kerosene lamps for lighting? Handheld chalkboards instead of writing paper?

I honestly am starting to believe that if it benefited their business pals, Michigan Republicans would figure out a way to make kids walk to school uphill in the snow. Both ways.

UPDATE: Best response on this piece yet, via @placido on Twitter:

@Eclectablog Republicans know "thug teachers" will keep buying supplies for their students. — Kristy Placido (@placido) January 25, 2013

[CC toilet paper photo credit: Darren Foreman | Flickr]