OFA e-mail: The sequester is not a list of numbers made up to scare you, but…

…but while we’re on the subject, we just wanted to send our Organizing for Action supporters this quick update about how your child is probably going to be less safe and not as well cared for at his or her public school now that the cuts are kicking in. Just a casual e-mail between friends:

Friend -

Megan Allen is a fifth-grade teacher in Tampa, Florida. At her elementary school, 90 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Many live in poverty, with unstable home lives — some have parents in prison, others go hungry over the weekends. But at school, they’re winning science fairs, challenging themselves, and eating two hot meals a day.

For Megan’s 36 fifth graders, school is a safe place. The budget cuts known as the sequester could change that.

In the county where Megan teaches, 142 schools stand to lose $3 million in funding. The sequester could also slash as much as $2 million in federal funding for special education.

When those cuts kick in, Megan’s students could lose teachers that help them every day — for example, the folks who coach them through tricky arithmetic, or give those who are having reading trouble the special attention they need. The Head Start programs that got these students ready for kindergarten will be dramatically cut down. Their class sizes could go up, leaving less time for individual attention.

The sequester isn’t a list of numbers made up to scare you. It’s a very real thing that will negatively impact real people — like Megan’s 36 students and their families. [...]

Thanks for speaking up.

Lindsay

Lindsay Siler

National Director of Issue Campaigns

Organizing for Action

Hmm, wasn’t it President Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncation who performed one of the biggest sequestration-scaremongering face plants on the effects the cuts would have on teacher layoffs? Are you guys sure you’re not exaggerating, maybe just a little? ‘Cause this is getting really old, really fast.

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