‘Misplaced Priorities’

With the federal and state budgets in crisis, government spending has come under close scrutiny.  

In April, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People published a report called "Misplaced Priorities: Over Incarcerate, Under Educate." According to this report, funding for prisons has grown at a rate six times higher than funding for higher education.

In addition, the Pew Center for the States analyzed state spending for the 20-year period between 1987 and 2007, and after adjusting for inflation, found that funding for higher education grew by 21 percent, while corrections funding grew by 127 percent.

According to the report, the United States is home to 5 percent of the world's population but houses 25 percent of the world's prisoners. Nearly $70 billion each year is spent on incarceration, parole and probation functions. A quarter of the 2.3 million people behind bars have been convicted of drug-related charges, and, as a result of the "war on drugs," have been mandated prison sentences rather than drug diversion or rehabilitation.

Money from California's General Fund pays for education, health care, housing, public assistance, and prisons. It should come as no surprise that the National Association of State Budget Officers, which analyzes general fund expenditures, revealed that prison spending far surpasses elementary and secondary education spending.

School budgets are being slashed time and again, teachers are being laid off, classes are being cut, and students are being turned away. Lack of educational opportunities leaves less advantaged citizens with fewer choices when it comes to feeding their families, and increases the odds these people will turn to drugs or crime to survive.  

It's time to stop this vicious cycle of cutting education while increasing spending on the imprisonment of non-violent offenders. Enacting a few common-sense reforms, such as paroling incarcerated non-violent drug offenders, will allow us to limit money spent on the prison system and divert those dollars to education, drug-abuse prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, job training and employment services.

Adequate and affordable education for all citizens should be America's priority if we hope to have a healthy and productive nation in the years to come. Our current path will lead us to an ignorant, addicted, and locked-down populace that will be a costly burden on the public, rather than being productive, contributing members of society.

thomask8@imail.losrios.edu