You know friends, I’ve had this all wrong.  Here I’ve been fighting against turning our schools into prisons with guards and guns, fences and cameras.  What was I thinking?  When I compare what prison inmates have as compared to our public school children, maybe I need to rethink this.

So, let’s see here.  My school district is able to spend a little over $10,800 per student which is just slightly less than the U.S. average.  This is no small amount but when you count in the cost of personnel, building and maintenance, equipment, etc., that money is stretched pretty far.  Not far enough to hire enough mental health professionals or provide all the supplies every child needs.  Thank goodness we have kind parents who kick in every year and help provide those much needed every day items!  Teachers rely on foundations and grants to fund things they need in their classrooms rather than on tax dollars.  Teachers are a creative bunch because they have to be.

So, let’s now compare that to dollars spent per inmate in our prison system.  In 2015, the average annual cost per inmate in Nebraska was @$38,000.  Now, math was never my best subject, but that comes to about three times what we’re spending per pupil.  I realize it’s no picnic in prison, but imagine if this was reversed.  Prisoners are provided 2-3 bland meals per day (as described in an article I read).  Children and their families have to apply to qualify for free and reduced lunches and breakfast but everyone else pays.  While you might say, the lunches are better at school, I would say, yes, but I would imagine there’s quite a bit of soy in there disguised at meat and usually, it’s pretty bland as well.

Prisoners get medical treatment.  This includes needed treatments for diseases like cancer and diabetes and needed surgeries.  This costs the taxpayers in the billions of dollars.  We currently have children in our public school system with no healthcare who can’t afford to see a doctor or dentist.  So I’m thinking maybe this prison idea isn’t so bad.  If we paid the same for children as we did for inmates, imagine the investment we would be making in the future!  So, if turning our schools into prisons includes increasing what we spend on them for things they really need, well, maybe I need to rethink my position!

All of this of course is tongue in cheek, but I’ve heard it said you can tell where a person’s priorities are based on what is written in his checkbook.  Where do we as Americans choose to spend our money?   Where do our public government officials choose to spend our money? Who is more of a priority, our children or prison inmates?   I’m pretty sure our checkbooks have spoken.  People argue that we need to treat inmates humanely but at what cost?  Our public schools, public school teachers and students haven’t been treated well in a long time and each time a tragedy occurs in our schools, we mourn for a while and brush it off until the next one.  Because it hasn’t affected US.  Are we waiting for the tragedy of dying children to hit us personally before we do something about it?  Is turning our schools into prisons the answer?

I saw today where the President made a suggestion that perhaps teachers could be paid more if they chose to carry a gun at school.  Maybe I’m wrong, but every teacher I know would turn that down flat.  And I’ll be honest, if it was mandated that I carry a gun to teach, I would quit my job.  I love my kids but I will not carry a gun.  What would the public do if teachers walked off the job?  We’re currently not gaining enough new teachers to take our place because let’s face it, who wants to work in a field where you don’t get paid as much as other professionals, you don’t get the same respect as other professions, everyone tries to tell you how to do your job and oh yes, you might get shot at.  Why in the world would anyone in their right mind want to do this?

I realize there are other things we spend money on, other than inmates, that take money away from education.  And I’m sure people have great reasons to spend money on all those other things.  But I would argue that the proper education of our children, our greatest resource, in a safe environment, by qualified teachers, with all the resources they need should be one of our top priorities.  And if it takes making our schools a prison to get those things, maybe I should rethink my stance.