WASHINGTON — Money for the Pentagon and the nation’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is proving largely immune from the budget-cutting that’s slamming other government agencies in the rush to bring down the deficit.

On a 336-87 vote Friday, the Republican-controlled House overwhelmingly backed a $649 billion defense spending bill that boosts the Defense Department budget by $17 billion. The strong bipartisan embrace of the measure came as White House and congressional negotiators face an Aug. 2 deadline on agreeing to trillions of dollars in federal spending cuts and raising the borrowing limit so the U.S. does not default on debt payments.

While House Republican leaders agreed to slash billions from the proposed budgets for other agencies, hitting food aid for low-income women, health research, energy efficiency and much more, the military budget is the only one that would see a double-digit increase in its account beginning Oct. 1

Concerns about undermining national security, cutting military dollars at a time of war and losing defense jobs back home trumped fiscal discipline in the House. Only 12 Republicans and 75 Democrats opposed the overall bill.

“In the midst of a serious discussion about our nation’s debt crisis, House Republicans demonstrated responsible leadership that sets priorities and does not jeopardize our national security interests and our nation’s ongoing military efforts,” Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, said in a statement.

But Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, scoffed at the suggestion that “everything is on the table” in budget negotiations between the Obama administration and congressional leaders.

“The military budget is not on the table,” he said. “The military is at the table, and it is eating everybody else’s lunch.”

The bill would provide $530 billion to the Pentagon and $119 billion to cover the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would provide a 1.6 percent increase in pay and buy various warships, aircraft and weapons, including a C-17 cargo plane that the Pentagon did not request but is good news for the Boeing production line in Long Beach, Calif.

During three days of debate, the House easily turned back several efforts to cut military spending, including amendments by Frank on the Democratic side and and tea party-backed freshman Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C.

In Congress this year, anti-war lawmakers and budget-conscious tea partyers have banded together to try to rein in military spending with some success.

“We are at a time of austerity,” Frank said. “We are at a time when the important programs, valid programs, are being cut back.”

Frank’s amendment to cut $8.5 billion failed on a 244-181 vote Thursday.

“Many of us have gone around back home and told people how serious we are,” Mulvaney said. “But how can we look them in the eye and tell them that we are serious about cutting spending and then come in and plus up the base defense budget?”

He added: “We have made hard decisions. We have made hard choices. The Defense Department needs to do exactly the same.”

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The average starting teacher’s salary in California K-12 schools is $40,000.  The government buys bombs and missiles that cost $1 million each, the equivalent of 25 teachers’ salaries.

According to the California Teachers Association,

“K-12 and higher education funding has been cut by more than $20 billion the past three years alone. That’s about $3,000 less per student.  More than 30,000 educators and 10,000 education support professionals have lost their jobs, with the real threat of another 20,000 educators facing layoffs this year.  College tuition has increased more than 200 percent.”

California cannot adequately fund public education.  This is a result of many factors, from the recession to the 2/3 majority required for any tax increase, to Proposition 13 which limited property tax revenue, to the Republicans’ "religious" opposition to tax increases.

Meanwhile the Department of Defense budget consumes hundreds of billions of dollars for dubious purposes and debatable results.  The FY2011 DOD budget is $685 billion, an all-time  record, including over $200 billion spent on weapons.  The Soviet Union collapsed 22 years ago.  We are sacrificing our children’s education for a global "war on terror" that is open-ended and lacks clear objectives.

The U.S. has spent over $1.2 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Assuming a constant rate of spending for 10 years, that IS $3,800 per second.  Every 12.7 seconds the war costs go through a starting teacher’s salary plus benefits, $48,400.

It’s not that there is insufficient money for education.  There is plenty of money for education.  But it is being spent on the military.  It is our money!  We should decide what is done with it.

A grassroots campaign through local and state government, raising awareness and expressing the will of the people, can apply political pressure on Washington to change the federal budget and shift money to education.  The 25 Teachers’ Salaries campaign asks you to get involved.  Check out our website and contact us.

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July 8, 2011 news story from the Associated Press began with:

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Here is the item from the agenda :

In case that page gives you an error message, click on "Meetings" at the top left corner of the page, then find the agenda for the June 15, 2011 meeting, then look for item #9b, b. Resolution In Support of America's Weapons Rebate To Education Act

From that page you can download the school board resolution, the resolution for the California legislature which it supported, and America's Weapons Rebate to Education Act, which both of them supported.

You can download one document containing most of this information.

That document doesn't contain all of the bill, but here it is AWREA June 15, 2011.

I worked closely with Byron Giese, President of the Konocti Education Association, on this.  He liked the idea when I first went to the school board meeting in April.  He brought it to the 160 member KEA, who liked it.  Then he asked the school board to place the resolution on the agenda.  Byron and I plan to propose this resolution to the other school districts around Clear Lake and we hope some of them will adopt it in the fall.

Both Supt. William MacDougall and Board President Anita Gordon support this proposal.  He said that the 25 Teachers' Salaries campaign came up at a Superintendents meeting.  She said that the outreach to other local school districts should come from the campaign (us) so that it doesn't look like one district is trying to influence another.

We have high hopes for more success and support in the school districts around Clear Lake.

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The resolution mentions several facts about military and education spending including:

• In California the average starting Teacher’s salary is $40,000 per year.  It’s less in other states.
• For $1 million the government can either buy one bomb or the states can pay 25 teachers’ salaries for 1 year.
• The Pentagon budget is $685 billion this year.  1% of that amount would enable the states to pay for over 100,000 K-12 teachers’ and other educators’ salaries including benefits.

The school board resolution asks the California legislature to pass the Joint Resolution, which asks Congress to pass the America’s Weapons Rebate to Education Act, a citizens’ bill.  By adopting this resolution the Konocti school board would become the 2nd school board to do so.  On May 25, 2011 the Jefferson Elementary school board in Daly City  became the first school board to adopt such a resolution.

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The resolution mentions several facts about military and education spending including:

• In California the average starting Teacher’s salary is $40,000 per year.  It’s less in other states.
• For $1 million the government can either buy one bomb or the states can pay 25 teachers’ salaries for 1 year.
• The Pentagon budget is $685 billion this year.  1% of that amount would enable the states to pay for over 100,000 K-12 teachers’ and other educators’ salaries including benefits.

The school board resolution asks the California legislature to pass the Joint Resolution, which asks Congress to pass the America's Weapons Rebate to Education Act, a citizens' bill.  By adopting this resolution the Konocti school board would become the 2nd school board to do so.  On May 25, 2011 the Jefferson Elementary school board became the first school board to adopt such a resolution.

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We hope that this will be the first of many school boards to pass such a resolution.  They have set a precedent that should make it easier for all the other school boards to follow.

The resolution was brought to the school board by Ron Johnson, a teacher in the district.  He had first found out about 25 Teachers' Salaries when he signed the petition at the Davis Farmers Market on March 12.

You can download the resolution from the following link:

Jefferson 11-05-25 America's Weapons Rebateto Education Act - adopted

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Mark, Cathy, Tom and Lori at Picnic Day 2011

Saturday April 16 in Davis.  UC Davis' 97th Picnic Day, the University's open house, was a big event.  We had a table on the Mrak Hall lawn.  Cathy, Tom and Lori all came out and helped.  We must have given our 30 second speech explaining 25 Teachers' Salaries hundreds of times.  240 people signed the petition.  We had 3 clipboards with copies of it and many times all 3 were in use.  We also gave our peace cards and water based tattoos (thanks to Cathy), business cards, and inspiration.  We will be back next year.  Thank you to everybody who signed.

By the way our petition software is working again.  We are going to change it one day, hopefully soon, but right now you can sign our petition on our website.

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Bruce Colby, the district’s associate superintendent, business services, told the school board on March 17, “The district will need to reduce staff by $3 million if Measure A does not pass” and, “The district is left with a $3 million ongoing budget deficit beyond the parcel tax or staff layoff if the state does not approve tax extensions to maintain funding levels.” The tax extension will not be on the ballot in June; it may be in November. Vote yes and mail your ballot today!

Public education in California and all 50 states is in a major financial crisis. The nation’s schools need a reliable, long term source of funding.

The Department of Defense budget is $685 billion this year, an all-time record. The U.S. had spent $1 trillion on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars as of last summer. In 2008 Congress passed a bank bailout bill costing $840 billion. The Federal Reserve spent $1.8 trillion in 2009 and is spending $900 billion from last November through this September printing more money.

For only $6 billion — less than one percent of the military budget — the 50 states would be able to replace or rehire the 100,000 K-12 teachers and other educators laid off in the last four years.

For these reasons we are working hard to build a campaign to shift a portion of our resources from the U.S. Department of Defense weapons budget to the states, earmarked for hiring K-12 teachers and other educators. One less Tomahawk cruise missile fired at Libya would support the hiring of 25 teachers for one year.

Visit http://www.25teacherssalaries.org to sign our petition or find out more about our campaign.

Mark Graham, Cathy Haskell, Richard Livingston, Karen Newton, Ken Wagstaff

Davis

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http://digital.davisenterprise.com/opinion/letters/will-you-trade-bombs-for-teachers/

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Five years later, the agency has ballooned into a 1,900-employee behemoth and has spent nearly $17 billion on hundreds of initiatives. Yet the technologies it's developed have failed to significantly improve U.S. soldiers' ability to detect unexploded roadside bombs and have never been able to find them at long distances.

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