Some Families Sacrifice in Response to School Cuts

A mother of two, Wai Ping Ma finds it hard to keep up her family budget.  She had to give up buying supplies for family usage. Her family had to depend on using re-used items rather than using new ones. Instead of every year buying new supplies for school, Ma’s family have to use the item they didn’t finish from the year before.

Some families are making sacrifices in order to provide their children with necessities for school because budget cuts have slashed many programs their children used to go to.

Ever since the budget cuts in school programs were announced, Ma’s family has been struggling to keep their finances under control because they would need to pay for other afterschool programs, since the school no longer provide the same program.

Ma and her family live in an apartment in Chelsea. She has two daughters, one who is currently in college.  She used to work in a factory in Chinatown. She was born and raised in Guang Dong, China, but moved to America with her family 19 years ago, hoping to live a better life.

“School budget cuts are affecting me personally because currently I am unemployed and my youngest daughter has one more year until she goes to college,” said Ma.  “It is hard enough that only my husband brings home the income.  As a family, we have to cut down the things we buy, like clothes and shoes.”

Some families have feared the budget cuts since the start of the economic downfall; The city has had a budget gap since 2008 and the government has threatened to cut 8,500 teacher positions,  according to an article on CNN.com.

Having less staff to teach children in programs would contribute to the eventual disappearance of these programs. Children need programs to have their best education and without programs to educate children, they will have nothing to do.  For some families, grandparents had to make sacrifice in order to make the best for their grandchildren’s in school.

Lu Zhao Ma Song lives in an apartment in Chinatown by herself. She has two granddaughters, aged 9 and 10, who lives in Uptown. They attend an afterschool program call “Virtual Y” that was in their school, PS.42.  This program moved to a YMCA in East Broadway.  The move caused distress in Ma song’s household.

“If the government cut any more programs or move programs to another place, it will be hard for me to bring them home,” said Ma Song.  “I’m already a 76-year-old grandma and all I want is my grandkids to have fun, but fun is too far away.”

 â€œI don’t want my grandma to walk so far to bring us home.  She already has back problem and I don’t want to see her injure herself again,” said Ma Song’s granddaughter Yu Yin.  Next year, I am probably not going back to this program because it is too far from my grandma home, even though I really want to go.”

Suki Wong, a 17 year old, at Baruch College Campus High School loves taking AP Art, but her class will be the last to enjoy it.

“In my school, I heard that they would cut the AP art class. I am passionate about art and now I have to go to elective classes unrelated to art,” said Suki

“My mom works at a day care center and she has to be aware of the supplies they have. The government is cutting funds used to buy supplies for children,” said Suki.  “My mom makes me re-use items and makes sure I don’t waste items that can be still used.  I find that a struggle.”

“Cuts to the Department of Education’s budget leave our most vulnerable children and youth without the services and supports that they need to succeed in school,” said Ailin Chen, an education policy manager at Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. CAACF works New York City families on education and health isues.

“All I want for next year is to have afterschool program to go to. I hope the Department of Education won’t cut afterschool program in my school because I don’t want my parents spending extra money only for a program of 2 hours,” said Wendy, 9 who goes to PS.42, an elementary school in Chinatown.