Directly from the New York State United Teachers Conference, is a somewhat startling video, for its honesty, caring, and content devoid of caustic political rhetoric.

“…committed to deepening and broadening the educational options for children, and stopping this class system of subjects, which is only ours, and no where else I know of.”

And of course, there’s this quote:

 “somewhere a parent is explaining to a child why her music program has disappeared.”

And, well, why I appreciate the sentiment very much, and feel deeply for those who will lose their programs, it remains even more troubling to me that prior to the economy going south in 2008, we had a historic growth in spending on public education, but still, too many kids in the New York City public schools received little, thanks to education policies that hurt rather than help to “broaden educational options for children.” While I don’t blame David Steiner for this, it should be clearly noted that it is not only an issue of cuts to come that will decimate programs like the arts, but many kids who were shortchanged even during a period of extraordinary resources.