Do not make the mistake of thinking that because my conclusion is the same as another person's that my reasoning is the same
We've seen that when you control for education it's easier for a white man with a felony record to get a job than it is for a Black man with a clean record. Now TalkLeft tells us about a report by the Justice Policy Institute that shows states are overspending on prisons and underspending on education.
"States can find the money they need to reinvest in education and communities by reducing prison populations and creating alternatives to cut incarceration costs," the report states.
The report is critical of states that have cut K-12 education spending to balance their budgets in recent years while shielding prison expenditures.
"We take money from schools and put it into prisons, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for young people," said Vincent Schiraldi, executive director of the liberal-leaning institute and a co-author of the study.
We had a similar discussion in Texas prior to the last Legislative session. Then we boldly cut all of the drug rehab programs out of the prison budget, delayed fixing the broken school finance system until next year, and talked about giving massive contracts to unaccountable private prison contractors.
What I'm trying to say is... for God's sake, don't follow Texas' example.