Most likely we will see some people setting up extracurricular programs – like boy scouts, religious clubs, etc – for their kids to go to after school and on weekends. Believe me, some people will take care of themselves and see that their kids do get whatever is needed to be competitive and well rounded.

The urban school districts will have to go into survival mode and I just hope they keep the bathrooms cleaned and the classrooms heated.

We have not yet really seen the effect of this years economic failures. Give it 12 months.

Family, Church, Cult, Fraternities and Clan are going to be far more important in a year than they are now. The municialities are going to be in a real crisis. More things will have to be provided by Ad Hoc providers instead of Government.

And I’ll believe they (municipalities) are taking it seriously when statewide all the mayors and city councilmen (and school boards) are stripped of their pay entirely and municipal governance goes to all volunteer positions – as it should be. All “town fathers” and the like and no “community activists”.

My kids are getting private music lessons when they aren’t in public school music programs (Montera’s Beginning Strings class is saving us from having to find a new teacher for younger son). But a lot of families don’t have the income to make the same choices, and I will continue to hope that arts education can *somehow* not be lost to those families.

We are going to see unprecedented budget cuts by the municipalities. Art and football just might have to be suspended for the duration. Let’s hope that 911, fire and ambulance is kept at current levels – because that’s becoming unlikely also.

The Art programs may have to become volunteer programs run by the PTA’s – for the schools that have PTA’s.

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it” – Bertolt Brecht