Been reading some interesting things about DC government lately? So have we! Here are a few more facts that might surprise you:
- This school year, DC public schools had the first increase in student enrollment since 1969.
- Only one state’Massachusetts’has a higher percentage of adult residents with health insurance. And we’re tied for No. 1 with Massachusetts for the highest percentage of kids with health insurance.
- The number of books and multimedia checked out from our public library system has doubled in the last three years.
What’s going on, you might ask? Over the last decade, the District has made key investments in a number of areas, like schools, health care and our public library system. Our city has focused on education, by modernizing school buildings and giving teachers better pay for a demanding job. We have upgraded our public health system by ensuring that residents have the coverage they need for everyday primary care and unexpected emergencies. And we have created award-winning public spaces where residents can exercise, learn and get access to the Internet all for free in one of our new or modernized libraries and recreation centers.
In the long term, putting our public dollars into these resources results in a better educated, healthier and more well-rounded populace and workforce. These are the expenditures that make the District attractive to employers, retailers and people who want to live in a dynamic, forward-moving city.
That might be a big reason why DC has grown by 30,000 residents over the past decade, according to the U.S. Census. And we are not only attracting people, we are attracting more businesses and retailers as well. In fact, DC has the lowest commercial office vacancy rate in the country. These are signs that more people and businesses see DC as a good investment, too.
Does it come at a cost? Yes. Public education, health care and human services take up the biggest slices of our city’s budget pie. For many of us, these areas take up a big portion of our personal budget pie, too. Certainly it is tempting to save some money in these tough times by slashing our investments in these big-ticket areas, say, by not putting aside money for a child’s future college costs or to forgo health insurance. In the long-term, however, those short-term savings will lead to less opportunity, lower pay and poorer health.
It’s important to keep this in mind as we consider the District’s budget for the upcoming year and how to best move our city forward in light of a $322 million budget shortfall. We don’t want to jeopardize our forward momentum by cutting investments that contribute to our long-term prosperity. Unfortunately, the recession has left us with fewer resources to meet DC’s growing needs, and some of those key investments have already been scaled back. In tomorrow’s blog we will look at the cuts we have made over the last few years and the risk to our forward momentum. On Thursday, we will examine why the balanced approach of raising certain taxes and cutting certain expenditures is the best solution.
