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RC education program at risk from federal budget cuts |
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Monday, 18 March 2013 15:29 |
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A 20-year-old education program is under threat from a series of federal budget cuts, according to a group of Rapid City educators. Black Hills Fox reporter Al Van Zee has the details. The Starbase program has been educating students in science and technology since the program was introduced in the early '90s.
It was started originally as a Department of Defense program to enhance the education of American students in the sciences, which are so critical to national defense. The program concentrates on exposing students to what are called STEM subjects. It stands for science, technology, engineering and math. Sarah Jensen says, "And so we're a free program for the school districts. They bring their kids and we see them one day a week for five weeks in all kinds of hands-on subjects: physics, chemistry, computer-aided drafting, robotics, goal-setting." The classes for Rapid City students have been conducted at the National Guard's Camp Rapid for many years. It's free for school districts that take part. And more than three thousand students in South Dakota are involved. But a new proposal by Senator John McCain would cut funding for the Starbase program from the Defense Appropriations bill. Sarah Jensen says, "If the funding is cut, we are immediately done. And so our last classes would be March 27th. The kids in communities that we have commitments to will be over. Our teachers would be unemployed." Jensen says another threat to the Starbase program is a proposal by the Office of Management and Budget to consolidate all science education programs under the Department of Education, which Jensen says will effectively kill the program. Al Van Zee, Black Hills Fox News. |
