This week I attended a Webinar and asked two tough questions:

1. We have 38 million unemployed in the U.S., along with a system of K-12 funding relying on property taxes and/or state taxes.Unemployed people may not be able to pay taxes. How will schools and districts put students first if their revenue stream from taxes is diminished?

2. Blended learning means that students are going to be home on a rotating basis, e.g., half time physically in school for traditional classroom education and half time staying home for online work. How will parents returning to work be able to pay for part time child care when their kids are home? 

Question 1. remained unanswered. Question 2. was punted with “we will involve the parents.”

I do not blame the speakers or the organizers of the webinar. These are tough questions. 

But how are we thinking differently about the ecosystem of education?

Funding streams for schools, which come from taxes, need to support programs. 
Continued unemployment will lead to defaults on property and state taxes which fund schools. 
Parents returning to work will need to pay for childcare for the new K-12 blended learning model. 

It’s a complex and precarious ecosystem. We have to start tackling the tough questions soon and thinking of all the components. It’s not time to punt.