My Rant about Social Services in the US

Yes -- I'm a liberal and now you get to hear one of the many reasons why.


Minneapolis has School Choice. And in January (Jan 10) to be exact, I downloaded the School Choice card, filled it out and immediately put it in the mail. I wanted to get my daughter signed up for the High Five Program as suggested by the Early Childhood Screening group for MPLS Public Schools (MPS). You have to get it in right away they said. So I did. It is always a bit of a gamble to get the kids in the school you want here, especially since we live in an Open Choice Area which means that there is no assigned school for them -- no community school.

You've heard me previously say that I like the community school idea. It causes me a great deal of stress not knowing where my kids will be going to school. I do like that I can pull them out and drive them some place else if I feel the need.

Anyhow, back to today's rant.

I did everything I was supposed to do. I called a couple of times when they were supposed to be doing the assignments and was told that High Five was done later. I waited until and called. Not done yet. I called again today.

My daughter was not placed. I asked at our first choice school? Not placed at first school. Why? The program was full. What about our second choice school? Again program full. What about any of the schools? I am willing to drive her wherever and I've got a friend who I am fairly sure would pick her up and earn a little extra cash. Nope, no space. Not in any of the schools.

Now, I'm getting a little angry. I told him that I'd done all the things I was told I had to do to get her in. I sent in our card right away. I called in to follow up. Why wasn't she placed?

We make too much money.

Yep, we both work to barely make ends meet. Like most of America, we are a couple of paychecks away from homeless. But because we are not already on government assistance, we can not get in to this program that is open to ALL MPS kids.

I really dislike that our government and its laws and rules only subsidizes the very poor and the very wealthy. And all of us who are in the middle are SOL. Even if I had no job, we still wouldn't qualify for the program. Not that we'd be able to live off of the one income. I wouldn't have any idea how we'd feed our family but we'd be too rich to get any aid.

It makes me very angry that I have to be destitute and homeless or very wealthy to actually gain any benefits from my country and all the money that we pay in taxes. I get screwed. My family gets screwed. Most of you reading this have gotten screwed. You may not have even known it. You may have gone through life like my parents have and I will -- struggling to get the basic needs of your kids met on a day to day basis.

Once again, I'll go back to the drawing board and find a way to cut expenses here and there and find the money for us to send Itty Bitty to preschool.





Note: I certainly do not think the poor should lose their benefits. I think that the wealthiest 1 to 2% that hold most of the wealth in this country need to pay more taxes so that the social services can really help out everyone who needs a helping hand... Like I should be able to get my kid in the MPS school assignments!!!