Money Woes

I have just started in on my book about the life of Christa McAuliffe. She was designated the First Teacher in Space. However, due to the explosion of the Challenger shuttle, Christa never arrived in space.Before Christa died, she mustard a lot of support from her High School where she taught Social Studies class. They were sitting in the auditorium glued to the giant screen watching and cheering on their teacher as the engines started and the shuttle took off. Their moment of happiness was turned into shear terror as they saw the shuttle explode in front of them. The look of what happen and are the astronauts ok followed by cries of how could this happen? The hope and concept of the First Teacher in Space died on that cold January day. It took the runner up Barbara Morgan many years later and a label change to First Instructor in Space to get the job done. Barbara Morgan was brought aboard with less publicity than what Christa had. Her lesson plans were distribute to a select few and not given to the general public. Barbara came back queasy after years of trying to get on a flight into space. In our lack of budget funds, the school system in Florida has reduced the value of what a teacher can offer to a student. I was sadden to hear about an Elementary School in Apopka, Florida which doesn't have the funds to pay for toilet paper and paper towels. They rely on the local high school for help. They also limit the students to one sheet of paper towel per visit. Is this a school or is this a prison camp? The teacher already has to fund supplies for the kids out of their salaries. Plus, a lot of times it takes a fundraiser from a local radio station to supply the kids with everyday needed items to use for school. The district is looking at cutting teacher jobs just to save money from a budget that was mishandled for lack of funds. Can the Government bail the school system out with the stimulus plan? I hope so. What would Christa think about the school system now, if the Challenger accident never occurred?