VOA慢速英语-Education Report - School, and Family, Budgets Under

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Fifty million public school children in America are starting a new school year. The number is a record high. Yet, at the same time, school systems in many areas are facing budget problems.
　
Two bus drivers in South Carolina report for work. The state Education Department does not expect to buy any new school buses this year because of the high cost of fuel and budget cuts.

The weak economy is not the only cause. Another reason has to do with increased prices for food and fuel. They mean higher costs for school meals and bus transportation.

The United States will spend more than five hundred billion dollars on public education for the coming school year. The federal government helps pay, but the responsibility for education is mostly on state and local governments.

Two major sources of money for public schools are property taxes and sales taxes. A slowdown in consumer spending, the engine of the economy, means fewer goods to tax. And the collapse¹ of the housing market means less money to collect in property taxes.

A report in July from the National Conference of State Legislatures said thirty-one of the fifty states were having budget problems. And the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities² says school officials in at least eleven states have cut or proposed cuts in education.

Florida, for example, has cut school aid by about two percent per student. State officials say tax collections are low and lottery³ sales have fallen by one hundred million dollars. Florida and many other states use money from sales of lottery tickets to help pay for education.

Around the country, the economic slowdown has added to the numbers of children receiving free or reduced price lunches at school. In other words, many of the same economic problems that have hit school budgets have also hit family budgets.

Each year, the education group Phi Delta⁴ Kappa and the Gallup organization gather opinions about American public schools. This year's poll⁵ found support for increased use of federal taxes to finance⁶ public schools and to help young people attend college.

People were also asked which presidential candidate they would vote for if they were voting on the basis of a desire to strengthen the public schools. Forty-six percent chose Democrat⁷ Barack Obama. Twenty-nine percent chose Republican⁸ John McCain.

In the last two presidential elections, the poll found Americans equally split⁹ on which candidate would be more supportive of the schools.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. To learn more about American education, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 priorities   

n.先( priority的名词复数 )；优先；优先权；优先考虑的事

参考例句：

• The document provided a revealing insight into the government's priorities. 这份文件使人看出政府的轻重缓急是怎样安排的。
• We must work together to fund only our most important priorities. 我们必须共同努力，只为最重要的项目提供资金。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

3 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

4 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

5 poll   

n.民意测验，民意调查，选举投票

参考例句：

• The result of the poll won't be known until midnight.选举结果要到午夜才能揭晓。
• They expected a heavy poll.他们期望会有很高的投票数。

6 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

7 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

8 republican   

n.拥护共和政体的人； adj.共和政体的，（Republican）共和党人，（Republican）共和党的

参考例句：

• Some families have been republican for generations.有些家庭世代都支持共和党。
• A third candidate has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.第三个候选人已经加入角逐共和党提名的行列。

9 split   

n.劈开，裂片，裂口；adj.分散的；v.分离，分开，劈开

参考例句：

• Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了？
• The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。