Local residents say they place a high priority on education, but how much are they willing to sacrifice for it?

Funding decisions made this year by state lawmakers are forcing not only local school officials but local parents and other school district patrons to closely examine, perhaps for the first time, exactly what their priorities are for their public school system.

A number of stories that appeared in the Journal-World within the last week make it clear that providing the kind of schools we want in our community isn’t just a school district issue anymore.

Members of the Lawrence and Douglas County commissions are considering ways to help finance services previously handled by the school district. Parents are looking at increased fees for such basic items as textbook rental and bus transportation. Various social service agencies and businesses are looking at ways they can be of assistance. And every group is looking at what are the most important services to fund and why.

For instance, negotiators for local teachers and the Lawrence school board set an important priority during salary discussions last week. In an agreement that still awaits approval by teachers and the full school board, negotiations put a high priority on being able to recruit and retain top teachers. They agreed to propose a 5 percent increase in teacher compensation next year even though that will use up funding that might have been used to rehire teachers who had received layoff notices.

It may seem like a hard-hearted approach to those who have lost jobs, but it probably is the right priority. Because of its location within an easy commute to larger cities, Lawrence already faces stiff competition from other districts that offer higher salaries. If the district hopes to continue to attract top teachers who approach their job as a professional career, salaries must be competitive.

City and county leaders also are facing some choices about priorities. They, and many other local residents, are being forced to come to terms with the many noneducational jobs we have come to expect our schools to take on. Because public schools are THE central opportunity to reach most local children, they have taken on many tasks.

School nurses deal with a variety of minor to serious health issues with local children as part of making sure they are physically ready for educational success. Mental health professionals address other issues. Intramural sports and other after-school activities may seem optional, but every child involved in one of those programs is a child who isn’t home alone or roaming the streets unsupervised. It’s not an overstatement to say that if the community doesn’t find a way to pay for these services now, it will pay for them later through social services or law enforcement.

Maybe it shouldn’t be up to the city or county to pay for nurses in the schools, but what are the options? Firing more teachers? Watching more children fail?

Parents also will be asked to examine their educational priorities next fall, when they start feeling the effects of increased fees that will be instituted to help support the budget. Some families will have to start paying for bus transportation. Textbook rental fees will increase by 70 percent and students will be charged $50 for many extracurricular activities. There will be a $15 fee for instructional materials, a $10 fee for technology and a $15 fee for field trips.

The school district, and perhaps other community resources, will have to address the need to help families who truly can’t afford these fees so that all students will have the same opportunities to participate. But for many families, it goes back to a matter of priorities. How does $72 a year for textbook rental compare with other activities families engage in? How many trips to the movies or a fast-food restaurant? How does $50 a year to participate in after-school sports compare with the cost of private music lessons or even the television or video games that might otherwise occupy a child’s time?

What’s more important? That’s the question. Both as parents and as a community, we have to decide whether educating our next generation is really as important as we always say it is. Do we really believe that public education is America’s great equalizer, that with a good education any child can succeed in life, that nothing is more important that education?

If so, we’re going to have to make some tough decisions and perhaps do without something else. It’s all a matter of priorities.