As one reads about the various towns in our area that are reaching maximum difficulty funding education, one has to ask what is happening and why has it become so difficult.

A partial answer can be found in the antiquated way we insist on funding education. Property taxes to fund education simply will no longer work. The taxpayers, especially homeowners, have maxed out what they can pay. Many are on fixed income.

Also, property taxes to fund education promote and prolong inequitable education for poorer towns. On the other hand, education expenses will continue to go up.

While many systems have managed as best they could, we now see a plethora of districts having funding difficulties. What is scary is that even if these problems are addressed this year, we will all be back at the table next year and for many years to come, facing the same funding problems.

We have seen the education systems devastated in the last 10 years to become bare-bones offerings for students. Those reductions have reached their maximum. There is nothing left to cut! No music, no activities, no sports, no clubs, no afterschool activities, no science fairs, no project-based learning.

Imagine being a student or teacher and looking forward to overcrowded classrooms, outdated technology and nothing but the basics. Please don’t suggest cutting more staff. We are lucky to have dedicated teachers who put in many extra hours to compensate for lack of personnel now.

So what is the solution? We need to look even beyond state funding and grants. While these help, they are Band-aid fixes and are never assured, with the financial situation of our state of Connecticut. I am proposing a bold solution. It’s time to look to the federal government for funding.

Yes, the federal government does offer grants, and systems battle for these, but grants are not enough. If we can print monies for defense, loan paybacks to various countries and other reasons, I believe it is time for our next president to really become the “education president” that so many others have claimed to be and create a federal funding source for education.

Eric A. Covino, Ph.D., is a former Principal of Uncas Elementary School in Norwich.