We support the view that middle class families are the backbone of our society.   So the question is who are Middleclass?  They are hard-working Americans who enjoy participating in community activities and helping the poor.  They are people who pride themselves on succeeding in a competitive world without depending on a government handout.  However, due to the state of our economy many of these families find themselves having to Live pay-check-to-paycheck when an unexpected drop in household income occurs due to illness, unemployment or an unexpected household expense.

 

Slow job creation rates, high unemployment numbers and budget deficits all contribute to the weak economy.  However, it is really income that drives our standard of living and reflects our general well-being.  Household income is an important measure of economic well-being.  However, since median household income thresholds are set nationally, they many times understate the cost of living in higher-priced areas like the Fairfax County Virginia.  In addition, wide disparities in median household income can also contribute to an understating of the cost of living in areas like Fairfax County Va.  For example, Fairfax County Va. has one of the highest household median incomes in the nation with 20.9% of the household income between $100,000 and $149,999 and 31.7% above $150,000.  In contrast, approximately 40% of the county resident’s household family incomes are between $25,000 and $99,000, with 20% between $100,000 and $149,000 and only 8.4% below $25,000.  

 

Eating healthy along with being physically active are important steps in living a healthy life.  According to the American Cancer Society, daily quality physical education in our nation’s schools is an important part of a student’s lifelong health and well-being.  Physical education teaches students how to integrate exercise into their lives in order to establish a lifetime of healthy living.  Unfortunately, only 3.8% of elementary, 7.9% middle and 2.1% of high schools provide daily physical education or its equivalent for the entire school year.  With students spending over half of their day in school it would stand to reason that they engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily.  However, twenty-two percent of schools do not require students to take any physical education classes at all.   Due to the continual rise in childhood obesity across the county the majority of the parents of children under 18 (95%) agree that physical education should be part of school curriculum for all students in grades K-12.  Unfortunately as school budgets continue to be cut due to the weak economy, improvements in both the quality and the quantity of physical education in schools is not likely to improve.

 

Like most school districts, Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) has also seen its school budget cut for the past three years.  According to school Superintendent Jack Dale these cuts will have long-term and far-reaching impact on the more 66,000 students attending (FCPS).  Unfortunately, the physical education program and its equivalents have borne a disproportionate portion of the (FCPS) budget cuts.  For example, for Fiscal Year 2011 (FCPS) budget cuts included:  the elimination of freshman sports, winter cheerleading, indoor track and a 50 percent cut in swim and dive team practice.  In addition athletic participation fees were increased to ($100 per student per Virginia High School League sport).  According to Superintendent Daley, due to insufficient resources to support students and school staff many (FCPS) programs which parents and students have come to expect will unfortunately continue to be eliminated. In 2010, the Soul Surchers organization began its mission to develop programs that will offset the damaging impact on the American middle class families due the weak economy.