Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How do you figure that when it's the kids who are losing all the programs? The teachers in this district are not suffering one bit. They are sitting on high ground while the kids are in the moat with the aligators.
Around here there are teacher layoffs planned, new teachers who were hired but then lost their jobs before they even started, districts building new schools due to overcrowding that they can't afford to staff, etc.
Around here there are teacher layoffs planned, new teachers who were hired but then lost their jobs before they even started, districts building new schools due to overcrowding that they can't afford to staff, etc.
Teachers are suffering.
That is a shame, and sounds totally backwards. In Oregon, the districts seem to be doing everything they can to help the teachers. The teachers themselves just unanimously voted to cut 7 teacher workdays/student non-school days to help save the district 1.6 million bucks. These days that they cut were ones that had recently been added - three training days that teachers used to have to go to without pay, a few days that were optional for teachers which they could use for paperwork or other things, and so on. So fortunately, the 7 days that have been cut have not made a big impact for the teachers themselves, and it won't affect student/teacher instruction time, either. Teacher's also are keeping their 3.75 raises, and some are receiving 5% pay raises this year. I'm not sure... but I think Oregon has some of the highest paid and best compensated teachers in the states? We certainly don't seem as troubled as many other districts and states I've been hearing about in the news.
As someone else mentioned, though - the size of the city might make the difference. We are a small'ish town - and one who values education to boot. Now... when it comes to supporting our local police... sheesh... don't get me started! But people here do seem to support our local schools.
Cuts have to be made somewhere, though. We are not renewing our language immersion program at our school due to financial reasons. I doubt we'll have as much P.E., Art, and Music and exploratory science units and whatnot next year. There are going to have to be program cuts somewhere. And I have heard that instead of a speech therapist only serving one school, she might have to begin juggling two or more. I've even heard of schools cutting IA's, which is worrying. How can you have inclusion without IA's? Not that I'm a big fan of inclusion, but if that's the direction they're going, you can't cut the IA's and hope for success.
Around here there are teacher layoffs planned, new teachers who were hired but then lost their jobs before they even started, districts building new schools due to overcrowding that they can't afford to staff, etc.
Teachers are suffering.
Not here. They are still getting their 5% pay increases and all benefits. They refuse to give up anything for the sake of keeping programs for the kids. There have been no cuts in teaching staff.
I just spoke to my sister in Wilmington NC. They got a note a little while ago that my niece's school is on their last case of toilet paper for the year... My BIL just brought in a 24pk of toilet paper and 8pk of bounty for my niece's class.
Wow...I was just visiting with a principal, he recieved over 230 applications for one job. Thats here in Fountain Fort Carson School District 8 in Colorado Springs. Wowza.
I think the bottom line is that we (the parents and citizens of the community) are going to have to step it up a bit and help our kids get through things like larger class sizes, stressed out teachers, no text books, etc. Volunteer in the classrooms, join the PTSA, donate to fundraisers when you can. Hopefully this generation will be stronger for it and take less for granted.
KSTP TV (Minneapolis) just reported that the St Paul School District has to make a $27 Million cut to their budget.
Four elementary schools closing, a high school closed and converted to a middle school, and most extra cirricular activities for the 8th grade dropped.
All the money is going to the administrators. My friend is an administrator for the san francisco school district and she makes over a $100,000 a year!!
I'm betting she has a master's degree or a Ph.D. that qualifies her for this demanding job. There aren't many people with advanced degrees who wold manage a company with hundreds of employees and thousands of clients in a major west coast city for less than $100k.
Besides, administration pay is hardly material when you look at overall school district budgets. Ten administrators at you friend's pay scale only cost $1 million. Given the amount of money spent on the school system, that's hardly worth mentioning.
School districts get $6-13K PER STUDENT each year... yet textbooks are outdated, PE music & art classes are slashed, few have onsite nurses, computers are out of date and there are 20-30 per 400 students...There is some GROSS mismanagement there!
Have you considered that, though $6,000 is a lot for a household to bear, it's really on the low-end for education?
I live in Washington, DC. If you add up the total cost of running our school district and divide it by the number of children in the public school system, it is about $25,000 per child (The Real Cost Of Public Schools - washingtonpost.com).
School districts are huge organizations. I'm surprised that the overhead per student is as low as it is. Think about the cost of running their facilities alone. This fiscal year, DC spent nearly $34 million on custodial services alone. And though teacher quality is the best predictor of student success, only $2.3 million went toward professional development. We're not a district that is particularly advanced when it comes to the use of technology in classrooms, but total information technology costs were still $20 million this school year. With a school enrollment of 45,000 students, DC spends about $1250 just to cover custodial services, professional development, and information technology. These costs are before factoring in turning on the lights and paying the teachers.
Before you claim gross mismanagement, pull up you school district's financial statements. See where the money actually goes. There is rarely much evidence of profligate spending. It really does cost tens of thousands of dollars per child to run a school district.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
