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In the face of potential steep budget cuts, Wake County school board members said today they may need to consider ideas such as charging fees for students to play sports, ride the school bus and go off campus for lunch.
Wake school leaders are looking at the prospect of layoffs, larger class sizes and program cuts to deal with the possible loss of more than $100 million in state and federal funding next year. Board members said they need to talk with the public about looking at new ways to raise money that wouldn’t normally be considered.
I already drive my kids to school because the bus comes so ridiculously early that it isn't feasible to send them on the bus. Then when the bus gets to school they have to sit there for 10 minutes, because the doors to the school aren't even open yet! with the bus idling to keep either the heat or the AC running. Then you have kids being bused 45 minutes hither and yon....I can just imagine how much it costs to fuel those buses every week. Not sure if they can do away with it completely, but I know I could live without it.
As far as extra-curricular, when school budgets have failed on Long Island (where I used to live) the clubs who lost their funding found ways to raise the money themselves - thru car washes, bake sales, etc. A few years ago one football team raised $500K to run their team for the season. My nephew is in band here in Wake County - my sister pays fees for it and he's doing fundraising for a band trip. In NY, belonging to band, etc is free - but you've all heard the complaints about property taxes there....my SCHOOL TAXES alone were $8,000 a year. I'd rather not head down that road again.
I don't want to see any teacher lose their jobs, but I'm picking up more slack than I did in NY and I'm fine with it because I know where the money is actually going.
Here's an idea: no less than 4 buses come down my tiny cul-de-sac to service just the middle schools (and there are only 4 homes with middle schoolers). If that is any indication of the typical neighborhood (we have only 37 homes), then I imagine that sorting out the assignments alone could save a ton on gas, bus drivers, and bus maintenance. I really wish they would just draw lines (making sure that every school had as ethnic and economically diverse population as possible) and assign people to schools and drop this whole year round stuff, and just keep up the magnets. It's maddening considering the huge waste in the transportation budget while our teachers get pay CUTS.
Here's an idea: no less than 4 buses come down my tiny cul-de-sac to service just the middle schools (and there are only 4 homes with middle schoolers). If that is any indication of the typical neighborhood (we have only 37 homes), then I imagine that sorting out the assignments alone could save a ton on gas, bus drivers, and bus maintenance. I really wish they would just draw lines (making sure that every school had as ethnic and economically diverse population as possible) and assign people to schools and drop this whole year round stuff, and just keep up the magnets. It's maddening considering the huge waste in the transportation budget while our teachers get pay CUTS.
You do realize that the year round schools are the number one cost saver for Wake county?
Stop building schools that rival the art museum in architecture and features? That may be a nice start. Opulence is not a necessary component of education.
Wake schools are in financial trouble? How can this be? The neighborhood schools advocates said if we send all the poor kids back to their neighborhoods, we can then direct extra money and resources to those high poverty schools where it is needed.
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