Any predictions on where the cuts will hit the hardest? (Fairfax: middle-class, high schools)

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by car54

There is one cut they could make that would save $100 million in one fell swoop...eliminate transportation.

I have before me a FCPS document from last year that mentions just that possibility....proving that it has at least crossed their minds...

OR they could eliminate a fraction of the central administration. Or they could reduce retirement benefits from 90% to something like regular people receive, say 50% to 60%. OR they could run schools year 'round, with kids having 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off, all year. Why are schools sitting empty 1/4 of the year? What business sits empty 25% of the year and then screams it needs more facilities? Use the facilities that you have! Schools across the country have figured this out. FC students do not need the summer off to work the farms. There is not one single farm in Fairfax county. Oh wait, I forgot, teachers and principals don't like that idea so it can't happen. Staff wants the summer off. My bad.

If they eliminate transportation, how would children get to school? FC is not like an inter city where public transportation runs everywhere.

[live_strong28]

Here's the latest:

"The Fairfax County School Board is bracing for the most dramatic reduction in services in more than 20 years as it attempts to bridge a projected $176 million budget shortfall with cuts that could extend to closing schools, increasing class size, ending summer school, discontinuing most full-day kindergarten classes and eliminating foreign language instruction in elementary schools."

"The list includes increasing class size by one student for a savings of $19 million, removing foreign language instruction from elementary schools to save $2 million, and rolling back full-day kindergarten from 101 schools to 34 schools in disadvantaged communities, yielding $13 million in savings."

washingtonpost.com

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by movingtodcfromseattle

I never said that the people don't have a say in how their money is spent. I get really tired of "the people" making generalizations about teachers, the system, how the money is spent, etc, when the majority of them don't ever step foot into a classroom. If I'm just a "public servant" then maybe I should stop worrying about who is coming to school with a coat on tomorrow, who does or doesn't know their letters/sounds, who has a fever and needs to go home, who needs a pencil, who needs a tissue, who needs to wash their hands, who is going home on a bus vs in a car and the list goes on. Maybe I should skip that class that I should be attending tonight that will help make me be the best teacher that I can be so that I can be with my own young children. Am I bitter? No, I actually love my job. I'm just tired of people making generalizations about education when the don't actually step foot in classrooms. I'm not just talking about this thread either, I'm talking about the country as a whole.

Have you thought about becoming a social worker? You won't make as much money, and you won't have summers off, or Christmas and Easter break, but it's very rewarding. The same is true for fire fighters, police officers, and soldiers. None of them make as much as teachers either, but they love their jobs, even if they work 50 weeks a year, rather than 39, and their jobs have life threatening moments.

Everyone values teachers, just as we value soldiers, fire fighters and cops. It's educrats, the administrators, who we have a problem with. Also the flakey programs that they adopt that make your job even more difficult than it already is. We want you to have better programs, higher pay, and smaller class sizes. We don't want you to be stuck with another flakey math program to teach, more bosses, and more kids in your class.

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by OrangeFish

I went to the FCPS web site and selected Academic Programs (top of the left navigation bar) and then Gifted and Talented (under Special Instructional Programs) and then went to Articles and Presentations of Interest -- this is titled School Board Presentation 2009:
http://www.fcps.edu/DIS/gt/pdfs/pres...ion%202009.pdf

Darn, I can't get that link to load. It keeps timing out. Does it give the demographics of GT centers?
Is that information available in written form somewhere on the net?

Thanks!

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by Denton56

Darn, I can't get that link to load. It keeps timing out. Does it give the demographics of GT centers?
Is that information available in written form somewhere on the net?

Thanks!

Yes it does, but you're better off not reading it.

The goal that's identified is to increase underrepresented minority enrollment.

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Here's the latest:

"The Fairfax County School Board is bracing for the most dramatic reduction in services in more than 20 years as it attempts to bridge a projected $176 million budget shortfall with cuts that could extend to closing schools, increasing class size, ending summer school, discontinuing most full-day kindergarten classes and eliminating foreign language instruction in elementary schools."

"The list includes increasing class size by one student for a savings of $19 million, removing foreign language instruction from elementary schools to save $2 million, and rolling back full-day kindergarten from 101 schools to 34 schools in disadvantaged communities, yielding $13 million in savings."

washingtonpost.com

YAWN. Isn't this EXACTLY what they said last year? A cut of $13 million in a $2.2 billion budget is next to nothing, but it should energize people in those 67 schools to lobby hard for a tax increase so that they can keep all day kindergarten. It's a good tactic in the tax increases wars.

Increasing class size is always a popular proposed cut, it gets LOTs of people upset, including parents and teachers. While few people care about the little foreign language program, EVERYONE cares about crowded classrooms. That's why it's always on the chopping block, it turns out the parental lobbyists to fight for a tax increase to keep down class size. Who can blame them? No one wants their child in a classroom with 35 kids.

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Yes it does, but you're better off not reading it.

The goal that's identified is to increase underrepresented minority enrollment.

Oh my gosh. Silly me, I thought the goal of the GT office would be to provide an appropriate education for GT kids, regardless of their color!

I guess that just shows what a racist I am!

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Yes it does, but you're better off not reading it.

The goal that's identified is to increase underrepresented minority enrollment.

This has been the goal for as long as I can remember, at least 20 years. Will education/academics EVER be their goal? Apparently not. Sigh...............

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by Denton56

YAWN. Isn't this EXACTLY what they said last year? A cut of $13 million in a $2.2 billion budget is next to nothing, but it should energize people in those 67 schools to lobby hard for a tax increase so that they can keep all day kindergarten. It's a good tactic in the tax increases wars.

Increasing class size is always a popular proposed cut, it gets LOTs of people upset, including parents and teachers. While few people care about the little foreign language program, EVERYONE cares about crowded classrooms. That's why it's always on the chopping block, it turns out the parental lobbyists to fight for a tax increase to keep down class size. Who can blame them? No one wants their child in a classroom with 35 kids.

Adding one child to a classroom isn't going to totally disrupt teaching.

I can't figure out why they are planning to keep the full day kindergarten in "disadvantaged communities."

[car54]

Originally Posted by Denton56

...If they eliminate transportation, how would children get to school? FC is not like an inter city where public transportation runs everywhere.

Many could walk and parents would have to drive the rest, I suppose.

PS: Where did you hear that FCPS personel receive 90% pensions? My mother taught from '59 to '89 and she didn't receive anything close to that...I know, because I handled her affairs towards the end of her life.