Schools face cash crunch as stimulus runs out
‘These cuts hurt some of our poorest and neediest kids’
The nation's public schools are falling under severe financial stress as states slash education spending and drain federal stimulus money that staved off deep classroom cuts and widespread job losses.
School districts have already suffered big budget cuts since the recession began two years ago, but experts say the cash crunch will get a lot worse as states run out of stimulus dollars.
The result in many hard-hit districts: more teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, smaller paychecks, fewer electives and extracurricular activities, and decimated summer school programs.
"I'm worried they're not going to have the quality education that's going to make them competitive in a global society," said Parker, who has three kids in district elementary schools.Around the country, state governments are cutting money for schools as they grapple with huge budget gaps triggered by high unemployment, sluggish retail sales and falling real estate prices. A recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that 41 states face midyear budget shortfalls totaling $35 billion.
The Obama administration's $787 billion federal stimulus package provided roughly $100 billion for education, including $54 billion to stabilize state budgets. In October the White House said the stimulus created or saved 250,000 education jobs.But many states have used most of their stimulus money, leaving little to cushion budget cuts in the coming fiscal year.
The unemployed rate and job losses effected the education quality, how do you think about this issue? Or what are the local government should do to keep the education quality during the recession? Or any suggestions for the public school? How can they find out the effective way to "survive"?
I think this is a time for schools to be more creative. For example, Lt. Governor Cherry proposed a tax on water bottles to get money for the Michigan Promise Scholarship. What will happen is that schools will consolidate in districts and schools will get larger with less resources if they do not find more funding somewhere. Basically, funding is key, and when people flock to places with jobs, then their children will go with them. This means that there will be students coming and going based on economic recovery, which means Michigan needs to get better quickly because this is all tied into the economy. A
ReplyDeleteI think that education is definitely very important to us as citizens of America. It's quite unfortunate to see that these hard economic times are negatively affecting childrens' educations. I hope that the states and the government can use the stimulus money in an effective way. A
ReplyDeleteFinancing education has been such a big issue for a really long time, especially in Michigan. One of the things that irritates me the most is that, at least in Michigan, money is always given in larger quantities to school's whose students test better. While, I understnad that increased funding for these schools is a great reward, what about the schools who test really low? Don't law makers and politicians understand that perhaps the reason that these schools may be testing below average is due to the fact that they are not receiving adequate funding? I really wish that more politicians would do more to better our public schooling system. I work at Woodward Elementary 4 days a week and I can tell you first hand that there are so many things that could be done to not only better the education of the students, but to better the community as a whole. I know that money is tight, but people in power really need to make a better effort at providing adequate funding for all schools. Education is, in my opinion, the foundation of a society, so hopefully things will get turned around in the near future.
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I completely agree with Ali. The No Child Left Behind mentality that encourages teaching to tests and manipulating test results, as well as cutting funding for those who need it the most is incredibly dangerous. With more cuts coming, I can only imagine all of these problems getting worse.
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I think education is so important and that the funding shortages that many districts face is terrible. I think that in order to help school districts survive they'll need to find some way to cut spending without cutting the programs and services that benefit students.
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