Schools across California face massive and sweeping budget cuts in the upcoming year. The Governor has proposed an Educational budget cut of over $4.8 billion.
Mass teacher layoffs are expected to consolidate for the lacking funds. In my district alone over 100 teachers will be laid off. This will be devastating to class sizes raising them to upwards of 40, even 50 students per class. With class sizes already between around 30 to 40 students, adding more verges on insanity.
Students literally will not fit inside cramped rooms, there isn't enough space for more desks. Teachers are already teaching out of corners and trying to just leave the classroom is like navigating the labyrinth. But personal space isn't the only problem with bigger class sizes, it takes away any personal element in the education process. It is already near impossible to get a question clarified by a teacher with so many students needing their assistance on various issues.
Another huge problem is the fact that with all these teacher layoffs, many programs will be severely reduced, many even cut altogether.
At my school there is talk of eradicating the entire art department. This is probably the hardest element of these budget cuts for me to swallow. I believe that art is an essential element in not only the education of youth, but the life of any person. In addition, taking art is actually a graduation requirement at our school, and not only that, it is also a requirement to get into various schools such as UCs. How will any graduates of my school be able to qualify for a UC education without this program?
The art department will not be the only department hard hit by these cuts. The athletic department may well be cut also. There is talk about cutting all sports. Yes, our High School will not have a football team. For many of my friends, their lives revolve around sports. They improve their teamwork, motivation, and work ethic.
Finally, something that hits close to home for me is that our school newspaper may be cut too. I am an editor of our newspaper and I am proud to say that we have one of the top newspapers in the nation. It keeps our students informed and elevates the dialogue at our school... and now, it may be gone, altogether.
And through all of this what I just cannot understand is why we are continuing with our Prop U school construction. My school was perfectly fine and yet our whole school was redone to look shinier and newer. We even got a new pool that now will remain empty yearlong if the swim team is cut.
Why in the world are we spending huge sums of money on unneeded reconstruction if we can't even afford to educate our students? Because the money for this construction cannot be transferred to our school budget. This is outrageous, as a teenager, we trust adults to look out for our well-being when they fund our schools.
A change needs to happen, and quickly, the money crisis of California should NOT be thrown into the laps of students.
In educating students, society is investing in its future. After all, we, one day, will be running this country.
All I hope now is that some kind of reform can happen before the next school year, and that vital programs like art that enrich the lives of students will not have to be cut...
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I heard somewhere those budget cuts were going to help give money to fund other things--like building prisons. ::eyeroll::
You know, CA's going to need more prisons when they cut out all the extracurricular activities and electives from their schools because they can't afford them anymore.
This is a good blog. I would reccommend that you put another line space between paragraphs to make it easier to read.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
I'm so glad that this budget cut to education hasn't gone unnoticed. A couple of weeks ago, the Assembly shot down a bill that would charge a sales tax to people buying yachts, in order to help pay for education.
Yeah, it's okay to cut the education budget (California is already like 45th or something in the nation when it comes to education), but it's not okay to charge rich people who are buying yachts a sales tax.
Our priorities are clearly out wack.