School budget cuts are hurting education in the U.S.

Today, as many other segments of our society, schools are financially stressed regarding their budgets.  Tax revenues are down and they must deal with less money to run their individual school districts.  The decisions each school board makes can and does impact, not only teachers and the staff, but also the students.  While the critical goal of a school district is to educate, it is important that the quality of education not be diminished.  When teachers lose their jobs, this increases the size of the classrooms for the remaining teachers.  Difficult decisions need to be made in these times but are the right ones being made.

Schools across our country are stressed but they, along with teachers, parents and students must come to grips with their individual financial situation.  Difficult decisions are being made, but some have opened the opportunity for parents to voice their opinions on budget proposals being considered.  This is a good thing.  Parents have the right to express their opinion about decisions being made in reference to the financial constraints in which their school districts are involved.

In most, if not all schools with financial difficulty, teachers are losing their jobs for the simple reason the money is not there to pay their salaries.  This is a hard fact but true in many cases.  Schools are financed through state and local taxes which sometimes involve bond issues to pay for certain expenses to run the schools.  Managing finances for any organization can be difficult as there is only so much money which can be properly allocated for the basic expenses.  Once this is accomplished, the remaining funds, if any, can be allocated for growth and improvements.  The question of whether the right decisions are being made by schools in managing their expenses must be based on an accurate analysis, not only of each expense item in terms of cost, but also in relation to benefit or need.

Examining school budget decisions must involve among other things teacher salaries and benefits.  I must first say that I highly respect the teaching profession and the service they provide to the leaders of tomorrow.  Salaries of teachers must be appropriate for the level of experience and the training and/or certification they have received.  Quality teachers are important to any school district and they should be paid an appropriate salary with benefits like other organizations.  While salaries can be a large expense for a school district, they are not the only area which impacts the financial stability of the schools.  Too many times teachers take the brunt of cutbacks when budgets are tight.  This is wrong.  Most individuals believe that the burden should be equally divided among other school expenses,  including the salaries of other staff members and/or management.

One area which should see little if any impact is the expenses for tools teachers need to teach their curriculum.  This includes textbooks and equipment that help students focus on the importance of each subject.  Technological advances have improved teacher capabilities and more will be seen in the future.  The key question is how they will be used to enhance the quality of education being provided.  Budget decisions by schools reflected in news reports have seen teachers lose their jobs while the management of some schools has not seen a salary cut.  Some may say there are contracts involved, but teachers also have contracts.

Another area is the cost of sports which help students learn in a team environment.  This is important for life lessons and for when they enter private industry.   Some approaches taken for this area are to have students pay to play the sport.  The cost of the extracurricular activities must be weighed against the income that is received as a result of each sport being played. If it is necessary to ask parents to pay for their children to play a sport, the difference between the cost and the income received should be the price to pay.  Schools should not make a profit on the backs of parents who want to provide for their children.  This is not to say that this is occurring but it is an area which must be examined when determining the actions to be taken to resolve budget issues.

The last point to make is that all expenses and their amounts need to be examined when there are financial crises within school districts.  The School Board must have a budget which is balanced.  Input from parents can be critical.  School boards do not always have all the answers and it takes input from all stakeholders such as parents, teachers, staff and yes students. Many times individuals in each of these groups can provide suggestions to help make the right decisions when schools face budget deficits.  Teachers and sometimes parents understand best what is working and what can be done to improve the education process to make the right changes to reduce costs.  Too often those individuals who would have the best input are not asked before decisions are made which will affect them.  This occurs not only in school districts but in private industry.  Individuals making decisions must ask for input from those who can best provide details of what is working and what is not, and how to improve not only the process but the results.

Related articles

• School districts finding ways to deal with big budget cuts (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Most Philadelphia-area school districts avoid drastic cutbacks (philly.com)
• School districts deal with state budget cuts (thenewstribune.com)