A Terrifying "Cliff Hanger" for School Districts
The US economy is improving overall, but our schools will be among the last to share in the wealth. Deep and persistent economic troubles can be a deadweight on vital reforms.
A new survey of superintendents released by AASA reveals the depth of the problem. School leaders report that things were bad last year and worse this year. And they're likely to be even worse next year.
A full 80 percent expect cuts in state and local revenues before next year, and many expect those cuts to be more severe than they were last year.
The AASA report's title is as clever as it is grim: "A Cliff Hanger: How America’s Public Schools Continue to Feel the Impact of the Economic Downturn." The cliff, of course, is the abrupt drop in funding districts will face when stimulus funds run dry. And lest people think district cups have been running over with stimulus dollars, almost nine in ten superintendents "reported that [those] dollars did not represent a funding increase."
This is an important point, because it challenges the notion that districts had gobs of new money to support new reforms. System leaders were clearly grateful for the new money they received, because it staved off big layoffs and cuts to programs. But it has not been a time of plenty. As soon as states received stimulus funds for schools, they made commensurate cuts to their education budgets. AASA has called this a "shell game."
But as the money runs out, schools are faced with cuts to important programs that support student learning. More than a third are considering ending their summer schools. (Let's not forget that summer learning loss is a big problem.) More than half will cut extracurricular activities. (These activities help keep kids engaged in their schools.) And thirteen percent are mulling a four-day school week. (This, amidst all the current interest in giving students more time for learning.) Despite what some might say, it's harder than ever to nourish lasting reforms or improvement during times of famine.
In these times, plans to shift more federal dollars into competitive grants trouble many district leaders. While most support such grants in principle, they worry that plans to tip the balance away from more stable sources of funds will make the plight of smaller, poorer districts all the worse. (We at the Learning FIrst Alliance, which includes AASA, agree.)
The AASA report puts this point in bracing terms:
If education is the civil rights issues of this generation, and states and districts will now have to compete for a significantly larger portion of their education funding, does that mean students are to compete for their civil rights?
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Schools are most definitely
Schools are most definitely being underfunded during these economic hard-times. But perhaps we really need to look at how districts (especially large ones) spend their funding.
As a long time teacher with Los Angeles Unified School District I've seen considerable wasteful spending. This can seem as innocuous as putting an emergency exit in the exterior window grating of an unbreakable plexiglass window between two doors less than 10 feet away, to hiring literacy "experts" without adequate classroom experience to be proficient, let alone expert, teachers.
As my school prepares its budget for the upcoming school year, we are being pressured into funding an "academic coach" at nearly one fifth of our total budget, despite having a staff more experienced than the average 'coach', and despite the lackluster results of these nearly 100K positions. Meanwhile, we have discontinued programs that have bolstered student outcomes.
School districts need to be funded sufficiently, but reform needs to take to assure that budgets are judiciously spent.
Sadly it is the students who
Sadly it is the students who will suffer from the drastic cuts currently being implemented. The middle school in which I teach has spent the past two years restructuring ourselves by implementing changes advocated by the National Middle School Association. As a result, I am a member of a team, which consists of core content teachers, a special ed teacher and an unified arts teacher. In our current structure, we have the ability to adjust our schedule providing for the integration of subject curriculum, allowing students to see how content areas are connected. In addition, each teacher truly knows each student under their guise, allowing for us to address academic, social and physical needs. With pending cuts, this structure is in danger of being destroyed forcing us to return to a structure where students will lose their sense of belonging and the personal connect which they currently have.
The view looks good but it is
The view looks good but it is not safe for children. School is the second home of children that's why it is really needed to become safe and child-friendly area. I just could not imagine my kids having a accident on that cliff. I would go crazy. Hey, I'm sure lots of us have been crazy when iPad has been released. Probably the most recent Apple announcement has blown the brains of geeks and people that think some shiny new piece of plastic crap will mean you'll never have to die, which is why people will be lining up around the block for the OS 4. iPhone very soon. Granted, the iPhone does have great features, but nevertheless – one should never pass up the opportunity to mock the foolish hysterical fads of the public.
KinderTeacher--Thanks for
KinderTeacher--Thanks for your note. You're right to point to wasteful spending. Without a doubt, lean times can shine a spotlight on waste and, one hopes, move people to reduce it. But I worry about the broader cuts that might be coming down the pike, as one person's waste can be another's promising program or practice.
Anonymous--I certainly hope your program doesn't get cut. It's easy to see how some teachers can lose patience with wave after wave of reform, even good reforms, if they live and die by the budget cycle.
Krissa--Thanks for that free-association riff. Not quite sure what you mean, but I don't much like it when children play near cilffs, either.
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