Prognosis Negative
Whenever a situation seems really bad, this movie title from an episode of “Seinfeld” always comes to mind. Unfortunately, I received news this week that leads me to believe that the prognosis for my career is very negative, indeed. I don't know if any of you have heard about the budget crisis in California, but it's affecting public schools in a big way. The budget cuts that just went through dropped our state to 46th in the nation for funding per student. If the proposed additional cuts go through (which looks quite likely given California's current economic woes), we'll drop to 50th in the nation. That's right. Our state, which is something like the 6th largest economy in the world, will rank 50th in the country for per-student funding. I think the problem is that all the people with money in this state send their kids to private school. They think that cuts to public schools don't affect them. However, what is being created is a greater class divide, where the "haves" get the good educations, and the "have-nots" get the shaft.
Can you tell I'm a little disgusted by this whole situation? Here are some highlights we received this week from the list of proposed cuts:
Needless to say, the future for public education in California looks pretty bleak. This concerns me on so many levels, first of all because I may not have a job after March of this year. My bigger concern though is for my kids and my students. I don’t like the idea of them receiving their education in a public school system that is not funded or valued. It seems that it is more important for our governor to avoid raising taxes than it is to ensure a good education to ALL children in our state, not just the ones whose families can afford private school.
It’s a disturbing situation all around, and I’m scrambling right now to find a Plan B and a Plan C. Hopefully it won’t be long before the pendulum swings the other way and education once again becomes more of a priority for our lawmakers.
Can you tell I'm a little disgusted by this whole situation? Here are some highlights we received this week from the list of proposed cuts:
- Laying off temporary teachers, maybe as early as mid-year (that means me. In our district all teachers are "temporary" until they've worked full-time for 2 years. At that point, they become "probationary.")
- Getting rid of class-size reduction in K-3rd grade and 9th grade. This means the classes would all be 30 kids to 1 teacher, unlike the current 20-1.
- Eliminating kindergarten altogether. Kindergarten is not mandatory, so the state could save some money by cutting it from the public school system and making it something parents have to pay for privately.
- Loss of librarians, music, drama, art, and technology classes. Also on the chopping block are school counselors and nurses (although we currently only have our nurse for an hour or two a week, so this may not make much of a difference).
- Cutting all athletic programs and electives in high school. This has already happened in a San Jose school district, where all high school athletic programs were cut this week. I feel bad for all those kids who may have received college scholarships based upon athletic ability.
- A 4-8% salary decrease for all district employees.
- Loss of prep classes. This means that teachers would lose their preparation time during the day, and that the kids would lose their P.E., Science Lab, and Computer classes.
Needless to say, the future for public education in California looks pretty bleak. This concerns me on so many levels, first of all because I may not have a job after March of this year. My bigger concern though is for my kids and my students. I don’t like the idea of them receiving their education in a public school system that is not funded or valued. It seems that it is more important for our governor to avoid raising taxes than it is to ensure a good education to ALL children in our state, not just the ones whose families can afford private school.
It’s a disturbing situation all around, and I’m scrambling right now to find a Plan B and a Plan C. Hopefully it won’t be long before the pendulum swings the other way and education once again becomes more of a priority for our lawmakers.
