Education Budget Cuts

Studies have shown that art programs help the development of the brain by improving “mental representations of what is observed or imagined; symbolic, allegorical and metaphorical representations; careful observation of the world; and abstraction from complexity”(How the Arts). So why would the school board or government allow budget cuts in school art programs if it helps improve a child's development of the brain? Even though language arts and mathematics are important and basic courses that every student may need in the future, art programs should not have budget cuts because it helps improve a child’s learning ability and understanding of the world around them. It also helps students and children in low income communities that may not have

Since last spring, Philadelphia school district leaders have been sounding the alarm about this year’s fiscal budget. Even after months of discussions and headlines, schools have opened with fewer resources than last year. On March 28th the School Reform Commission approved a lump sum budget which showed a need for an additional $220 million in revenue in order to provide schools with same resources as the “wholly insufficient” 2013-14 school year (McCorry). There will be many inadequate funding impacts on the quality of the education. Classroom resources would be stripped to untenable levels. The district would reduce as much as $2.2 million funding to the districts’ multiple pathways to graduation program which affects estimated 300 students. Another $1.5 million could be reduced from the elimination of preparation and professional development time for teachers at the district’s high needs promise academies. The district’s building maintenance budget could have reduction in amount of $9.6 million. Schools will be cleaned less frequently as a result. Building maintenance will also be curtailed as a result. District’s school police budget could also have reduction in amount of $2.4 million. School police officer vacancies will be unfilled, leaving an additional 27 elementary schools to share an officer.

I believe that education is essential to America’s future generations and how well we can compete with the rest of the world in diverse fields, therefore school funding should not be cut. The budget for the Department of Education has been reduced and cut in many ways. Some solutions the government thought they had found, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, turned out to increase the budget, rather than reduce it. The cutting of teachers’ unions and reduction of class sizes have also been suggested to reduce budget. Although some of these sound easy and appealing, they won’t necessarily help reduce the Department of Education’s spending.

In 2013, the state lawmakers restored almost $3.4 billion of the $5.4 billion in public education cuts made in 2011 and changed graduation and testing requirements. Last year, the legislature restored $1.5 billion into schools, which wasn’t enough to cover the previous $5.4 billion cut, when adjusted for enrollment growth and inflation.

courses, summer school, advanced placement, special education, and other programs will be eliminated (Martinez, 2009). Not only do these cuts have an effect on K-12, they also encumber community colleges, state universities, and state colleges. At the college level tuition prices continue to climb, class availability declines, limits on new enrollments, and cutting educators. In January of 2011, Governor Jerry Brown of California proposed his budget cuts and state universities would be taking another cut of $1 billion, leaving alone elementary and secondary schools (Christie, 2011). While politicians stress education is important to improve the quality of one’s life, they also illustrate it is expendable.

Public school funding is unfair and unequal in most states. However, more concerning is out of the 49 million children in public schools, students living in poverty are affected the most. There are wide disparities in the amount spent on public education across the country, from a high of $18,507 per pupil in New York, to a low of $6,369 in Idaho (Baker, Sciarra, & Farrie, 2015). The question that all stakeholders should be asking is school funding fair?

In 1998, for example, the state with the highest average level of public school funding was New Jersey, with an annual funding rate of $8,801 per student, whereas the state with the lowest average level was Utah, with a yearly rate of $3,804 per student. This means that the typical student attending a public school in New Jersey was provided more than twice the fiscal resources allocated to his or her counterpart in Utah. Disparities in per-student funding levels are actually greater within some states than among states as a group. To illustrate, in 1998, public school districts in Alaska that were ranked at the 95th percentile for per-student

“California has cut $18 billion, one-third of state school funding, from money for kindergarten through high school over the past three years.” USA Today (Welch, 2011). Budget cuts to the California Public School System, which is the underlying factor in the deterioration of the quality of education, has had a negative impact on every facet of society. From students to teachers to employers, all have felt the effects of decreased funding of schools. The state of California is headed in the wrong direction by reducing school funding and unless a solution is found to minimize or put a halt to these reductions, our children will bear the

According to the budget, the programs that are needed and make a difference (students with disabilities, homeless and immigrants) are where the funding is applied. The funding sources for the Bibb county District Schools applied are as follows Title I & II, At Risk, local school and others are looked at yearly for implementation of the following year. The ways the funds are distributed are upsetting. The students rank at 41 out of the 51 states in education which is near the bottom for academic performance. Bibb County District is considered a poor county as it ranks 40th in the nation in child welfare. It is mentioned that education and the ability to earn a stable income will always be connected together, (Purser, 2015). The allocated funds should be distributed to helping the students who need the extra tutoring or help in specific areas in all schools. The statistics of academic performance proves that either the students’ needs are not being met by the teachers being paid for their services or the funding of other programs are not being applied to the appropriate programs for these student to excel in their performance, (Miles,

Public education is under funded, especially in the state of Alabama. I attended public school in the state of Alabama and I experienced this first hand in my elementary and high school classrooms. Low funds for the arts department and many basic school necessities are just some of the areas that are affected by the low funding. In the 2012-2013 school years, Alabama had over 744,637 students enrolled in a total of 1,637 schools. Alabama’s school funding has gone down 14% since 2008. Many school systems have to spend additional money from local revenue on top of what the state provides because it is not enough. Alabama public schools are under funded and it is a problem that is affecting classrooms across the

On top of decreased property tax revenue the massive job losses triggered a substantial decline in income and sales taxes and other sources of state revenue. This incredible loss of revenue resulted in huge cuts to all programs including public education which led to decreased performance in schools across the board. Even if this system of generating funds wasn’t impacted by the recession this method of creating funds often creates large differences in funding between wealthy and impoverished communities. Obviously schools located in higher income areas have more resources and better funding to draw upon as opposed to schools in low income schools who have much fewer resources to draw upon. At its most extreme this means that a few students from wealthy communities or neighborhoods within generous states attend public schools with funding of $15,000 or more per student per year, whereas some students from poor communities or neighborhoods within stingy or impoverished states attend schools that must make do with less than $4,000 per student per year (Biddle 2002). However the federal government signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) law in 1965 in an effort to equalize educational spending. Better yet In 2002 Congress reauthorized ESEA and President George W. Bush signed the law turning ESEA into No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Both programs offered new grants to districts serving low-income

Budget cuts in schools cause turmoil and stress among the students and faculty. Drastic changes in the budgets have caused schools to negatively impact the people around them. With the lack of funding, schools are facing difficult decisions on what to do to stay within their budget. Supervision is facing much scrutiny on how to handle the lack of funding in their school districts. A solution needs to be made to improve the distribution of funding to our schools in order to keep them operating and thriving for our children to obtain their education. Budget cuts in schools have shown negative effects on employee positions, supplies, extracurricular activities.

Education is the most important possession a person must have. It is the keys to success, wealth, and knowledge. It is the only possession that cannot be taken away from a person and it will open up the windows of opportunities. Education will help us grow as an individual, have better understanding of life, and give us a financial stability; but what happens when education get cuts down. By making budget cuts to education, is this helping out education or letting it down. In the news article, “Highlights Impact of Budget Cuts to Education” by State School Chief Jack O’Connell, his claim is that governor should not cuts down education budget, but instead protect education and invest it in the future.

In today’s economic environment even the wealthiest states and districts are having to cut funding for education, while districts which were already teetering on the edge are now in an even worse position. In some schools children have to face not having enough books, paper for copies, severe overcrowding,

In addition, insufficient funding of schools along with quality teachers that are retiring are some of the problems we encounter in the education system. In some parts of the United States, there is a lack of adequate access to materials for reading and writing due to budget constraints. In Allen D. Kanner’s article, “Today’s Class Brought to You By…” he mentioned that with the baby boomers retiring, and a high turnover among new teachers, who are asked to teach subjects they are not properly trained for, are causing difficult classroom situations (280). Similarly, Governor Jerry Brown’s statement last January 11 pointed out that K-12 education has ‘borne the brunt’ of the state’s budget cuts with more than $18 billion in cuts over the last three years. This resulted in larger class sizes, programs are cut, and over 30,000 educators laid off. These teachers are very valuable in our society because they provide our youth with the knowledge and social experiences that they will use to better their future and the future of the entire world. As a student, I have suffered the consequences of triple digit fee increases and the lack of available classes offered. The high cost of education has put the burden not only on the students, and many of their parents, but educators, as