School Budgets

As the newly promoted director of student achievement for Washington, D.C Public Schools, I am fully committed to the expansion of current program offerings as well as the creation of additional programs. To achieve this, I will make use of the principles learned in my graduate budgeting course to assess the current financial situation, plan the department’s future direction, create and implement the new annual budget, and lastly, evaluate the success of the programs and the budget in preparation of repeating these steps.

Trees are going up, ornaments are being hung, and presents are being placed under the tree, ready to be opened. It’s no lie that the holidays are approaching, as children make their lists for the things they want. For some, however, making a list is not a option, some families will not to be able afford new toys and gadgets for this upcoming holiday, or just everyday essentials. For some, the holidays are a struggle to get families decent gifts. At Northrop High School, students and their families live like this everyday, never being able to afford the essentials due to having little funds.

The state budget cuts have also taken a toll to both teachers and parents’ pocketbooks. According to (Kloberdanz-Modesto, 2011) “As parents have quickly learned from this year’s long donation list and increased frequency of car washes and bake sales, it really may take a village to run the local school.” I have experienced firsthand for the past five years how much the donation lists have increased. From only having to purchase school supplies for my son, I now also purchase supplies for the classroom just to ensure my child has all the tools he would need in order to get his education. When my son first started school, I remember his school supply list requested only for a couple of pencils, erasers, and color pencils. Now his list has contains his personal school supplies and donations of hand sanitizer, paper towels, computer paper, lined paper, packs of pencils, packs of erasers, white board markers, and the list goes on. I honestly do not mind, but what about the other parents who cannot afford it? Just this previous year I got close with a parent whose child was also in my son’s class. I remember her asking if I would mind for her to purchase the “not so expensive items” from the list because she was tight on funds. I could see in her facial expression that she was embarrassed to ask the question, but without adequate financing what are we to do as parents to ensure our children receive the tools they need for their education? We dig into

A complex system has many parts working together for a common goal. If one part hinders, the whole system can fail. A team is only as good as it’s weakest link. Therefore, the group must work their hardest to succeed as a whole. In Oskaloosa, we have many areas that could be considered as the weakest link whether it be a student, a faculty member, or a team. Many parts could be fixed to make a stronger community here at OHS. The main area being the budgeting. Many sports, programs, and areas of our school suffer due to poor choices in budgeting. The school could better distribute its money throughout all of the areas and programs.

Greek philosopher Aristotle defines the arts ¨as the realization in external form of a true idea, and is traced back to that natural love of imitation which characterizes humans, and to the pleasure which we feel in recognizing likenesses.¨(IEP). The fine arts which have been a part of human history for 30,000 years have played an essential role in the development and advancement of our societies. As of today, the fine arts are facing the danger of vanishing in the education system of the United States Schools in places like Minnesota, Michigan and Philadelphia struggle to obtain arts programs within their schools. Districts like the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district, have been struggling with raising student’s academic scores in courses

Advertisement has become increasingly important to the funding of television shows, movies, and other such entertainment entities. Television is funded almost solely on commercials and no one really minds except for some grumbling about interruptions to the show, because they know that the television shows would not get the money and resources they need to be made without them. Schools need funding and resources that they are constantly lacking in, and while putting advertisements up may be irritating, the money and equipment gained through these partnerships will improve conditions at the schools and the advertisements will not get in the way of normal education, though these partnerships definitely need some restrictions before they should be allowed.

The American education system has not managed to survive a single day in which it has not been placed beneath society’s microscope to be analyzed and critiqued by both those involved and not. It comes as no surprise that there are a plethora of flaws involved in the institution of education. However, there is one entirely unique aspect of American education that has potential to alter the system’s negative persona; the fine arts programs. Rick Dean, a journalist for Topeka Capital Journal, researching Topeka’s new arts and education program stated, “Teachers and students participating in the program benefit from infusing fine arts across the curriculum, thinking critically. . . . to find creative and innovative solutions to problems beyond

Public Schools can, undoubtedly, achieve great things by supplementing their budgets with money from corporate sponsorship; however, this activity is dangerous for public schools as it could put them in a position where they would be expected to support a corporation’s politics while possibly being made to forgo convictions for their own standards and ethics. Since the early 1900s, with the influx of immigrants and the increasing number of children enrolling in schools due to lack of employment opportunities, there has been great demand in education reform with regards to laws and funding (Grubb).

In today’s society, children attaining an education has become a very important essential in life. Most children in the United States of America attend public schools, due to the fact that parents do not have to pay for tuition. Public schools face many dilemmas and one of the most detrimental is budget cuts. Since public schools are often underfunded and “influenced by political winds and shortfalls”, it makes them quite vulnerable (Shortt 62). Due to budget cuts, schools agree to sponsor brands in order to gain funds. When schools agree to sponsor companies, not only does it harm children physically and mentally, it also distracts students from their goals in school. Companies care more about selling their products than the children’s welfare.

Are teachers satisfied with their salary? Do we lose opportunities in hiring new people to educate our students because of district cuts? District Budget cuts are ruining our future and causing many problems for the younger generations. Thanks to budget cuts many of the students today rely on auto correct for their spelling, many depend on calculators and other tools to keep up with curve because there wasn't competent teachers there to help them and due to budget cuts we have serious problems to look forward to in our future. People do not want to work at places that pay so low amount of money. Finding the right people to apply to schools in Philadelphia is really hard. “At the same time, the percentage of teachers who said they were likely

Recently, in the current year, some public schools in Pennsylvania grappled with a tight state budget. The consequences were really disappointing and discouraging. This insufficient budget had a great impact in some schools, especially schools with a high level of poverty. Poor schools are in jeopardy of facing various challenges like cutting off programs and taking out loans. For example, a nonprofit organization which is working on an afterschool program at McKinley Elementary School, in Philadelphia, stopped its activities because the staff needed more funds to get school supplies. Over the years, programs like this one, run by a nonprofit organization, have provided students with educational activities in different areas as science, engineering, technology, mathematics, and homework guidance to 501 school districts. Lack of funding also affects the atmosphere and facility in which students learn (Leach).

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

Low funding in performing arts affects many schools around the country. I believe that performing arts helps people stay in school and not dropping out like many people from past generations. Speaking from experience I do not think I would have stayed in school by choice without my passion to participate in band. Marching band and other performing arts outlets create families within a group of people. The solution to this problem I believe is funding the performing arts like the sports are usually funded . The government is doing nothing as of now to fix the problem of low funding in performing arts. “It’s estimated that since 2008, more than 80 percent of schools nationwide experienced cuts to their budgets.” Children who like playing their

Schools in America are currently facing problems of tremendous debt and budget cuts. In California, for example, the schools suffered a $24 billion statewide budget cut. There is a silver lining in all of this, though. Schools can advertise with local businesses to make ends meet and then some. These ads not only benefit the school, but also the business. Furthermore, These ads may not be as manipulating as some may think.

American school tend to favor more money on extra-curricular activities and less on classroom time. School tend not use some of the supplies and that is total waste of money because the district are not monitoring to see what is being used in the classroom and budgets are not based on what things actually cost. There is also lack of communication between one department to another and there are inconsistencies with the supplies and instructional support. Sometimes the supplies are already delivered in the campus and it stays in the stock room until someone discovers it. School principals do not have the freedom on how to decide where the most dollars need to spend and how to support teachers or students because the budget is controlled by the central office. Principals were also at one point teachers in the classroom and probably did not have the proper management training necessary to run the school operation and ensuring the budget is prioritize accordingly. Sometimes, the states also announce the budget to the district late in the year when the school is already in session and some of them have never been in the classroom to understand the value of the resources and teachers need.