School Consolidation Research Paper

In taking a brief look at the Oklahoma education system, one need not look far before issues of significant underfunding and understaffing come directly into view. Many different proposals regarding what Oklahoma needs to do to resolve this problem have been suggested in the past, but very few of these proposals outline an answer regarding how these fixes will be implemented. How Oklahoma's educational system can increase the effectiveness of its limited funding is something that can be addressed with simple cost-effective steps and strategies that have proven their effectiveness in other states. Additionally, the issue of understaffing can be looked at from a fresh perspective in order to understand what the Oklahoma education system can do to bring in new teachers and keep these teachers. Finally, in joining with national-level movements and interest groups such as the National Education Association which can help with budgetary issues and Teach for America which can help to bring in new, trained and enthusiastic teachers into areas of Oklahoma that have seen poor performance from students in the past.

I am providing an analysis of “School Consolidation and the Politics of School Closure Across Communities” by Zorka Karanxha, Vonzell Agosto, William R. Black and Claudius B. Effiom (2013). The principal at Roosevelt Neighborhood School, Brian Jones, faced a state wide economic recession, which led to the merge of his school with Scott Magnet School of choice,

The Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) is one of those districts that have seen fallen property values in Marin, dysfunctional, and fiscal chaos in Sacramento. As a result of the severe economic downturn and the devastating cuts to education from the state of California, the TUHSD needs to reduce operating cost by 20% within five years to have a balanced budget for the 2014-2015 school year. THUSD annual budget is $55 million dollars. Operations is half that, or $27.5 million. The cost reduction goal is 20% within the operating budget lower than that provided in 2009-2010, which equates to a $5.5 million dollar reduction to balance the budget for 2014-2015 school year. The following recommendations

The online article best value schools provide a view from a schools stance by informing the reader on issues schools face. The author points out the common issues. The more students the more money needed to support them and if a school wants to make money it will take as many as it can get (unknown). The schools also rely on government funding to help defray some of the

Since the early millennium there has been a call for public school reform. Whether it was a reformation in school funding and where to spend it, there was a need for it nationally. How would it be determined which school district would get the majority of the funding or would it come down to equal funding for all districts. States determine the amount of spending due to many factors such population, the size of the class and also the demographics. According to Mike Maciag on Governing.com, New York is spending more than $20,000 per student each year, counting teacher salaries, but Idaho and Ohio spend about one-third as much. Teachers with additional education and experience see better results in smaller states with less spending per student than those who spent a major amount per student. Additional factors that are listed on governing.com that contribute to state education spending were employee benefits. Benefits include pensions, health insurance and tuition reimbursements (Maciag). Rural areas with a higher populations drive up costs for transportation. Florida’s spending is under the national average but is high in education

This solution will provide a higher-quality education for the rest of the students in the future. As contrast to what could be, here is an example. Last year I attended an English class here at Arroyo full of students who’d given up on learning, preferring to fool around during class. The teacher had simply given up on “us” (or the troublesome ones), the class was rowdy, out of control most of the time. If only this plan was in effect at that time! The teacher could have taught class uninterrupted without having to waste class time rebuking those annoying twerps. With this proposal in effect, class sizes would be smaller and there would be less disruption so teachers would have more one-on-one time helping students worthy of their time. The learning environment/peer influence would improve, resulting in better performance, even the school’s standards would be set

If there is ever a smart way for a school district to save money, school boards will always lend an ear to the

Oklahoma as of today is ranked 49th nationally in per-pupil expenditures and ranked 48th in teacher pay (Klein 2). Putting Oklahoma as one of the worst states to be educated in the United States. “Oklahoma is consistently ranked near the bottom for education funding and teacher pay” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth And Job Creation” 3). When there are state cuts that need to be made, the departments of education are one of the first that usually tend to suffer. Since the 2008 economic crisis, Oklahoma has continued to cut the budget for education; even though the economy has since then gotten better (Perry). Budget cuts in education affect all parts of the education process for the students. “Some school districts have ordered teacher layoffs and shorter sessions” (“Oklahoma Makes the Poor Poorer” par 4).Schools are now struggling to keep their heads above water. Each year from the budget cutting, schools have had to lay off teachers, cut entire programs, and have limited resources used to educate the students. Even the teachers’ retirement system is suffering, being one of the top poorly funded pension programs nationally (Ash par 3). Seeing as that the schools have to cut down classes and programs, administration has had no other choice than to increase class size, overwhelming teachers tremendously. “Oklahoma has 1,500 fewer classroom teachers and 40,000 more students since 2008-2009” (“Investing In Education Is Key For Growth

But then again funds on schools are not the same from state to state. This can be explained by the different educational input costs like real estate and teachers salaries. But that’s a whole other story. Funding for schools is not the issue obviously it just needs more of a balancing. The balancing can help out drastically because there will not be a huge gap in the financing of schools. In other words, many Americans will not have to worry about their child attending a school with overcrowded classrooms.

To point out another way to fix school funding in Alabama would be to use a weighted school system. A weighted system puts a specific dollar amount for each student based on their poverty levels, special education and many other factors. The weighted system is a penny-pinching way to save extra money. Each school has a per-pupil budget, this is the amount of money they spend on each student. The dollar amount spent on each child is determined by the skills and characteristics that impact their learning the most. If this weighted system was used statewide, it would free up millions of

Nitta, Holley and Wrobel in their study summarized the “arguments against consolidation [as being], smaller schools provide students with better support; smaller schools provide more accessible extra-curricular activities; [consolidation] causes teacher stress; hurts vacated communities; hurts students by requiring them to ride buses for long periods of time; leads to reduced parent participation.” The reactions of the relocated students and teachers are different than those at the receiving school. Students are faced with the anxiety of going to a new building, meeting new peers and teachers, and enduring a lengthy bus ride. In small schools, a student will receive more interaction with the teacher than is possible in a class of increased size. Extra-curricular activities such as basketball, band and choir may have more participants, since the location of the school is usually centered in the community. When students are separated to various districts, close friends, who have been together since childhood, find themselves parting ways. Usually in the larger the school, there arises more conflict among individuals and peer groups. There

Today, however, it seems as if the public has lost track of the importance of a great educational system. The main issue today’s public schools faces are funding problems. There is not enough money allocated to support the growing needs of school across the nation.

Local control of school districts has proven to have mixed results. Local control allows districts to experiment and keeps problems from one district affecting another. At the same time however, local control keeps good ideas from spreading quickly. Local districts have produced a diverse range of possible solutions to the problems that public schools face. Unfortunately, the huge amount of diversity that is present from district to district has also made progress harder to measure.

Public schools are in crisis, and not because of any shortages of public funds (more money is spent on public education than ever before, but with declining results). Many people like to think the problem with our schools is precisely that they are public: "Government schools" are run like the rest of

This is the most difficult step for schools, however, when working together, with urgency and a mindset to improve, total transformation will occur.