Archives for category: Budget Cuts
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The Detroit Story: Everyone Pretended to Care

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2012 //
7

The Detroit  News reported the latest plans for the beleaguered Detroit Public School district. Under state control for three years, Detroit is now run by an emergency financial manager with dictatorial powers.

First the good news: “Detroit Public Schools’ proposed 2012-13 school year budget supports a system of schools focused on innovation and robust school choices, data-driven programs to enhance teaching and learning, including new Individual Learning Maps for every child, and highly qualified teachers selected after new teacher evaluation and interviewing processes,” Emergency Manager Roy S. Roberts said. Roberts is a former auto industry executive.

Now the bad news: “For the second year in a row, DPS is cutting its budget by nearly a quarter, from $1.03 billion last year to $784 million for the new fiscal year. It cut $231 million from its budget for the 2011-12 year as well as 800 staff positions.” This year, there will be 1,900 layoffs, as 15,000 students are transferred to the new state authority in charge of failing schools. “Class sizes will remain at 25 in grades K-3, and rise by three to 33 for grades 4-5 and 38 for grades 6-12, returning to levels from 2010-11.” Last year, the teachers took a 10% pay cut.

Now the really good news: The district will have a surplus of $11.9 million at the end of the current fiscal year!

Think about it: Some of the poorest and neediest children in one of the most economically depressed cities in America will have some of the most crowded classes in the nation.

The district is on life support. But never fear, there will be “highly qualified teachers,” “innovation,” “robust school choices,” “data-driven programs,” etc. The lyrics are familiar, but there is no music.

Diane

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Reform, Michigan

The Perils of Teaching in California

By dianeravitch
June 20, 2012 //
6

A reader writes from California about the churn and instability caused by the toxic combination of annual budget cuts and an open door for unregulated charters. I met a teacher in Los Angeles recently who told me he had been “pink slipped” six years in a row, called back each time, then pink-slipped again. What does that do for morale? I think that is called the collateral damage of reform. The glimmer of hope at the end of the letter refers to the fact that Governor Brown is trying to restore a portion of the funding that was cut, and State Superintendent Tom Torlakson–who taught science–is a champion for public education.

And one other notable development in California: the teachers in San  Diego reached a tentative agreement with the district to defer any wage increases in an effort to save the jobs of 1,500 of their colleagues. It would be impressive if some of the technology billionaires in California offered to pay higher taxes to save the jobs of teachers and other public sector employees.

 I am a public school teacher in California and I have watched with horror the past several years as our budgets have been slashed. I have seen good, decent, hard-working teachers laid off every single year and then brought back because, after all, you can’t lay off 50% of a school’s faculty and have 30+ empty classrooms! I am not joking when I say 50%, either. In the current round of layoffs, my school (which has @ 65 teachers – counting counselors, and other certificated staff) saw a layoff list of 25 people. My school district, which serves a huge population of native Spanish-speaking students has lost 60 million from its budget in the past 3 years alone.

When Governor Terminator was in office, it was a sheer disaster! I was pleased and continue to remain pleased at Governor Brown. This tax proposal is almost a last ditch effort. If it fails, it will literally be armageddon in some/most of our schools.

Speaking of charter schools, my former principal left to go open a new charter school (she was the first administrator – not the person actually funding it). The charter school was open for @ 5 months before closing because, in a typical lack of oversight, the charter founder had embezzled millions from the school. Every single teacher who left tenured positions (including my former principal) lost their jobs when the school district took over the failed charter school. 10 years ago, this wouldn’t have been a total disaster as there were plenty of teaching jobs. Today, there are thousands of out of work teachers – including those from this charter school.

California is truly a paradox, but I believe it may be on the right path.

Categories Budget Cuts, California, Education Reform, Los Angeles

Four-Step Demolition Polka in North Carolina

By dianeravitch
June 17, 2012 //
9

An article describing the situation in North Carolina defines the four steps needed to attack and dismantle public education. It is a scenario based on ALEC model legislation, which is now being faithfully implemented in many states.

Step one is to cut the budget of the public schools.

Step two is to divert public school money to privately-managed charter schools.

Step three is to divert more public school money to private and religious schools, either through vouchers or tax credits.

Step four is to declare that the public schools will get better because of competition and to declare them failures when they don’t, due to budget cuts and the exodus of motivated students to the publicly-funded alternatives in steps two and three.

And don’t forget: It’s all about the children!

Diane

Categories ALEC, Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Vouchers

Defunding Public Education in Texas

By dianeravitch
June 14, 2012 //
14

In recent years, the governor and legislature in Texas have cut billions of dollars from the budget for public education.

They have shown their priorities. By keeping taxes low, they can grow new jobs, or so they say.

But at the same time, they are destroying the public schools that prepare the next generation for citizenship and work and innovation.

A Texas colleague sent me an article to show what the cuts are doing to one small district. The Hutto school district must cut more than $1 million from its $37 million budget. A local tax increase was turned down last November. The district will go back to the voters to ask again.

The district is imposing a fee of $200 a year for students to ride the bus to school, with no break for poor kids. The district is selling advertising on the buses and licensing the right to use its mascot symbol. In April, the district laid off arts teachers, counselors, and nurses. It increased the fee for participating in extracurricular activities to $100.

Faced with endless cuts, districts are moving back to a time in our history–now seen only in very poor nations–where access to education was limited by what families can pay.

If only education reformers were as passionate about paying for education as they are about privatizing it.

Where is “Superman” when you really need him?

Diane

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Reform, Texas

Save the Arts

By dianeravitch
June 2, 2012 //
8

When the budget cuts start, the first victim is usually the arts.

The people who make the financial decisions think that the arts don’t matter.

How wrong they are. Why do they prioritize the budget for assessment over the budget for singing, dancing, and the joyful activities associated with the arts?

Do they think that students come to school just to be tested? Don’t they understand anything about the need for expression, the need to feel joy in creating and designing and singing and acting together?

Students know. Teachers know. Parents know. Why don’t the politicians and the policymakers know? Weren’t they once children?

Life without the arts, school without the arts, is nasty, brutish and way too long.

In districts across the country, the arts are in jeopardy because of budget cuts and misguided priorities. Districts are digging deep to pay for more tests even as they axe the arts.

One district that is fighting back is Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Upper Darby is facing massive budget cuts, and the arts are on the chopping block. Parents and community members created a video that is joyful to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh8RNhMo4Ks

Every district should create a video to showcase the talents of its students. Kids are amazing. The bands and orchestras and string groups and jazz groups and dance groups and drama groups are better than anything you will watch on television tonight.

Can your district do what Upper Darby did? Maybe it will educate the budget cutters if we can get them to watch.

Do not let them kill the younger generation’s creative spirit, its joy in performance, the sheer exuberance that the arts unleash. We are the adults. We owe it to them to prioritize what matters most, to them and to us.

Diane

Categories Arts Education, Budget Cuts

The Silence of the Reformers

By dianeravitch
June 2, 2012 //
8

In district after district, budget cuts are decimating the curriculum. Teachers are laid off, programs are cut, class sizes are rising, libraries are closing.

This is insane. We are supposed to be in the midst of a great education “reform” movement, but for reasons that are not obvious, the alleged reformers never say anything about budget cuts. They don’t care if the public schools are devastated. They claim to care about education, but budget cuts don’t seem to cross their radar screen.

The more they are silent, the more it demonstrates that they don’t care about education; they don’t even care about children. They care about power. They care about gaining control of public schools and of the funding stream that goes to public schools.

So, those who are silent reveal their fundamental beliefs. The more that public schools are impaired, the better the case for privatization.

In fact, we can discern a train of events. First, the reformers’ favorite experts assure us that we spend way too much on education. Second, the message is amplified by public figures like Bill Gates, even Arne Duncan (remember his claim at the conservative American Enterprise Institute that reduced budgets are “the new normal”?). Third, public schools feel the devastation of the budget cuts as class sizes rise to 35 then 40 or more; as the arts are eliminated; as libraries close; as facilities are untended because custodians were dismissed. In the final act of this play, the reformers step forward to save the children from their “failing” schools.

Those who claim to be reformers should speak out against the budget cuts or lose all credibility. If they do not, we will know them for what they are and we will know what they want.

Diane

Categories Budget Cuts, Corporate Reformers
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