Public Education is close to my heart and seeing as the decision to go ahead with the budget cuts has been approved, I would like to discuss this issue of Texas government. After a long, drawn out debate, the Texas legislature has passed the public education budget cuts. This ridiculous cut of millions of dollars from the public education budget will be the final straw that breaks the back of the Texas school system. Texas was already in the mid thirties (very low) on the education ranking of the states in the US, how could the legislature agree to pass this budget cut when we are already suffering as a state?
Many school districts have cut fine arts and physical education programs claiming that these subjects are not of great importance to the children attending public schools. Closer to home, at my old high school, the German program has been removed completely from the curriculum. (How French or Latin is more important, I am not sure.) Because entire subjects are being removed from schools, thousands of teachers have been cut too to account for the lack of money in the school systems. Our youth needs strong teachers to educate them. If teachers are being fired left and right, other teachers will fear they will be the next lose their jobs and that huge distraction will surely interfere with their teaching.
The school budget did not need to see such a huge cut, it needed to be reformed, using money wisely. Teachers that were not getting the results needed and teachers who need to retire could have been cut to save money. This would leave the most effective teachers in schools to teach children. This would increase classroom sizes but that's how classes are in college anyway. This would get students used to the classroom setting they will one day have. Money could also be saved in the fine arts and athletic departments by keeping current uniforms and equipment. This would allow the programs to continue while the economy is hurting. Then in a few years when things pick back up, new equipment and books and other necessities could be purchased.
Really, I believe there was a better way to save money in the public school system rather than withholding millions of dollars and firing thousands of teachers. I have stated a few suggestions on how money could be saved for the time being in the school system. Alternatives like the ones I suggested are important for the legislature to consider. These drastic cuts have put thousands on unemployment and have outraged parents of school aged children. The budget has personally effected my life in a negative way as well. I was going to get a biology teaching degree to teach high school biology. The condition of schools due to budget cuts as extinguished my hope of finding a teaching job in Texas. Because of this I have pursued other careers. I am sure I am not the only student that feels this way. The budget cut has most likely discouraged more students to seek careers other than teaching. This could result in fewer teachers in the future and ultimately the unravelling of the already dysfunctional public school system in Texas.
In her post “Budget Cuts in Texas Public Education”, Caitlin Huber speaks out against the recently proposed education budget. She cites that education has already been suffering in our state compared to others and this budget will only continue to make things worse. She points out that entire school subjects are being completely cut from some schools resulting in an abundance of teacher lay offs. As a result, hope has dwindled for aspiring teachers like her who have begun to ditch their dreams and look for different careers. Finally, she proposes that reform was necessary rather than cuts in order to help the states education, along with a variety of suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI cannot be more sympathetic to Caitlin, as well as many of my other classmates who spoke out against the education cuts. I think it is horrible that students are losing life-enhancing opportunities in the classroom while teachers are being forced to rethink their lives. I was heartbroken to hear that UT recently cancelled the scuba diving program where I first got the chance to learn and experience one of my current favorite hobbies. Indeed, the economical and personal affects of these education cuts go very wide.
However, I will pose a question to Caitlin and my other classmates that share her view. Though the budget cuts are very tragic, are they not necessary? Texas, as well as the entire country, is fighting desperately to not dig themselves deeper into the hole of debt they are currently in. It seems to me that in order to preserve what’s left of the state’s economy, cuts needed to be made. Of course the tough part is deciding where to make these cuts. No matter which aspect of the state was going to suffer, people were bound to be pissed off. Say it was the law enforcement budget that was cut, people would lose jobs and others would be pissed off that crime would rise. Say it was the public transportation budget that was cut, people would lose jobs and others would be pissed that they cannot get to work. In this case, it happened to be education that was unlucky, and guess what?- People like Caitlin and I are pissed off. It goes to show how difficult it is to make up for past mistakes by getting out of debt. The unfortunate truth though is that there is really no other option.
In Caitlin Huber’s editorial “Budget Cuts in Texas Public Education,” she is speaking about the recent budget cuts in education and how they are going to be more harmful than helpful. She goes on to explain how Texas is already at the bottom in education in comparison to other states and how these cuts will continue to make the situation worse than it already is. She makes very excellent points about entire subjects being cut from curriculums and the numerous teacher layoffs. At the end of her post she suggested various solutions to the issue and stated that reform would have been more suitable than budget cuts in education.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do realize that our states education system is in trouble and desperate need of help, I couldn’t agree more about your stance on the recent budget cuts in education. In order to keep our taxes low and relatively the same, the state was going to have to make cut backs somewhere and regardless of where they were made individuals were going to be upset with the decision. I am fully aware that Texas falls relatively towards the bottom in scholastic ratings, but with that said one really has to weigh out the pros and cons of the state. Seeing as every state in our nation is experiencing some kind of economic misfortune, Texas has been the last to experience the recession and we have done a great job of holding our own during this rough time. Due to Texas’ persistent economic stability I’m quite confident that this will pass and in a few years we will be right back to where we were a year ago in education funding, hopefully in even better shape than in the past.
As I stated in one of my past blog entries, the Wall Street Journal reports that, “The Texas education system enrolls 500 students every school day. With the recent budget cuts in education this shows Texas’ ability to stretch every dollar in their budget. The National Education Association reports that Texas spends $9,227 per pupil, or roughly $1,300 less than the national average, but still more than what either California or Florida spends. Texas also has higher math and writing test scores and a lower pupil-teacher ratio than the national average.”
After reading this article I came to the realization that every state is currently facing some kind of economic obstacle and that ours at the moment happens to be budget cuts in our public education and highway funding. With that said, Texas is making great use out of the money that we are putting towards our education system.
http://sroblog.com/2011/05/19/texas-shows-the-way-political-diary-wsj/
My fellow colleague had several reasonably valid points in her blog post about how the State of Texas keeps cutting education budgets in the public school system. The importance of our children and their education and the quality of that education is top priority. As cliche as it may sound, these children that are experiencing these awful budget cuts in their education will be running our country, etc. one day in the not so far away future. While I realize the budget cuts must be made somewhere, education definitely should not be the area to cut back. As Caitlin has mentioned, teachers must be strong to accomplish the huge task they have ahead of them but when they're very much distracted by fears of being unemployed their performance is bound to be directly affected. Also when you begin to decrease the amount of available teachers, but the amount of students does not change, the teacher to student ratio will be a crazy number. With more students with one teacher, the quality of education the children are getting will be affected again by the teacher not having the time to take that extra moment with a student when it's needed.
ReplyDeleteAnother disturbing statement is how the Texas public education system is cutting those programs that allow our children to become more well-rounded individuals by learning another language or music or art. Taking this extra "incentive" also could have the opposite effect on the child and not motivate them to achieve. From a child's point of view, if I never get to have fun or have some down time then what's the point of doing any of it?? I know when I was a kid, I absolutely loved going to music class, art class, and watching a movie or playing fun games in the classroom. It's those simple extra things that kids find value in especially if it's a fun activity for them. My colleague also mentioned how the school system could just use some reforming. I agree that trying to look at budget cuts differently and having the schools stop being so wasteful by recycling items such as sports uniforms, equipment, among other supplies could help boost it up a little bit to help get the state of Texas back on track! Regardless of whatever justifications the state government has come up with, our public education system is crucial for the development of our future Texas! Stop cutting what really matters and look for areas to cut in the state budgets that do not directly affect the students and teachers so we can improve our public school system!!!