3,000 jobs lost. Less course offerings for students to choose from. Larger classes. $135 million in funding cut. Children’s educational needs ignored.
And that was before public schools in Kansas took another $36 million hit yesterday as a result of Governor Parkinson’s freshly balanced 2010 budget. Oh, and let’s not forget about the $156 million that was going to be needed in the future due to increased enrollment and a seemingly higher than ever group of children needing subsidized lunches because they can’t afford to eat. In fact, 63% of teachers surveyed said they have bought hungry students food with their own money.
It’s gotten so bad that (once again) school districts have to consider suing the state in order to get enough funding, which takes time and money away from districts focusing on making sure our students receive a quality education.
As I picked up my son from daycare yesterday and watched him bounce and play in his jumper, I wondered what the public school system would be like when he started attending (he’s got a few years to go). And, in my mind, it doesn’t look pretty. Will he experience music classes? What about art? P.E.? Will he still be using the same textbooks that children are using today because school districts cannot afford to buy updated or new versions? What will the size of his classes be?
Funding per pupil in Kansas is now down to $4,012. Last year that amount was $4,433, which means we have decreased funding by $421 per student. Apply that to a school of 1400 students and you’re talking about a loss of almost $600,000 in funding. And that’s just one high school. That’s potentially 14 teaching positions at that school. That’s money that no longer helps to provide a quality learning environment for Kansas kids, from increasing class sizes to not being able to provide paper for teachers to create handouts or tests. That might be the removal of extracurricular activities because schools can afford to pay stipends anymore. The list can go on and on and be made up of many different (and unfortunate) scenarios. What it is definitely going to mean is the loss of more teaching and administrative positions in Kansas.
It’s a strange scenario, there is still a shortage of teachers, but there is also not enough positions available.
As you can imagine (or at least I hope you can), cutting funding hurts the learning environment, which hurts our children, which hurts the state’s future. And yet again, the state refuses to even explore the idea of a tax increase. The mere thought of the phrase “tax increase” is so unspeakable that I’m starting to think it’s on par with “Voldemort.” Look, I understand that paying more taxes during bad economic times might not be the best idea, but taxes can be (and have been) cut too low, that basic services that are gravely needed are hurt. And shame on us for allowing that to happen. Shame on our state legislature for not seeing and preparing for these terrible economic times. As the Governor put it in his statement yesterday, we are no longer cutting waste from the state budget. We are cutting services. I am not an economist by any means, but I know that capitalism goes through cycles, there are good times and there are bad times, and it will always turn. This means during the good times, we need to be sure that we are prepared for the bad times, and we weren’t prepared, we weren’t even close.
And now kids have to suffer because of it. Providing a quality education for children should be our number one priority. It’s our responsibility to make sure elementary, middle school and high school kids, that have little to no voice in government, are given every opportunity to succeed. And all we are doing is using their backs to make sure our budget is balanced.
Schools for Fair Funding is worried that, due to Kansas’ continued budget problems, spending per pupil could drop as far as $2,944 per pupil by 2012. That is absolutely shocking to me. I don’t know if funding will actually be decreased by that much, but if it does, the future of our state is in big trouble.
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