School budgets and layoffs

[Deleted]

What does your local school budget look like? Mine just approved a plan to lay off 344 teachers and staff. Class sizes are projected to go up to about 30 at the elementary level and 40 or higher at the junior high and high school. This is a considered a good, suburban district. All the local districts have been cutting and striking.

Bonds and levies supporting the schools have been voted down left and right. People feel like they can't afford to pay more in property taxes.

[swamp]

Somehow, the school district manages to spend 8.9 million dollars educating 400 kids, but only has very limited extracuriccular activities, no AP classes, and no distance learning. The school down the road manages to do a better job with 6.9 million dollars and the same number of kids.

The story in the paper today was that the teachers turned down their raise so they could save a .5 time English teacher and a .5 social studies teacher. Nobody can answer the question as to whether these teachers are needed.

I went to a proposed consolidation meeting and the big question was "what will happen to the bus drivers, the janitors, and the lunch ladies?"

[Deleted]

Because of some law or how the union contracts are written, layoff notices have to go out by April here I believe. That means for the last 3-4 years, there is a mass layoff announcement because districts have to assume the worst. Then before the school year starts, a large number of the layed off get called back.

Some districts now are "banking" that voters approve Jerry Brown's tax increase plan come November and are not cutting back hard for fall while others are expecting it to fail and are cutting back more.

[daisylu]

We are in a rural LCOLA and they are starting to hire teachers and re-instate raises after a 2 year freeze. Our elemtary level limit is 22 students, not sure about the high school. For those 2 years, they just did not replace people, and encouraged early retirement. Now they are hurting for help.

[jeffreymo]

Budget of $150M with 15k students and 1000 teachers. When the levy's expire or there is a need for a new one, the school board collaborates with the teacher's union to craft a message threatening the taxpayers with 100+ teacher layoffs. The last one failed in November 2011 - and immediately following the loss, they laid off bus drivers, janitors, and cafeteria workers - so that they could show the most # of heads rolling, but it was a drop in the bucket really. Then they put a new smaller levy on the ballot for March which only threatened 35 teacher layoffs. It passed, and they've followed throught with the cuts.

This happens regularly in every school district surrounding us.

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

Here, they are slashing like crazy. A friend of mine just got his layoff notice and they will increase class sizes like mad. He has been through this every year since 2008 or 2009. They layoff in the spring, then once school starts and they figure out the kids didn't go away, they call back the teachers. By then, school has started and the kids have been in one class with one teacher, only to be reorganized. He teaches in elementary ed so it can get a little hairy. It is ridiculous. This past year, he got rehired in Nov to teach kindergarten. The kids had been in large (state max- 32?) kindy classes since August and the district found more $$ in November and put it towards class size reduction to get kindy classes to around 22. This did end up reshuffling everyone in the middle of the year though.

The one good thing about this? The "laidoff" teachers can collect unemployment during the summer (teachers usually can't because summer is an expected break). By being officially laidoff, they lose their health insurance/bennies but collect UI until they find out in the fall if they are getting rehired. This stupidity ends up costing the state more than if they just figured it out ahead of time..

[findingdeadbeats]

They consolidated down all of the busing in our area for next year. DS's bus stop moved from the end of our road to ten miles down the highway. So glad my son has one more year and we are out of there. Also glad that he can now drive.

40 miles a day to the bus stop and back and forth twice a day would be costly and a total drag... He will probably just drive the extra miles and skip the bus altogether.

[thyme4change]

This is the first year they didn't announce any budget cuts. We are looking pretty decent going into the new year. Thank goodness. Every year that we have been in school they send chicken little around to tell us the sky is falling. It was getting pretty boring.

[Deleted]

May 18, 2012 10:56:43 GMT -5 @findingdeadbeats said:

DS's bus stop moved from the end of our road to ten miles down the highway.

That's insane- how far away is the school? It's one of the things I hate about the Taj Mahal high schools- rather than smaller ones closer to where students live, they put up a new one the size of a community college and kids have to get up at a ridiculous hour for the commute. I would have been up a creek with this arrangement- DS didn't drive in HS and I worked full-time so getting him at the bus stop in the afternoon would have taken a chunk out of my workday.

To answer the OP's question: they still pass the tax increases/bond issues here. It's crazy. Yes, we have good schools but that doesn't imply that nothing is wasted or that they absolutely need more money. (My highly-regarded school system in NJ was robbed by its Business Manager of a few million dollars over a couple of years. Nobody noticed till the FBI showed up and started confiscating the district's computers.)

And it's really sad that when they cut costs, they make sure it's teaching staff, bus drivers and cafeteria ladies- not all the administrators and Deputy Assistants, which is probably what they need to cut.

[Formerly SK]

I think we used to live in your school district (moved two years ago). I can't believe the bond/levy failed. I heard it was because the huge parks/rec levy was approved earlier and people were just fed up. But still....how astounding. I feel for all my friends who still live there.

Our district has had some cuts last summer but nothing spectacular. During the 2010-2011 school year you'd have thought money grew on trees (at least for special ed - whatever my son needed he got. Now his services have been cut some but still better than what he'd get anywhere else locally). Gen Ed seems very adequately funded (no field trips, but certainly they have their needs met). And my kids' class have 22 & 26 kids in them (elementary grades).

[deantrip]

The school district here just had 5 levies fail for additional funding. The school had been working with the city council on some things and the council recently pushed through some tax increases for special districts without going to the voters through a loophole in the laws, that was for a parks district, just after approving a multimillion dollar new library, after a new multimillion new ballfield, etc. The school district here a couple of months ago, went into a meeting to extend the contract for the superintendent, then they turn around and fire him at the meeting. Contract buyout was almost 150,000! Then they have to pay a interim superintendent, and pay a search firm and then hire a new one. Why not let the contract expire and do their own homework on new candidates over time and save themselves some money. They are thinking about building a new elementary school on the westend of town, when we have one sitting shuttered right now on the west end, it makes no sense and until the school board gets their act together mill levies will not pass. Oh the other thing on the mill levies they try to push through are lifetime levies, not 10 year ones, also stupid.

[deantrip]

On a related note: now.msn.com/now/0518-school-fined.aspx?OCID=media_nowcontrol

School in utah was just fined 17k by the federal government for having soda available for sale during lunch hour, now the machines are unplugged, losing revenue and they have to pay a fine.

[zibazinski]

Schools, just like other government run institutions, piss away money because it isn't theirs. Plus, they always yell the BATTLE CRY, it's for the CHILDREN! Horse manure. It's for more bloated admins to push pencils while the real workers do a tough job with not enough support.

[giramomma]

They just started the budgeting process for next year, so layoffs haven't been addressed yet. I don't think it will be good though. Money from the state got cut. Now, over half the kids in the district qualify for reduced/free lunch (ie come from low income homes), which means those kids cost more to educate (not only to feed, but some of these kids also need esl help and summer school).

I do know that our district won't spend they money to close achievement gaps in later grades. It's too expensive to get all kids to read at grade level in middle school.

[thyme4change]

[quoet]Plus, they always yell the BATTLE CRY, it's for the CHILDREN![/quote]

A couple of years ago we approved a temporary 1% increase in sales tax to go to eduation. It was for the CHILDREN. Our budget still got cut that year. They basically were able to eliminate the entire education line from the general fund and depend solely on the sales tax. It was dishonest and sneaky. The voting public got played.

[Sum Dum Gai]

What does your local school budget look like?

A hot mess. I know Tina is waiting to jump on me for mentioning it, but our special ed and ESL costs are out of friggin control.

[Miss Tequila]

"I know Tina is waiting to jump on me for mentioning it, but our special ed and ESL costs are out of friggin control. "

LOL..now come on, I have never jumped on you...unless you asked nicely

I can solve the ESL problem.....stop letting illegals in...and ship those that are here back home....CA is hte land of the safe havens...you have no one but yourselves to blame for that mess.

Special ed is another issue and one that no one has answers to. It is much more expensive to educate a special needs child but they are entitled to an education, but like all of the typical children.

[The Captain]

ESL and special ed are the budget breakers in my area as well.

ESL we all know what the problem is and what the solution should be.

I have a friend who teaches at a private school and her sister teachers at a public school. Always love going to BBQ's when they are together comparing notes. According to the one who teaches in public school 17% of the kids are now classed as "special needs" and most of the have a IDP that requires one-on-one attention. This takes time away from the kids who aren't "special".

The public school teacher says there is a trend of parents getting their kids classed as special ed so they get the extra resources (and time for test taking). Sorry, but I don't think that is right and I sure as hell don't believe 17% of the population is special needs. Where were all these kids when I was in school, locked in the janitor's closet?

[Sum Dum Gai]

.you have no one but yourselves to blame for that mess.

I disagree. Not completely, since the safe haven cities are definitely a part of the problem. However, the vast majority of ESL kids in our school are US citizens. There's that little clause in the constitution that says any women who jumps the fence before she squats and pushes out her squalling spawn wins the lucky tyke automatic citizenship. Granted we could round up the parents and deport them, because they're still here illegally, but most of the low income ESL kids crowding our classrooms are natural born US citizens. They have rights and whatnot. They're just as entitled to all their extra spending as the special ed kids.

[Miss Tequila]

"The public school teacher says there is a trend of parents getting their kids classed as special ed so they get the extra resources (and time for test taking)."

You do realize that a child has to be tested and actually found to have a disability in order to qualify for additional services, right? The parents can't just decide that they want JOhnny to have accomodations in class. There are all kinds of ranges of special needs and not all qualify for an IEP ( I believe that is what you meant when you said IDP)

[Miss Tequila]

"I disagree. Not completely, since the safe haven cities are definitely a part of the problem. However, the vast majority of ESL kids in our school are US citizens. There's that little clause in the constitution that says any women who jumps the fence before she squats and pushes out her squalling spawn wins the lucky tyke automatic citizenship. Granted we could round up the parents and deport them, because they're still here illegally, but most of the low income ESL kids crowding our classrooms are natural born US citizens"

The anchor baby is entitled to stay....not the entire damn family! And let's stop making it so easy for these women to jump the fence in teh first place...a little border security goes a LONG way.

[moxie]

My kids' old elementary district currently has 35 kids average per class with no aides. When my kids were in elementary school, their classes had no more than 24 students per class. The current numbers are RIDICULOUS...glad I am not teaching full-time anymore! With class sizes like that, it would be very difficult to meet the needs of all of the students, especially when some have special needs.

[Sum Dum Gai]

You do realize that a child has to be tested and actually found to have a disability in order to qualify for additional services, right?

You do realize that it's a lot easier to act stupid or hyper than it is to fake a high score on an IQ test, right? My daughters are pretty good in school, but if I had them down a couple Rockstars and candy bars right before they went in to be evaluated for ADHD they'd probably get the label.

[The Captain]

Yep, a doctor or other specialists evaluation is needed. There are plenty of parents out there who will tell the doctor's exactly what they need to hear to get the diagnosis. It is more of a problem in the affluent areas then in lower income areas.

Just as people know what to do to get the worker's comp diagnosis.

I thought a IDP was and Individual Development Plan, is IEP = Individual EDUCATIONAL plan ( I may have gotten the letters mixed up)

[Miss Tequila]

"You do realize that it's a lot easier to act stupid or hyper than it is to fake a high score on an IQ test, right? "

I'm not even following what you are saying....are you saying 8 year old children are acting stupid to get additional services? I can see a high schooler doing a stunt like that but not a young child....seriously, I'm not following your statement. I can guarantee you that my dd didn't fake her testing

[Miss Tequila]

"I thought a IDP was and Individual Development Plan, is IEP = Individual EDUCATIONAL plan ( I may have gotten the letters mixed up)"

Ok, I might have misunderstood...we dont' have IDP's locally so maybe that is the same as 504 services (I think that's what it is called when a child needs help but doesn't qualify for an IEP)....

[Sum Dum Gai]

I'm not even following what you are saying....are you saying 8 year old children are acting stupid to get additional services?

In some cases, yeah, I absolutely think it happens. The parents coach the kids on exactly what to say during their evaluation to get them a label and extra help.

A lot of low income kids have horrible diets that are high in sugar, and kids are naturally pretty rambunctious anyway, so getting your younger child officially labeled as ADD/ADHD is probably pretty easy.

[moxie]

"There are all kinds of ranges of special needs and not all qualify for an IEP ( I believe that is what you meant when you said IDP)"

When I first taught in Special Education (LD) many years ago, a student only qualified for services if there was a 50% delay in learning based on testing. In other words, a student in fourth grade would have to be functioning at a second grade level academically. While a student may not test low enough to qualify for certain services, tutors may be used and adaptations by the regular ed teacher may be put into place.

[Miss Tequila]

"You do realize that it's a lot easier to act stupid or hyper than it is to fake a high score on an IQ test, right? My daughters are pretty good in school, but if I had them down a couple Rockstars and candy bars right before they went in to be evaluated for ADHD they'd probably get the label. "

sure, you go back and edit after I replied to you! An active child is not the same as a child with ADHD...i've seen both and there IS a difference. A difference that a trained evaluator should be able to see.

[moxie]

Let's face it...it needs to be a team effort between the school, the parents and outside resources as well.