So trying to understand what happened to our schools and funding is really difficult -- at least for me. It seemed that everything was going well -- when BAM!! -- the bottom falls out and we are making all kinds of cuts. When we have completed those cuts, we have to make MORE cuts -- when does it stop? Where did we ever come up with the "running on empty" concept?
Recently, Mike Fine tried to provide a bit of perspective on what has happened with state funding of education. While it does not help me "understand" -- it does give me some more perspective on how we in RUSD are caught up in this mess. Probably most illustrative is slide 12 on page 6, which shows the last several years and some future years. While we had a significant drop in funds as represented by the blue line -- we were protected temporarily by federal stimulus funds (gold line) and short-term options (red line) -- the has hidden the REAL impacts (for a short time).
Nice Job! Good chart for helping us understand the impact of reduced funding.
ReplyDeleteIs there any chance that Sacramento could be persuaded to have the California Lottery kick in more than their current less than 1% to education? Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteIt was stated that over 90% of the districts budget goes to employee salary. Here's a suggestion: How about cut administrators and board members salaries by half, there you can save your teachers. Taking away teachers and their salaries doesn't save you much. Now, cutting high salaries will save you a lot.
ReplyDeleteWhy has there been little if any discussion of furlough day? Almost every state funded entity has agreed to furlough days; Cal State, UC Riverside, DMV, surrounding school districts. I believe most teachers when given the choice of taking a few furlough days or laying off 160 plus teachers would take the furlough days. I think that most teachers realize the severity of the recession and that it’s not “business as usual”. I’m also frustrated with our union who continues to tell us what we should do instead of ask us what we want to do. I know many teachers at my site have really started to lose faith in the union and have started to question some of their methods and the reasonableness of their expectations.
ReplyDeleteFurlough days don't shed the pension and benefits contributions the district has to pay, I'll bet. It is more financially prudent to lay off than do furlough days. In private industry quite often the least experienced employees are laid off first as well, so why execute furloughs and financially compromise everyone?
ReplyDelete