Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Are states following stimulus plans for schools?

Finally I have something to blog about! So on CNN Obama has been discussing nationwide about the school budget limitations..but I think we ALL already know that! Evedentially some schools have been going over there budgets this year and may have to cut down drastically on school edecation which I believe it horrible! These schools should not have gone out of there way and exceeding there limitations. The least they could of done is taken the budget into consideration and used the money wisely. The education board even warned them! How could they do something so idiotic! Later, it was stated that the government had to come around and help the budget again "The stimulus funds appropriated $48.6 billion for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to help keep and create jobs and advance education reforms over a period of two years, the report said. The program dedicates $39.8 billion for public elementary, secondary and higher education and other services. Another $8.8 billion will go for other activities such as public safety or government services." I love how they are trying to help our education and dreams come true but they cant help us out forever! There is only so much they can do and some schools need to consider that!
It is very sad how the schools might even have to close down and poor people have to loose their edecation. It is a corruption of peoples dreams. I know that i want to be a probation officer and thankfully I have gotten to the point of a almost graduationg senior and hoping to fufill my dreams. To hear this is a heart breaking story..Maybe i am taking this way out of proportion but let me know what do you think? and here is the website if anyone wants to check it out! http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/20/stimulus.education/index.html

11 comments:

Georgia Thomas said...
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Georgia Thomas said...

I think its a little too harsh to say that schools did something "so idiotic". It's hard for schools to not run over budget when they have such a small budget to begin with and running a school properly is quite costly.

PH(OE)BE said...

I'm sure many schools DID take the budget into consideration, but, as Georgia already stated, running a school is expensive.

and if it does get to a point where schools do have to close down, it would definitely be unfortunate for the kids from lower income families!

Serena said...

I agree with Phoebe. It's hard to say that schools never really tried to handle situations due to the budget cut. It is harsh to call them idiotic. I'm pretty sure they did try. But most of the time, there is nothing they can really do. It's not their fault. Schools would want people to have a better education. But most of the time, there is nothing they can do if there is not enough budget. Schools DO consider the budget cut. That is the reason why many teachers are getting laid off and why many Universities are limiting the number of incoming students they can take, especially in the past year. I agree, running a school is expensive and many schools are doing their best to preserve their teachers and educational purposes.

Dana said...

It's such a shame that some schools will possibly have to close down due to overspending. It also reflects badly on those in charge who really should have been more responsible and seriously taken the budgets into account because the closing of schools could greatly affect students, and possibly take away their only means of receiving an education.

Derek White said...

Is it just the schools' fault or is it the district. From my understand, I believe that it is the responsibility of the district to appropriate funds and to make sure we are fiscally responsible. I think it is definitely a problem that when we aren't looking at the financial situation very seriously and now we have many problems with funding. If we play conservative with funds, then we are less likely to go over. I think its this irresponsibility that has gotten our schools into a bit of trouble.

-Derek White

Catherine Riviello said...
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Catherine Riviello said...

I somewhat agree that it was careless of the schools to go over budget, but as many other people have already stated it is not entirely their fault.
I feel that if schools were given even just a slightly bigger budget to begin with, these types of budgetary problems would be somewhat easier to avoid and then schools would not have to close and let all of their students down.
Really what it comes down to is that schools need more money. the end.

Rachel Marcus said...

I agree with Catherine. Schools need more money, and thats the problem. I have no doubt that the schools probably could have spent more conservatively, but its really hard to stay within the budget no matter what. Under our current system, some schools are going to need improvement no matter how the economy is doing. Even when the economy is thriving, school funding varies so much from place to place, and some students are always deprived of the education they deserve. Maybe the system in general needs to change.

Talia Y. said...

I mostly agree with all of the previous comments. I think that staying within budget is extremely difficult when there is not very much money to begin with. I seem to recall that at Aragon, many teachers go over the copy budget, or maybe I am wrong. However, i believe that this is because they NEED to print tests and other materials for their classes. While many teachers put worksheets and handouts on schoolloop, there are some things that they must make copies of when there is the budget for it. While I agree that there can probably be a few cutbacks here and there, overall I think that schools go over the budget because they are trying to give their students a better education. Therefore, in some ways going over the budget is actually helping the students...

lizaj said...

I agree with Catherine that it's not completely the school's fault. And a bigger budget is more than possible.

Total U.S. Military budget in 2009: 517,479 million

Total U.S. Education budget in 2009: 92,313 million
(including training and employment, social services, and higher education)

So...um...I guess we have a lot of money to spend...on fighter jets. Great. I know it's more complicated than that, but REALLY? Personally, I can't believe we spend so much on military and so little on education. It really is our future, and I feel like the U.S. isn't putting enough emphasis on it.

Effects the budget has had on UCLA:

"Since February, we have reduced our work force by 428 positions, including 36 ladder faculty, 95 lecturers and 109 teaching assistants (TAs)."

"We are reducing by 50 percent general fund support for research centers ($6 million)."

"We project 165 fewer courses in fall '09 than in fall '08. This is a 10 percent reduction."

"As programs close, we will lose outstanding, talented staff."

"Reduction in faculty size will require us to reduce undergraduate enrollment levels."

(http://www.universityofcalifornia.
edu/news/article/21554)

Not to mention the 2009 Natural Resources and Environment budget: 32,310 million. that's 6.2% of the military budget. Our government is spending far more money, our parents' money, on warfare than on nurture and general world health.

(http://www.gpoaccess.gov/
usbudget/fy09/fct.html)

-Liza Brownstone