Schools face big budget holes as stimulus runs out

Despite the Obama administration's $787 billion federal stimulus package, providing roughly $100 billion for education, the nation's public schools are severely suffering financially. States are blowing through education spending and federal stimulus money that was given to prevent, or delay, deep classroom cuts and widespread job losses. School districts have already suffered big budget cuts since the recession began two years ago, but experts say the cash crunch will get a lot worse as states run out of stimulus dollars.

Results???

• More teacher layoffs
• Larger class sizes for the remaining teachers
• Smaller paychecks
• Fewer electives and extracurricular activities
• Decimated summer school programs
• Weaken the nation’s public schools
• Worsen unemployment
• Undermine President Obama’s educational goals
• Widen the achievement gap between students in rich and poor districts

The situation is particularly ugly in California, Michigan, Washington, Seattle, and Florida. Will this take away from students’ quality of education and preparation for the real world? How long will this last? How is the stimulus going so fast? What is it being spent on? These are just some of the questions and concerns brought up, due to this issue. 

“Around the country, state governments are cutting money for schools as they grapple with huge budget gaps triggered by high unemployment, sluggish retail sales and falling real estate prices. A recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that 41 states face midyear budget shortfalls totaling $35 billion.” -Terence Chea, Associated Press Writer. Dallas Morning News

In this article, Lori Peck, a first-grade teacher at Vallejo's Patterson Elementary School, was mainly concerned about the importance of individual attention that each student craves for success in education. The more students in a single classroom sitting, the less individual attention each child will receive, "I feel like my class in general is further behind where they should be," Peck said. "My concern is they don't reach the standards by the end of the year."

As an aspiring teacher, this article was extremely interesting, as well as eye-opening, to me. I just hope and pray that all of these issues can be resolved by the time that I finish school.