Funding for Education.

[Domon]

[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][SIZE=1]Recently the state of Kansas congress just adjurned for the summer and they were supposed to have come up with a way to fund school districts in the entire state with enough money, but the house would not pass anything, the last one was an 82 million dollar increase, but they would cut back some money from for highway things, I don't remember the specifics but the house shot that bill down faster than a duck. Now they have left all the school districts high and dry, but yet I find this amazing. Our very same congress agreed on passing a bill that would pay tution fees for Illegal Immigrants, to me this is very disturbing, see I just think that in doing this the goverment is really alienating the already disgruntled teachers that may lose their jobs. I mean the Unified School District 501 will be losing a lot of money, the school board and superintendent have already announced what will be getting cut. Things such as Middle School Athletics, Elementary school bands are just to name a few, course our district has kind of alienated the teachers and faculty, as well as the student body, that would be thanks to our wonderful superintendent.

Basically, what this whole rant and thread is about is, is your state getting proper funding to education or are they pulling stupid stunts like this?? I'm just curious, or is just that Kansas has an idiotic goverment, because I still find it simply annoying that our goverment chooses to pay tution fees for people who are in the state ILLEGALY, but yet they cannot fund school districts properly.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[SoapyShoes]

Heh. Small world. I live in Michigan and the economy is basically a big salty steamy bucket of crap over here, and over in Houghton Lake Community Schools we used to have this thing called a budget. Now what happens is this in my state: The schools get a certain amount of money for each student who comes to our school, so therefore, we have a good sized budget. But unfortunatly, the School Board at my town is filled to the brim with a bunch of idiots. You'd think that if you had a budget each year that you would not spend over the budget, right? Well, that's exactly what they did. We have no more freakin money. At all. None. Now, the schools have to cut a whole bunch of classes, teachers, extra curricular clubs, and (most importantly) sports. And because they're cutting sports, students are moving to different school districts. Therefore, reducing the amount of money that the school recieves. Fortunatly, I am a senior and graduating this year, so I don't have to worry about it too much. It still kinda bothers me that someone could spend more than a set amount of money when they are completely aware of the consequences.

ugh.

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]Being in a special education class, mal-funding within the school board is always a large issue (especially since all those un-informed people out there don't understand the purpose of it, and therefore deem it a waste of money and time).

Thanks to the Tories (who have finally been kicked out of the hot seat, to be replaced by the more, well, liberal Whigs [heehee...stupid jokes...]), our education system (not to mention countless other public services) is in tatters.
More and more people are enrolling their children in private school. This is not a good thing. I wont go into the longterm faults but I'll say this:

Huge numbers of immigrants keep, well, immigrating. Most of them experience low incomes for [i]years[/i].

We need a good public system.

The worst part is that, within the school, the money seems to be being spent in all the wrong places. Instead of replacing the 30-year-old (I'm serious here.) text-books, the school chooses to squander its money on sports equipment. (Believe me, it's squandered--FIFTY DOLLAR FRIZBIES?!)

Curses.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Bio]

[color=Sienna][font=Tahoma]Definitely. Paycuts are happening everywhere, mainly due to mindless spending. I'm not sure if I'm particularly well-informed about the matter, but here's what I percieve is happening:

Our school is/was pretty well off compared to some of the other schools in the area. However, I don't think the school board interpreted that correctly. Many teachers are being let go, and because of the pay cuts many of our best teachers are forced to find work elsewhere, since they could only [i]just[/i] live off the skimpy pay that they had before all this happened.

One of our art teachers, (who wasn't particularly experienced in the first place) is being let go. The problem is, she has cancer. She's potentially terminally ill, and she's being fired. That isn't what I'd percieve as a good day.

Not only that, but next year all students will have to pay for extra-curricular activities. I know it isn't as bad as them being completely hacked off the budget, but it's still kinda aggrivating.

The school is spending on some pretty useless things, such as a tile mosaic of our school's mascot, (a lion) on the entrance hall floor. That cost either $400 or $4,000. I think there were a few other options that could have had an impact on actual learning, rather than impressing visiting schools.

I'd type more, but I have to go to bed.
[/font][/color]

[Domon]

[COLOR=Indigo][SIZE=1]Well, our wonderful school district really cracks me up because they were hollering that they would have to fire some 100 odd teachers due to budget cuts, but the school board and superintendent have all but treated the teachers and faculty with the respect that they deserve so a lot of teachers are retiring, last I heard about 200 some odd teachers are retiring and our ignorant superintendent is still saying that they will have to fire teachers.

The whole reason behind so many teachers retiring is because this superintendent came to our school district and before he was even hired, he started yelling at teachers and treating them like they were idiots etc., and this was coming from some jerk who does not even have a PhD, which is required by the Kansas State Board of Education, but I guess our school board president did some fast talking and they hired the jerk anyways, well this whole year he has alienated teachers and done nothing to support them. But see I find it amazing that our school board says we don't have enough money, when they could spend money to buy every single adminstrator (principal and vice principal) in our school district a $600.00 palm pilot just as freaking bribes. That tells me there some dirty dealing going on within the higher ups.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Balinese]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Oh my Lord...

get this: the Denver Public School District (DPS, for short) has been forced by the Colorado legislature to drop ALL of its extracurricular programs. including field trips, choirs, and Outward Bound.

i attend Cherry Creek schools, so it's no biggie to me. but it really hurts the already underprivileged kids in inner-city Denver, and it really makes me mad that Governor Owens and Mayor Hickenlooper (yes, the Hick) did something so stupid. *sigh*[/FONT]

[Boba Fett]

[color=green]I think it's a nationwide phenomenon, this cutting of school budgets. Unfortunately, we've got to cut the budget somewhere. Politicians obviously feel that the education system is the place to do this. Instead, they put their discretionary spending into special interest projects in order to court voters. Obviously, this is wrong.

To free up more money for the school system, the United States should do the following:

-Cut all spending on Illegal immigrants. Find them, detain them, deport them.
-If it comes to it, make sports pay-to-play. It sounds harsh, but if you cant afford to pay for sports, you should probably be spending your money elsewhere anyway.
-"Pork" programs should be cut.

Also, we should seriously evaluate the teachers that are employed at our schools. Paying them a little more (they barely make enough money to live on as it is) and being a little more exclusive when hiring (when possible) would be good first steps.[/color]

[Balinese]

[QUOTE=Boba Fett][color=green]

To free up more money for the school system, the United States should do the following:

-Cut all spending on Illegal immigrants. Find them, detain them, deport them.
-If it comes to it, make sports pay-to-play. It sounds harsh, but if you cant afford to pay for sports, you should probably be spending your money elsewhere anyway.

Also, we should seriously evaluate the teachers that are employed at our schools. Paying them a little more (they barely make enough money to live on as it is) and being a little more exclusive when hiring (when possible) would be good first steps.[/color][/QUOTE]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS]i quite agree. and when Bush decided to put together the revolving door policy for illegal immigrants, i was more than a little ticked off. our kids need that money, and it could be spent on so many better things! then the Democratic policy (if you haven't heard their re-writes) is to keep the immigrants in the US and let them work. Hello? jobs are needed by AMERICAN citizens, but they keep being given to illegal immigrants who hop the border to make some cash. *sigh*

teachers also should be paid more (biased as i am). they pour their hearts and souls into their work, why can't they make what they deserve? because we pay for illegal immigrant upkeep, among many other unnecessary programs.

*decides to shut up and wander off, because all this is getting her upset all over again*[/FONT]

[Domon]

[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][SIZE=1]Well, it was just released today that a judge declared that since the Kansas Legislature could not make a decision on a funding plan for the next year, he ruled that as of June 30th he is saying that state funding for schools will be shut off until the money can be distributed constitutionally. Thankfully our District Attorney is appealing to the State Supreme Court, honestly as a next year senior I think that the whole goverment is going to hell and it just shows how democracy is dying out in this country.. If Bush or Kerry don't do something to get this country back on track, we all are screwed.[/SIZE][/COLOR]