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Your local public school budgets are being cut


Riku3220

  

65 members have voted

  1. 1. Which of these options would you be LEAST opposed to?

    • Force district employees, including teachers, to take a pay cut
    • Eliminate funding for field trips and special events
    • Eliminate funding for all district athletic programs
    • Eliminate funding for new textbooks and materials
    • Eliminate funding for all district arts and music programs
  2. 2. Which of these options would you be the MOST opposed to?

    • Force district employees, including teachers, to take a pay cut
    • Eliminate funding for field trips and special events
    • Eliminate funding for all district athletic programs
    • Eliminate funding for new textbooks and materials
    • Eliminate funding for all district arts and music programs


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So yeah, the state of Texas has cut school budgets. As a result, I now have to take a survey on which of these options would be most liked/disliked.

 

I believe that athletic programs, mainly football, receives WAY too much funding as it is. Sure they should have to equipment to stay safe and stay fit, but when they're getting the majority of the budget, along with most of the sales from concessions, it's just unfair to everything else.

 

I most oppose cutting teachers' and employees' pay. The amount of crap they have to go through with these students and their parents is just ridiculous and most defiinitly doesn't deserve a pay cut of all things.

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Arts and music programs, in my opinion, aren't economically viable.

 

I would be most opposed to a cut in a teacher's salary. Teachers serve a fundamental role in education: To teach. Their role is to directly/indirectly influence interest in a subject, to teach the subject and make sure the students understand it.

 

A cut in their pay has a direct impact on their motivation levels, and with lower motivation, they are less likely to do well at their job. I don't think that would be fair to the younger generation, therefore, I would be most opposed to cuts in teachers' salary.

 

That's my little rant of the night. Damn, it's 5:11am

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I'd be the least opposed to them cutting funding for field trips, yes it's nice to get out of school every once in awhile but it's not necessary. I remember in 5th grade our teacher had us bring in can to recycle and if we hit enough money we got to go to the new Imax theater that had just opened in Tulsa.

 

I'd be most opposed to them cutting funding for new textbooks and materials. Teachers already pay out of pocket for some supplies, and not having new textbooks may be fine for a year or two, but when they get outdated by a few years it's not good.

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They make the most money and sponsors from sports. It's just a simple fact.

It's true. My district got sponsored by Under Armor, now we have nice and shiny things.

 

Lubbock ISD just passed a $198 million bond that will fix up the entire district (it needs it). Arts actually get a little bit, but we've always made do with what we have. Makes you stronger.

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If cuts have to be made, I can't see the value in continuing to fund subjects that don't improve career opportunities. When it comes to art, I take a very 'Those who can do' attitude.

 

On the other hand, investment in athletics programs improves public health.

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In our school district, we do not need new books or materials (besides paper). The amount we used them we might as well never received them in the first place. I can't say that for all of California, which is the problem, as it is a STATE budget.

 

Another thing is they should do is to be flexible on budgets. My high school had to pink-slipped some employees and get a pay cut, but we had a couple thousands to spend on giving a new layer of paint to the school. The budget was set in stone so redectoration funds have to be used for one thing and one thing only. Terrible.

"The cry of the poor is not always just, but if you never hear it you'll never know what justice is."

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In our school district, we do not need new books or materials (besides paper). The amount we used them we might as well never received them in the first place. I can't say that for all of California, which is the problem, as it is a STATE budget.

 

I've never found any use for textbooks aside from assignments that the teachers made us use them for. This is including university

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I would say that I would be least in favour of anything, at all, being cut from education. Eduction is such a vital tool that you can't just take stuff away from it. It's a set up for your entire life. The US in 2010 spent $663.8 billion in defence alone. I think some cutting definately should come from there (and god, does some cutting need to be done..)

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Teacher's get next to no salary as it is, and obviously we need new materials to keep education worth getting. Trips and other special events are part of the culture of public schools, so it would be a sin to take funding from it.

 

This leaves eliminating sports, or eliminating arts/music. Tough choice. This poll is a little bias due to the vast majority of us being ex-runescapers [see also: geeks]. I think they're equally important, as they both are forms of expression, socialization, and lead to no clear career path. If we HAVE to divert funds frmo one of the options, I say take equal parts out of both of these. I don't think we HAVE to do that though. Education should be priority number 1, followed by financial security, and then national security.

 

That being said; the USA spends WAY too much money on a military that does little more than occupy other countries.

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I've never been to a public school a day in my life, so I'm not the best person to ask. I do think that cutting pay is the worst idea based on the wealth-spiral effect and what I've heard teachers have to go through. I think cutting sports is a bad idea because I know my school makes money off of athletics and I've heard that high school football games in Texas have a huge attendance (so they'd make even more). I support cutting art the most because that's not something I find important in today's world. That's not meant to be offensive to any budding artists here, but that's just how I feel.

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Really? Everybody so far has mostly said cutting teachers' pay is the worst thing they could do. Do you know how little they pay for their healthcare, and how nice it is? And there's this thing called tenure, where even if a teacher sucks, they can stay because they've been there. And they get paid more just because they've been there. They put collective bargaining and unions to horrible use by conning the system out of stuff for free. In my school district, they hardly pay 10% for their health insurance, and they get vision and dental (how do I know this? My mom is a non-union employee at the school and doesn't get these things, but knows about them because she can buy into it when she retires). I don't know about you, but my dad works at a large company and gets really great health insurance, and has to pay around 40% for it.

 

I support paying them based on how well they teach. If they don't teach well we should be able to get rid of them.

 

Also; sports programs practically pay for themselves, with ticket fees, concessions, and the fundraisers the have athletes do. The athletic boosters at my school are probably in the best shape of any program. So cutting the money the school gives to them doesn't really do anything because they're pretty much self-sufficient.

 

I'm least against cutting teachers' pay. I'm most against cutting funding for the arts because they hardly get anything as it is, and with the new graduation requirements it's harder than ever to get kids to take them, although they're really awesome classes.

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I agree with you to a certain degree. I don't know how things work in Texas, but in Michigan if a public school teacher has had his job for 4 (maybe it was 5) years at the same school, he can't be fired unless he breaks the law. So essentially, you can show a film every day or have students read out of their text book out loud while making the same as someone who teaches well.

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I agree with you to a certain degree. I don't know how things work in Texas, but in Michigan if a public school teacher has had his job for 4 (maybe it was 5) years at the same school, he can't be fired unless he breaks the law. So essentially, you can show a film every day or have students read out of their text book out loud while making the same as someone who teaches well.

Yep. I live in Michigan too, and one of the worst things is being forced to sit through a class where the teacher can't teach it. Fortunately at my school we only have 2-3 of these... One's a math teacher and can't even teach Alg 2 properly... Other one's a special ed teacher, who's also supposed to be in charge of NHS and doesn't do squat. There are a couple other teachers everybody just dislikes, but it's not because they can't teach.

 

I think they're trying to fix this, or make it so they get paid based on how well they teach. I'm all for it.

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My mom's a teacher and she gets paid very little compared to most career choices. And like any other career, it takes a long time to rack up the benefits. Although it is true that teachers get sick benefits if they stick around long enough

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Yeah that sounds like something Governor Snyder would change. Teachers who can't teach aren't limited to public schools. At my (private) school, my chem teacher has been around for over 20 years and she is honestly stupider than half the students.

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"If it were possible to cure evils by lamentation..., then gold would be a less valuable thing than weeping." - Sophocles

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." - Plato

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When my school district took a cut, the first position they eliminated was elementary school spanish. Such as travishamockery that our 5th graders couldn't count to 10 in spanish.

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I support paying them based on how well they teach. If they don't teach well we should be able to get rid of them.

How do we monitor how well a teacher teaches?

 

Cut athletics or field trips, support the arts. This depends largely on the school of course; some are very strong in one area and very weak in others.

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In our school district, we do not need new books or materials (besides paper). The amount we used them we might as well never received them in the first place. I can't say that for all of California, which is the problem, as it is a STATE budget.

 

Another thing is they should do is to be flexible on budgets. My high school had to pink-slipped some employees and get a pay cut, but we had a couple thousands to spend on giving a new layer of paint to the school. The budget was set in stone so redectoration funds have to be used for one thing and one thing only. Terrible.

 

It's around the same level in the North as well (at least for certain subjects, english not withstanding). However, aside from language classes (who just got a new set of books after a good 6-7 years using the old ones) we don't have shiny new things either (and this is in Davis a town where we pass property taxes to let students take 7 periods). So far we have avoided drastic cuts in programs by having all teachers take a pay cut and taking furlough days (unpaid days off for the teachers). I think I can top your story though. My high school spent close to a thousand dollars on rocks. Honest to god boulders drug from who knows where to be placed decoratively around campus. [bleep]ing insane if you ask me.

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So yeah, the state of Texas has cut school budgets. As a result, I now have to take a survey on which of these options would be most liked/disliked.

 

I believe that athletic programs, mainly football, receives WAY too much funding as it is. Sure they should have to equipment to stay safe and stay fit, but when they're getting the majority of the budget, along with most of the sales from concessions, it's just unfair to everything else.

 

I most oppose cutting teachers' and employees' pay. The amount of crap they have to go through with these students and their parents is just ridiculous and most defiinitly doesn't deserve a pay cut of all things.

 

Football programs at most schools are revenue positive due to ticket sales. Spending more then that amount, I agreee, makes little sense, but cutting a self-supporting program is nonsensical.

 

 

Removing union rights and instituting merit based pay & promotion practices would be the most effective way to balance school (or any other government entity) budgets, as salaries generally make up ~80% of a district's budget.

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Removing union rights and instituting merit based pay & promotion practices would be the most effective way to balance school (or any other government entity) budgets, as salaries generally make up ~80% of a district's budget.

Then I ask again: how do you keep track of how well a teacher teaches in comparison to their coworkers?

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Removing union rights and instituting merit based pay & promotion practices would be the most effective way to balance school (or any other government entity) budgets, as salaries generally make up ~80% of a district's budget.

Then I ask again: how do you keep track of how well a teacher teaches in comparison to their coworkers?

 

And keep in mind that there are lots of variables that can go into how well a teacher teaches, one of the most prominent is probably the student to teacher ratio. In my city/area, that ratio has definitely been going up

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