Education: Budget Cuts in NYS

In recent news, public school districts have been working to cut spending while maintaining a sustainable budget. In December of 2009, Governor David Paterson stated that New York was running out of cash. To solve this problem, he asked budget officials to "reduce state aid payments to schools, local governments, and nonprofit service providers" until finances improved. He also predicted, in May 2010, that many voters will defeat the budgets for local schools because of the financial crisis. Two days later, May 19, voters in New York State approved 92% of school budgets. Although this number is down from last year by 5%, it was a much better turn out than Paterson predicted. This shows that voters still support and understand the need for educational spending despite this hard economic time.

Many schools, that had to make drastic cuts to their budget, are not only compromising teachers, but "districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money." New York officials predict that around 15,000 teachers would be cut in total by the end of June. Jon Shure, a fiscal expert, has stated that roughly a quarter of state spending goes to public schools. Without any new aid going into schools, the "continuing job losses will add to the nation's employment woes."

The prediction that around 15,000 teachers will be cut by July 1^st raises a couple of thought provoking questions. What about cuts in schools’ administration personnel? Is it more effective to cut support versus leadership? Unfortunately, these answers are not that simple. The answers lies within the question of are school district administrators making effective decisions for their students’ success. What are we really compromising for these drastic cuts? No matter what happens, it is important to keep in mind who can potentially suffer the most, the students.

Sources:

http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/12/16/15brief-b1.h29.html&destination=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/12/16/15brief-b1.h29.html&levelId=2100

http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/17/355208nystatebudget_ap.html&destination=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/05/17/355208nystatebudget_ap.html&levelId=1000

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/nyregion/20schools.html?scp=8&sq=%22cuts%22%20in%20education%20%22budgets%22%20in%20%22New%20York%22&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/education/21teachers.html?scp=4&sq=Education%20cuts%20layoff%20New%20York%20State&st=cse