"Public School Reality during the “Great Recession”
Currently, it is a continuing challenge to many public school superintendents nationally and in the State of Arizona during this “Great Recession” According to our state budget office, it has seen in 4 years the loss of over $877 million from Arizona public schools. Added to this is the continued ignorance and fiction that many well-meaning community members and legislators operate under how school funding can be applied.
Computers, software, textbooks and major facility projects may only be purchased through “capital” dollars designated to “only” be used in this manner. “Maintenance & Operations” dollars for teachers and support staff salaries has been dramatically reduced during this time period. For Fountain Hills Unified SD “capital” dollars for computer technology/and support software is one affordable “capital” alternative to replace teachers lost due to continuous cuts. This is a financial reality when 43% of the state budget goes toward education. It is also an educational reality as our young learners of today will be the digital learners and citizens of the 21st century.
We value our teachers as our greatest resource, but 75% of the budget is in personnel costs. This year FHUSD lost $800,000 due to the loss of $220 per student from our state student formula. Also, our K-3 elementary class sizes including kindergarten (KG) has moved from 19-24 to 27-29. With the loss of state supported full day kindergarten funding ($330,000 locally), our local K-3 override allowed us to maintain the program but increased KG-grade 3 class sizes. Valley districts choosing to fund only half-day KG or charge full day fees saw their students flock to neighboring full day districts. Our KG enrollment is 30 above last year but our class sizes have increased 6-7 students per classroom. Finally, the state appears to be $1.5 billion short for the fiscal year which could lead to further mid-year cuts.
My hope is the federal teacher jobs legislation passed last week will soon allow FHUSD to bring back a number of teachers focusing on our elementary grade levels. This will be dependent upon our state leaders designating the federal money as regular basic education dollars and not tied specifically to Title I schools. My other hope is community members and legislators will pause in stomping public education for a schoolhouse that no longer exists or convenient political gain during an election year. Instead, let us realize public education is the investment for the many and honor our educational professionals that are ‘the gardeners of young souls.” By the way this superintendent and his dedicated staff like a good challenge
Currently, it is a continuing challenge to many public school superintendents nationally and in the State of Arizona during this “Great Recession” According to our state budget office, it has seen in 4 years the loss of over $877 million from Arizona public schools. Added to this is the continued ignorance and fiction that many well-meaning community members and legislators operate under how school funding can be applied.
Computers, software, textbooks and major facility projects may only be purchased through “capital” dollars designated to “only” be used in this manner. “Maintenance & Operations” dollars for teachers and support staff salaries has been dramatically reduced during this time period. For Fountain Hills Unified SD “capital” dollars for computer technology/and support software is one affordable “capital” alternative to replace teachers lost due to continuous cuts. This is a financial reality when 43% of the state budget goes toward education. It is also an educational reality as our young learners of today will be the digital learners and citizens of the 21st century.
We value our teachers as our greatest resource, but 75% of the budget is in personnel costs. This year FHUSD lost $800,000 due to the loss of $220 per student from our state student formula. Also, our K-3 elementary class sizes including kindergarten (KG) has moved from 19-24 to 27-29. With the loss of state supported full day kindergarten funding ($330,000 locally), our local K-3 override allowed us to maintain the program but increased KG-grade 3 class sizes. Valley districts choosing to fund only half-day KG or charge full day fees saw their students flock to neighboring full day districts. Our KG enrollment is 30 above last year but our class sizes have increased 6-7 students per classroom. Finally, the state appears to be $1.5 billion short for the fiscal year which could lead to further mid-year cuts.
My hope is the federal teacher jobs legislation passed last week will soon allow FHUSD to bring back a number of teachers focusing on our elementary grade levels. This will be dependent upon our state leaders designating the federal money as regular basic education dollars and not tied specifically to Title I schools. My other hope is community members and legislators will pause in stomping public education for a schoolhouse that no longer exists or convenient political gain during an election year. Instead, let us realize public education is the investment for the many and honor our educational professionals that are ‘the gardeners of young souls.” By the way this superintendent and his dedicated staff like a good challenge
Dr. Myhr,
ReplyDeleteWhat is this?????
Please be careful how you use the public internet and specifically your blog to describe members of this community that pay your salary. And I quote from your blog: "Added to this is the continued ignorance and fiction that many well-meaning community members and legislators operate under how school funding can be applied."
Do you think it is in the best interest of our children and our community for you to be referring to us as "ignorant"? I am outraged, and appauld at your accusations, as it is this type of condescending attitude and lack of focus that we just don't need in our small community!
I have had private dialogue with you, which I will now happily share with the members of your blog on discussions of how school funding can be applied. I did my research with the AZ Department of Education on how the budgets are derived. Either you, or the AZ Dept. of Education is misleading our community, and we want answers. Does that make us ignorant, because we want answers?
The PTO money doesn’t fall under a “capital” budget, yet somehow, they are spending money on creating a new “façade” for Four Peaks, when that money should be going to help our teachers in the form of hiring classroom aids! That money should be going to our teachers in continuing education programs to help our teachers teach our children and get our schools back to an Excelling status!
How can I trust that our district knows what’s going on with our budget when you don’t even know what is going on with the Federal Education Grant money? When you yourself are posting details on Facebook (9-3-10) about the Governor not applying for the grant, when the decision was made on August 24th! So it’s ok for you to make fictional statements about the grant? I am not calling you ignorant for doing so, why do you feel it necessary to call me and others in this community ignorant! I will put it out there to the people of Fountain Hills; do you think it’s appropriate for our Superintendent to be blogging such negativity about members of our community?