Effects of education budget cuts on school performance

Budget Cuts in Education

The most important thing that parents and communities can give children -- besides food, clothing, shelter and love -- is a good education. America has been educating its children through public schools and universities for well over a hundred years, and the value of what young people learn about history, science, mathematics, biology, geography and the environment is enormous and cannot be replaced. Alert, well-educated children who can solve problems and think creatively are the goal of every parent and every teacher in America. However, due to the recession and to the housing crisis, states and school districts all across America are having to cut back on funds for education. What is also a tragedy is the cutbacks to colleges and universities. Tuition is being raised, class sizes are bigger than ever, and many students have to work while they are in school in order to pay the cost of books and other materials. This paper delves into the problems that are created when there are serious budget shortfalls in America.

Losing Funds for Education

Benjamin Franklin said, "The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance." We cannot allow our classrooms to be hollow rooms with few resources and too many students for a teacher to be able to work with. Ignorance is not stupidity; it is a lack of knowledge. Without the funding to keep public schools open, there will be tens of thousands of young people left out of an education and left without the knowledge it takes to become a productive citizen.

It is sad to see the schools close, because you can't get into college without a high school education, and even some of the best and brightest high school students can't get into colleges because of competitive enrollment strategies. But in Detroit, according to a story by Mark Naison, the school district has been told by the state of Michigan to close the doors to about half of its schools. The Detroit school district is facing a deficit of $347 million, and besides closing the doors to half the schools, the teachers in high schools in Detroit may be facing as many as 60 students per class. How will these students ever get a chance to go to college if they can't finish high school, or aren't given a chance to get a decent high school education?

Sixty students in a high school class is clearly not a manageable situation. Even thirty in a classroom can be difficult because teachers like to have a chance to interact individually with each student when and if possible. The worst hit schools are the ones in poor neighborhoods. When schools are closed or cut back dramatically in poor neighborhoods, according to Mark Naison writing in the Social Justice Magazine, LA Progressive, the dropout rate will increase, the test score gap "will grow wider," and admission to college will "plummet" in those districts.

As to colleges and the cutbacks, many schools of higher learning have to raise tuition. This is very hurtful for those who struggle to pay for their education. But moreover, an article in the New York Times reports that in Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Texas and Florida, state colleges have "eliminated entire engineering and computer science departments" (Rampell, 2012). In a community college in North Carolina (where there is a serious shortage of nurses) the entire nursing program is cut back to the point that there is a "waiting list just to get on the waiting list" (Rampell).

When states run short of money they cut back on funds to community colleges, and when that happens it not only hurts students and their families, but it hurts communities. When a population is educated, it enjoys faster economic growth "and a more stable democracy, and benefits the poorest workers the most," Rampell explains.

I know that when states are short of funds, education seems to be the first place that gets cut. By reading the financial and business pages, I also learn that those cuts to colleges and universities reduce the classes in important subjects that society needs to have available; it cuts back on the ability of young people to progress in sciences and healthcare, in engineering. And for community colleges, technical skills that are normally taught -- like learning to fix digital technologies, learning to repair cars, learning to build highways and repair bridges -- are not taught anymore when the money is gone.

In the January 25 issue of Time magazine's section "Moneyland," the writer (Kayla Webley) explains that higher education funds have been cut back 8% over the past year. That means that $6 billion less is being awarded to colleges and universities than it was in previous years. Some 41 states reduced funding for community colleges and other places of higher learning because of the slow economic recovery. In fact, Webley writes that in 29 of those 41 states the budgets for education are smaller than they were in the 2006-2007 school funding years. In New Hampshire, funds to higher education were cut by 41%. That is a massive cutback for young people trying to learn and become important parts of our society.