Public education in Colorado heavily depends on state and national funding that is set aside only for education. The state of Colorado alone has a budget of $4.4 billion, of which 46 percent of this is dedicated to K-12 education. This money goes into different areas of education, including student funding, salaries, building plans and upkeep, and utility bills. The money allotted for public education is a sizable chunk of the state budget, but isn’t always monitored if the money is being properly allocated to the right sections in the education sphere. We do know, as former students, that money that is funneled into education does often help public school students through extra programs and opportunities. This is why whenever there is a negative change in Colorado’s economy, there are always red flags raised over the possibility of cuts in education and the effects of said cuts.
Unfortunately, Colorado is throwing red flags at what our newly elected governor, John Hickenlooper, has chosen to do with the state budget in light of the economic downturns. In February, Hickenlooper announced that due to the $1 billion gap in the Colorado budget, public school spending (and thus education) must be drastically cut to size. A proposed $332 to $375 million will be cut from the state’s education to fill the budget gap that has been building for years due to Colorado’s reliance on national government funding. In addition to this cut in funding, many jobs will be lost and there are possibilities that state school closures will start occurring, much like how Denver Public Schools shut down district schools due to funding and achievement. Even though the state budget gap must be filled, it is questionable if cutting education is the right response to the issue at hand.
We must remember that Colorado is not alone in being forced to cut necessary programs like education. Mike Griffith, policy analyst for the Denver-based Education Commission of the States, states that this situation is, “… bad all over." Many states, like Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina, have had to cut spending in education that in the past would have been seen as unthinkable. State funding for kindergarten and textbooks was eliminated in Arizona just to help with the budget crisis. In North Carolina, there is now a mandatory limit on what school buses can be replaced, and in Florida, voters voted against a measure that would have gotten rid of mandatory class sizes.
Out of 44 states and the District of Columbia, there is a budget gap of $125 billion for the next fiscal year. States have found it difficult to grow their budget and make profits, and so have been forced to rely on national funding for the state budgets. Because of the national budget gaps, the states will have $38 billion less in stimulus packs from last year to balance the budgets. In order to make up for the gaps in the state budgets, governments have been forced to look at state spending and find where cuts can take place. The majority of these cuts lie in state funded education, where the majority of children in the United States receive their educations. In addition to budget cuts, states push for education reform to make education more streamlined so that budget cuts do not affect the states as much as before. A critical notion of this is that states and school districts are flexible structures, which in real life we know that they are some of the least flexible structures in the nation.
In Colorado, school funding would have to be cut in some fashion due to the vast percentage it represents in the state budget. However, this drastic change in the balance of money will have long standing effects in Colorado public schools that will force schools to reform policies and laws. Public schools will be forced to learn how to first allocate the shortened funding into better areas of education and learn how to create a more streamlined education for students. Schools must also analyze what are the key parts of a school that makes learning efficient, such as focusing on the quality of teachers and materials. Parents want to make sure that their children, students in public schools, receive the best possible education while in the face of a sharp economic downturn.
School districts understand that initially, individual schools may shut down, which would put the jobs of many staff and faculty in jeopardy. School closures mean that students will either be forced to find new schools and have to abandon their social ties to other students in the process, or the former students will be pulled out of district to either become homeschooled or enrolled in a private school. The budget cuts also risk materials such as textbooks and teaching tools to become outdated due to a lack of funding to buy new items for teaching. Special programs, such as special education, early childhood experience, and even kindergarten can be cut or even fully removed due to the cuts and the lack of flexibility in the public school budget.
We understand the budget constraints of both Colorado and the public school systems, and the fact is that there will be some failure in education due to these systems not having flexible solutions to changes in money flow. The Colorado Public School system must reevaluate where the state funding is going and how education can be improved on a tighter budget. I believe that one step to bettering education would be to restructure and reform school policies and budgets so that money can be properly allocated to boost education while being on a tighter budget.
One way to accomplish this restructure would be to focus on better teachers and materials instead of limiting class sizes so that the maximum number of children can be educated in a shrinking district. As William Moloney points out, “If policymakers had maintained the same overall teacher-to-student ratio since the 1970s, we would need one million fewer teachers, training could be focused on a smaller and more able population, and average teacher pay would be close to $75,000 per year.” School districts across the country must also reevaluate their own budgets, and find the holes that money goes to waste. As taxpayers, we want to make sure that the money we pay to the state and government is put into the best sections of education and not towards paying for unneeded or misguided choices.
I know that this is not the easy choice or the ‘easy way out.’ However, I understand that these budget cuts were inevitable, and that the best solution is to have education reform and going over district budgets. This is a difficult process because districts are usually rigid structures that are resistant or sometimes unable to change due to policy. We must have these changes to help current and future students in public school, along with faculty, staff, and parents. Money will be sacrificed, but we cannot sacrifice educational standards as a result of balancing the state budget.
Citations:
Hoover, Tim. "Colorado's Education Cuts Mirror Situation across U.S." The Denver Post. The Denver Post, 20 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.
Moloney, William. "A Smart Answer to K-12 Cuts? Hike Class Sizes." The Denver Post. The Denver Post, 20 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.
Slevin, Colleen. "Hickenlooper Proposes $375 Million Cut for Schools." The Denver Post. The Denver Post, 15 Feb. 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.
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