Hickenlooper's New Budget: Why is Public Education Cut?

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. .

Bullying within Colorado’s Education System

The United States education system is facing criticism for the issue of bullying in schools. The school system is working hard to improve the level of education our students are receiving, but is not making strides to improve the school’s environment outside of the classroom. In recent years legislation has been passed and measures have been taken to stop bullying within schools. However, even with laws in place this is a reality that many kids in our school systems still face. The other problem is that many people today still disregard the fact that bullying is a serious issue. This is a significant problem, and therefore we need to take further measures to prevent it.

The sad fact is that most authority figures such as teachers, parents or any type of adult will disregard the issue completely. They will tell you that bullying is part of growing up or not a big problem. Too often, people just don’t take the issue seriously, until people share their heartbreaking and frightening stories. It ends up happening more often than most people are led to believe. However, as reports of bullying have increased, the issue has come to the foremost attention of the American public. In fact within the last 10 years reports of bullying within schools have increased. It is shown that since 2001 15-25% of students report being frequently bullied, while 15-20% of students also report frequently bullying other. (1)

Furthermore, bullying then negatively affects a child’s future. Kids who bully in school are more likely to engage in bad behaviors. Bullying can lead to huge problems later on in life including skipping school, smoking, drinking alcohol, getting into fights and vandalizing properties.(1) Statistics even show that 60% of boys who were bullies in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24.(1) The most troubling issue that comes to light is that kids who bully most often drop out of school. Colorado is known for being a state with one of the highest dropout rates for kids in high school. As of 2010 we have a dropout rate of 3.1% or 13,147 students from seventh to 12 graders who left within the last year. (3) The victims as well over time become so scared of being bullied that they skip school. Studies show that as many as 160,000 students are so afraid of being bullied that they will skip school.(1)So even with government and school boards taking measures to decrease the rate of bullying in schools, they are still not following up with the issue by monitoring the activity of students outside of the classroom. So therefore, the school board and the community need to spend more time and or money preventing the issue of bullying within schools.

The concern as I see it is that legislation has been passed to try and halt the issue of bullying within schools. However, bullying is still happening. In the last couple years, measures have been taken within the Colorado government to support anti-bullying. In fact, in February of this year a new anti-bullying law has been introduced in legislation that proposes solutions such as creating a legislative study committee on the issue and requiring schools to conduct annual surveys about student perceptions of the problem.(5) Also, the government is taking measures such as Safe2Tell that allows students to safely and anonymously keep lines of communication open between themselves, educators and law enforcement. Since 2003, Safe2Tell has helped prevent school attacks and suicides and has helped law enforcement and schools intervene before problems got out of control. (3) It has helped prevent 858 cases of bullying, 561 instances of drug or alcohol abuse, 387 threats of violence and many more issues. (4) So why then is bullying still a problem after measures have been enforced to prevent it?

The issue of bullying in school keeps surfacing because there are flaws in the education system. The current education system focuses on the learning aspect of the student’s education in. Therefore, it becomes about the quality and quantity of material taught in the classroom that matters most the teachers and administrators. Instead, they should be also focusing on the students environment outside of the classroom and what you can do to improve it. As sophomore at East high school put it in the Denver post article Bullies still lurking in school halls “It’s mostly in the hallways,” Kyambalesa said. “Teachers probably don’t see it.”(2) This is caused by the fact that many adults perceive bullying as a non-issue and therefore do nothing to stop it. Another flaw in the education system is schools don’t have any disciplinary actions in place for bullying. This is the case because many teachers and administrators discredit bullying as a real problem. However, as Del Elliot who is the director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado summarized the situation perfectly in the Denver post article Bullies still lurking in school halls when he said “Bullying is still a significant problem in Colorado schools and schools nationally,”(2) The last flaw in the education system is that there are no program or plans in place to stop the issue before it happens. To prevent the issue from continuing, programs or plans need to be implemented that educates the teachers or administrators, students and parents on the issue of bullying.

The school board needs then to take the first step toward preventing bullying by creating programs for everyone to be involved with. The first program that they can create to stop bullying within schools is after school programs. The school could create programs such as a study hall, which can provide kids a safe place to come to before school and after school so they can get off the streets and out of trouble and stay invested in their education instead. The school can also encourage the kids who bully to join sports such as, soccer or lacrosse, which can help them focus their pent up energy and turn it into something positive. In turn schools could create different clubs for the students to join as a way to get to know and interact with their fellow peers. Lastly schools could incorporate bullying talks into health or other required classes.

After setting up the after school programs for the kids, the school board need to continue with their mission of preventing bullying within schools by designing an education program for parents. They could develop activities that would help involve parents more in the fight to prevent bullying. Some activities that the school could develop are workshop for parents at beginning of the school year. In this workshop the parents can learn the signs of bullying and how to deal with it if their child is a victim. Also they can conduct one on one meeting during back to school night to talk about issue and concerns with the parents. Lastly they can create weekly meetings that get together to share stories and concerns with the school.

The last group the school board needs to target to continue their mission is the teachers and administrators. They need to show the teachers how stop an instance of bullying. They can also conduct seminars in prevention and action. The administrators are the authority at the school and therefore can help control the actions of everyone around them. For the administrators they need to be shown that they can stop bullying by controlling school policies. If we show the teachers, administrators, parents and students what can be done to stop bullying, then maybe one day it won’t be an issue of concern.

In the end the United States Education system is still facing criticism for the issue of bullying. Bullying is still an issue and therefore we need to take further measure to prevent it. The school board has flaws in the education system that need to be fixed. To fix those flaws the school board needs to create plans of actions such as after school programs, education for parents and seminars for teachers or administrators. If these plans are implemented then they are making a step in the right direction toward preventing bullying.

Sources

1) "Effects of Bullying." stopbullyingnow.hrsa,gov. Stop Bullying Now, n.d. Web. Feb 28 2011. http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/effects-of-bullying.aspx

2) O'Connor, Colleen. "Bullies still lurking in school halls." www.denverpost.com. The Denver Post, 04/19/2009. Web. 21 Feb 2011. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12174189

3) "Attorney General thanks governor for issuing a in honor of safe to tell." colorado attorney genral.gov. Colorado Department of Law, 02/18/2011. Web. 2 18 2011. http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/press/news/2011/02/18/attorney_general_thanks_governor_issuing_proclamation_honor_safe2tell

4) Glazier, Kyle. "2,800 kids felt "Safe2Tell" over six year period." Denver Post (2010): n. pag. Web. 1 March 2011. http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16369716?obref=obinsite

5) Engdhal, Todd. "Bullying bill packed with mandates." Education News Colorado (2010): n. pag. Web. 23 Feb 2011. http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2011/02/10/13532-bullying-bill-packed-with-mandate

Mismanaged Institution: The American Education System During the No Child Left Behind Era

The United States’ educational system is under siege from within. Antiquated legislation, governing pedagogy, and maligned curricula have failed to prepare our youth for the fluctuating intellectual landscape of society.
Increasing political and economic pressures resulted in government intervention to solve the problem of universal education. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 aimed to rectify the situation by delineating a series of national achievement standards for every student by grade level, and holding schools accountable for implementing Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) plans. The course of action mandated that all schools demonstrate their teaching efficacy by using student performance on standardized tests. The incentive of meeting these performance standards being continued federal funding. The lofty goals of the law to realign our ailing institution have had mixed results. While it is true that some schools are showing improvement on standardized test scores, the unforeseen consequences of the NCLB have crippled schools’ abilities to serve all students on an individual basis. Class sizes across the nation are at an all time high, funding for “non-essential” programs like the arts or foreign languages is at an all time low, and the pressure for students to succeed on standardized tests has shifted students’ emphasis away from learning-to-learn” towards learning-to-test.
The discrepancy between the government bureaucracy that formulates the policies and the classrooms that they affect stems from a pedagogical oversight. The NCLB offers an impressive text that claims to promote equity in schools, and yet also acknowledges that not all students share the same needs. Yet, all schools and students are held to the same standards, whether they are primary or secondary English speakers, rural or urban students, equipped to succeed or not. In a society that values personal agency, it seems inappropriate that our school system educates students as if all citizens need only one skill set to maintain its complexity. It is an unrealistic expectation that a homogenized reform of schools could prepare a heterogeneous student body to thrive in our global society. This is incredibly problematic because the funding available to suburban schools allows better access to technology, better nutrition in school lunches, greater community outreach opportunities and so forth. Schools that either can’t afford these resources or value other pedagogical pretenses are disabled relative to the thriving suburban school districts. Classes in non-suburban schools populated by students outside the mainstream middle class are therefore denied optimal learning conditions. It is unrealistic to expect these schools to offer the same caliber of education without also providing them with equal access to resources, the most notorious of which is funding.
No Child Left Behind requires that schools show an annual performance increase in order to remain eligible for federal funding. Funds from the Department of Education make up approximately 35% of k-12 funds. Schools that fail to meet expectations risk losing precious financial support. The rippling effects of one school shutting down would be felt throughout the district, as students would need to be bussed into other programs. Class sizes would rise, and student-teacher contact ratios would quickly escalate. This negative progress might be a good method of purging less homogenized schools, but it is a terrible method for educating the children who attend these failing districts.
The fundamental assumption that all teachers provide an equal space for students to learn is inadequate. Based on the capitalist nature of our society, the school districts with higher budgets to fund teachers’ salaries will be able to attract and retain more high-caliber teachers. In almost all other fields of work in the United States, the professionals who perform at the highest levels are compensated with better salaries and benefits. Poorer schools and districts, most commonly found in the problematic rural and urban zones, simply can’t afford to compete with suburban schools on the basis that local taxes comprising 55% of their total funding are substantially lower by region. The NCLB offers no institutional framework for professional development to assist districts in honing the efficiency of their teachers because of the cost of ongoing faculty education. Teachers are held responsible for school reform success by their potential termination if students don’t meet standards, but little support is given to facilitate their success. Turnover rates of quality teachers is therefore an important variable that is left out by the NCLB, and the better funded, already high-performing schools will naturally attract the better talent. The result of this is a perpetuation of the education gap rather than achieving the goal of educating all students.
What about the students? NCLB takes a Core Knowledge (aka Traditionalist Perspective) approach to educating the masses. By requiring blanket standards for all, students are essentially reduced to receptacles for knowledge to be poured into by the institution. Rather than empowering students with life skills necessary for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their agency is limited to their ability to buy into the dominant paradigm reflected in their curriculum. In the capitalistic model of our culture, it makes poor economic sense to spend money for a purpose that the spender will not see a return. By funding public schools with taxes the society is investing in a future return, but exactly what is that return? Blanket standards of achievement model behavior of future workers – economic pawns that are the backbone of the industries that allow our culture to persist. Students are not encouraged to think outside the box, move for social change, or deviate from what is required because, similarly to how schools receive negative fiscal reinforcement for poor behavior and no compensation for high achievement, students are not rewarded for innovating. A system of education where all individuals are given equal investment on behalf of egalitarianism cannot be created or supported by a capitalist society, because it makes little economic sense.
The unfortunate losers in this drama surrounding No Child Left Behind are the students. Closing schools and breaking up learning communities can only alienate students from the educational system. Instead of continuing to navigate the idearchy, once students have outlived their ten-year obligatory schooling they might just be more prone to drop out entirely. A quirk of the No Child Left Behind mindset is that students who do not graduate high school were provided all the services possible to facilitate their success. The irony that a reform system founded on the principle of all children given equal opportunity has so many cultural shortcomings that hinder achieving that goal requires further inspection. Our government has a system of checks and balances to prevent centralization of political power because a single, elite standard cannot meet the diverse needs that naturally occur in populations of people. It makes little sense for a sweeping centralization of power to govern our education system on this same principle. In spite of policymakers’ best efforts, there continue to be students in our modern NCLB era that do not graduate high school and are effectively left behind. By creating a culture of broad, non-individualized standards our educational system has not succeeded in incorporating all students. By assuming institutions and teachers are immune to fatigue or competing industries with better resources, NCLB has largely overlooked the method of facilitation of its idealized reform. This top-down, centralized model fails to meet the needs of the diverse student population. Students are the last link in the chain of knowledge transfer. They are not the priority of our system – its time that the NCLB be left behind in favor of a system better suited to serve the diverse needs of our student population.


http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/compreform/2pager.html

http://www2.ed.gov/fund/landing.jhtml

By JoJo Cuchiaro