http://www.weac.org/news_and_publications/11-10-13/New_report_shows_state_budget_cuts_devastating_public_schools.aspx
New report shows state budget cuts devastating public schools
Posted: 10/13/2011 10:40:43 AM
New austerity budgets, passed by state legislatures, are having a huge
negative effect on direct services to children, youth, and families,
according to a new report <http://www.ourfuture.org/starvingschools> by
Campaign for America’s Future. <http://www.ourfuture.org/>
The report, “Starving America’s Public Schools
<http://www.ourfuture.org/starvingschools>: How Budget Cuts and Policy
Mandates are Hurting our Nation’s Students,” compiles data from local
news reports across the country. The report focuses on five key states
that have flaunted budget cuts to K-12 public education: Arizona,
Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania
<http://www.ourfuture.org/starvingschools/statefactsheets>.
The five states have reduced or eliminated crucial services, such as
pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten, technical education and foreign
language courses, art, music and physical education. Several of the
states also have increased class sizes. In each state, the report
documents dwindling public school funds being transferred to private
entities, such as private schools and voucher programs.
/From the NEA:/
“We know what our students need to learn and succeed – including early
childhood education, smaller class sizes and a well-rounded curriculum,”
said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “Americans must demand that our
elected leaders use our tax dollars to help build a solid future for all
our children and our nation by providing adequate funding for our public
schools and helping all our students get the education they deserve.”
“In community after community, I came across clear signs that our
schools are in dire straits,” said report author and education blogger
Jeff Bryant. “At a time when the world is changing so rapidly and
globalization is opening so many new possibilities for the next
generation, why are our public schools being forced to shrink the
learning opportunities available to our children?"
Campaign for America’s Future co-Director Robert L. Borosage
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage> called on Washington
to wake up to the damage being done across the country. “The debate in
Washington too often ignores the carnage suffered by schools and
children from budget cuts across the country. Instead of ensuring that
schools are protected from the budget squeeze caused by the economic
collapse, Washington is more focused on the old debate over testing and
standards. Meanwhile, states are cutting back early childhood education,
increasing class sizes and cutting back everything from advanced
placement to music and art education. These cuts not only add to the
downturn, they endanger the education that everyone agrees our children
deserve.”
Examples of how our children are paying the price:
* In Pennsylvania: In Chester Upland, 40 percent of the teachers were
eliminated, with class sizes rising from 21 to 30 in elementary
schools and to 35 in high schools. And in York, art, music and
physical education classes were eliminated in elementary schools.
* Arizona ranks sixth among states in the amount of public school
funds being funneled to private schools. The state redirects $61
million per year through individual, corporate, and other kinds of
tax credit programs. Florida ranks first, redirecting $229 million
per year through voucher and corporate tax credit programs.
* Florida has cut more than $1 billion from education in its new
budget for 2011–12, an almost 8 percent drop that translates to a
loss of $542 per student.
* Overriding the governor’s veto, the North Carolina General Assembly
approved a 2011 budget that cut $800 million in education funding.
The state ranked 47th in spending per pupil in the country in 2010
and likely will slip to 49th in 2011.
/To read stories from NEA members on how budget cuts are affecting their
schools, including those in Wisconsin, click //here.
<http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/budgetstories/>/
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