The Impact of Cutbacks

When we cut back funds for education, this is what happens. Here is a recap of a few meetings we've been having with an urban public middle school.

The principal retired at the end of last year, the changes and new requirements just burned him out. The new principal, who we have not met yet, is much younger, but does not have a lot of experience.

The math coach, since the cutbacks, now teaches two classes a day, and still has responsibility for all math instruction and assessment in the school. She's overwhelmed.

Due to a screw up, no one at the school attended a required session on grant writing, so they are no longer eligible to renew the grants that they were awarded last year.

The IT person has been reassigned to the classroom, again due to the cutbacks. As a result, their one-to-one initiative is on hold. This means that laptops that the students used last year have not been cleaned up nor been given out. This also means that the software which was purchased to run on the computers is not being used. There is no target date to make the computers available. These laptops and programs were instrumental in helping the school reach AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and AMAO (Adequate Measurable Achievement Objectives) in Math required by NCLB last year.

Teachers have larger class sizes, but the math coach does not know what programs they are using for whole class instruction, or how they are doing, and has not time to follow up.

Sometimes, this makes you wonder if we, in the US, really are committed to giving a good education for all children.