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Not only do school budget cut affect students and their ability to learn, but it also drastically prevents teachers from teaching at their full capability. The articles I used were from the National Education Association and The Guardian. The article from the NEA is written by Amanda Litvinov, the Senior Writer and Editor at NEA. The article from The Guardian is written by Rebecca Ratcliffe, an observer newsdesk assistant and freelance writer. These sources are credible because they are both well-known websites that relay reliable and accurate information. With the increase in school budget cuts, teachers are prevented from teaching at their full potential because they can not purchase the supplies necessary for students to learn, and class sizes are increasing at an alarming rate.
To start off, budget cuts are significantly affecting teachers abilities to teach their students. Many teachers are not receiving enough money from the school in order to buy the necessary resources vital to students education. “Almost half of teachers said their budget for books and equipment had been slashed. Some teachers said they were unable to buy basic equipment such as pencils and glue sticks, or to replace broken IT equipment such as printers and run-down computers.” (Guardian). A lack of books, equipment, and other technology is preventing teachers from giving students proper education. ““I have students who are profoundly disadvantaged in my classes,” says Warswick from El Paso, “and I have little to give them other than construction paper I begged off my fellow colleagues. I worry about how effective I can be without supplies or a chance to teach my subject to the fullest.”” (NEA). Teachers have a shortage of supplies, and have to “beg” to other teachers to use some of their already short supplied resources. Certain programs receive less money from the school than others. As I had mentioned in a previous blog, art programs are one of, if not the most vulnerable program to budget cuts. Studies have shown that on average, art classes receive the least amount of school funds. This leads to having to teach large classes with very little money, which makes it difficult for art teachers to teach. ““How am I supposed to teach art to 80 kids on a $200 budget?” asks Gina Marie Warswick of El Paso, TX. Class sizes have increased while her budget has been cut to a fraction of the $1,200 she used to have, explains the Desert View Middle School art teacher. “Even the most basic projects will cost more than $2.50 [per child] in supplies, and obviously I can’t have them complete only one assignment for the year.”” (NEA). Teaching 80 kids on a $200 budget for a full year is near impossible. This would mean that each student gets $2.50 of supplies for the entire year, and Warswick says “even the most basic projects cost more $2.50”.
In addition to a lack of funds provided to teachers, the class sizes are also increasing at an alarming rate, due to teacher layoffs. “A recent survey by the American Association of School Administrators showed that for 2009-10, 44 percent of districts expected to increase class sizes, which is three times the number who said the same thing about the previous school year.” (NEA). From the time this survey was conducted, which was 2009-2010, the amount of students in classes has not gotten better. As the years progressed, this statistic has increased to “47% of teachers say that class sizes have increased, or will increase in the upcoming years” (Guardian). With the increase in class sizes, it prevents teachers from giving each student one-on-one time. Teachers have to look over more students, which makes it more difficult for them to individually help students who are struggling with the curriculum. “State and district level budget cuts that led to teacher layoffs have resulted in larger class sizes for some, including Melissa Hagen of Phoenix. Last year her junior high science classes ranged from 22 to 30 students per class, but after losing two colleagues, the count shot up to 38 to 41 per class. “That assumes that all teachers are here or we have a sub,” says Hagen. “If not, I could have around 55 kids in my class.”” Class sizes have increased at this high school approximately 20 students over the course of just one year! Another big issue of having too many kids in one class is the teachers have a much more difficult time keeping children safe. ““My biggest concern as a P.E. teacher is safety,” says Elissa Hemauer, who teaches at Antioch High School. She will have anywhere from 40 to 60 kids per class, and should it rain, she will have more than 100 students in the gym for 90 minutes.” (NEA). To conclude, teachers are greatly prevented from teaching at their full capability because of a lack in funds for the classroom, and an increase in students per class, all due to school budget cuts from the states and government. This problem will continue to grow unless something is done to prevent budget cuts from continuing to grow, and give schools back the money they need to give students a proper education.
