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As a consequence of the budget cuts in high schools across America, many programs funds are being cut, which, in many cases, leads to the program being diminished altogether. The articles I used were from the National Education Association, The Guardian, and the Washington Times. The article from the NEA is written by Amanda Litvinov, the Senior Writer and Editor at NEA. Rebecca Ratcliffe, an observer newsdesk assistant and freelance writer, wrote the article from The Guardian. Jill Hambek, a well-known writer, wrote the article from the Washington Times. In these articles, they discuss what high school programs are most vulnerable to budget cuts, and how students and teachers are affected. After many surveys have been conducted, studies found that the programs that are most likely to have funding cut are music, art, and special need classes.
To start off, the programs that has collectively been the most vulnerable to budget cuts is art and music classes. These curriculums have had the most significant shortage of school funded money because many schools find these classes to be the least important of all non-core classes. “Funding cuts are also affecting the curriculum available to pupils, with one in 10 respondents reporting that either art, music or drama is no longer offered at their school.” (Guardian). Since the size of school budget cuts have been so drastic, it has led to classes being cut altogether, and ten percent of those surveyed by The Guardian have had this experience first hand. However, completely getting rid of a subject is not always the case. Sometimes they are just not offered as abundantly as other classes. By the same survey conducted by the Guardian, they found that “about 20% said that one or more of these subjects has been given reduced timetable space.” (Guardian). “Steve Ellis, principal at Fike High School in Wilson, said they have had to cut jazz band, piano classes and elective courses.” (Washington Times). Many students who are planning on taking art and music classes in college will have a very difficult time pursuing this major because the school they attended in high school will have gotten rid of these classes. It makes it nearly impossible for these students to follow their dreams when they won’t be able to study these classes in high school due to the budget cuts. We have seen how cutting classes have affected the students, but it affects teacher just as much.
With these classes being cut, it leads to a wide-spread of teachers being laid off. Firstly, “among the most affected areas was arts education, in which 10 percent of the teachers let go taught art or music. It was reported that among the 1,581 teachers laid off, 105 taught art or music.” (Washington Post). Also, “a few years ago, Chicago Public Schools dealt a blow to arts education when it laid off over 1,000 teachers as a result of its recent decision to close over 50 schools.” (Washington Post). It is clear that art and music teachers are in the high majority of teachers being fired. This is because schools no longer have a purpose for these teachers to stay, since the classes are being reduced or cut. For the cases in which classes are being reduced, the art teachers struggle to teach to their full capability without the funds necessary. “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). With the school budget cuts, teachers are affected because they are either being laid off, in which they have to go through the struggle of finding a job once again, or they have to teach a class with a budget so minimal that it is nearly impossible to fully teach students.
The final program that has been most affected by the school budget cuts are special needs programs. This is the most vital program for students that have disabilities, and without this, it makes it very difficult for these students to learn. Special needs programs are in need of the most money, since on average, they use the greatest amount of the schools funds. With the budget cuts, this program can’t get the funds it needs. “Some 38% of teachers surveyed said support for students with special educational needs in their school has been or is expected to be reduced.” (Guardian). With the results of this survey, we see how many special needs programs will be affected by school budget cuts. We have seen that the programs most affected by school budget cuts are art, music, and special need programs, and it leads to the question of how do budget cuts prevent teachers from teaching at their full capability?
