In our August 22, 2013 newsletter, we asked parents, students, teachers, principals and superintendents to tell us about how the budget cuts to public education were impacting them personally.
Wake County Parent B.J. Witkin responded with these stories. We’re sure they are familiar to many of you.
“You asked for testimonials about the direct of impact of school budget cuts. I can provide two.
First:
When my daughter started kindergarten last year she–along with two other kids in her class–was a little behind the grade standards in reading and math. Her teacher was able to send my daughter and those two other kids off for special help every day BECAUSE SHE HAD A TEACHER’S ASSISTANT. Thanks to the work of those two dedicated educators my daughter finished the school year with math and
reading skills at the expected grade level.
If my daughter was starting school this year…well, I don’t know what would happen, since the teacher’s assistant who helped her is no longer at her school. She was a victim of the budget cuts. In fact, she left three weeks before the school year ended because she knew she
would be losing her job. We, the parents of the students, went in each day and assisted the teacher.
Second:
My daughter’s first-grade teacher this year was the school’s technology teacher last year. Thanks to the budget cuts she was at risk of losing her job completely–the budget didn’t fund technology classes (and how insane is that in the 21st century?). Fortunately for her
another teacher left (because she couldn’t support her family on a teacher’s salary; again, insane) and she stepped in as a 1st grade teacher. Now there’s been a budget change and technology classes are funded again so she’s changing back to teaching those classes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the school is offering these classes. But now my daughter’s class is getting a new teacher 6 weeks into their school year. Wouldn’t it have been less disruptive to have a budget in place before the start of school?”
Please feel free to share your own experiences with us at: info@publicschoolsfirstnc.org