Making Cuts

Wow. I never knew how hard it was to justify budget cuts until we pretended to be on the school board and make a 1.2 million dollar cut in the division. What goes? What stays? And who is qualified to make those decisions? The battle begins. Of course certain programs are going to be more important to some than others based on background knowledge and experience with the particular area. I quickly saw the diversity even in our class.  What specialized programs are essential? This was very difficult for me to decide as areas such as speech language seem like an easy part to cut, but as a teacher I understand the importance of these elements in education and no one benefits from cutting this. It is our goal as teachers to take every avenue we can to help our students, and sometimes it means bringing in the specialists.  These programs cannot be taken from the budget.
Of course there are always going to be budget cuts. It’s inevitable, so being aware of the intensity and difficulty of the process gives me as a teacher a better understanding. Sometimes it will be jobs losts, while other times it will be those extra programs that disappear.  The fact that the school board makes these decisions gives me an understanding of the importance of electing these members.  It all makes sense now.