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School Budget votes - how do you reconcile?
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eddiesmommy
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Member since 5/09 11524 total posts
Name:
Melissa
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Re: School Budget votes - how do you reconcile?
Posted by annoyedTTCer
Posted by mdn13
Posted by cupcakekid
I personally think the schools bully the taxpayers into voting yes. They say they will eliminate just about everything....activities, bussing, aftercare, etc. They leave most people no choice but to vote yes because they NEED a bus, or they NEED aftercare.
Why can't they keep their budget at what it is THIS year? No one else is getting raisies, so administration shouldn't be..they should just be lucky they have jobs period. I get that the cost of certain goods is increasing, but I don't believe for a second they increase THAT much each year that they need to increase their budgets by a million + dollars each year. I think it's greedy.
Like a previous poster said cuts in state aid, increases in expenses and numerous other things have a say in the budget.
Attend a budget meeting for your district and you will have a better understanding. Sadly in my own distriict only 2 people showed up this year. People should really take the time to become more educated before becoming angry over things they don't have full knowledge of. Also those that have a problem with how money is being allocated should bring this up at board of ed meetings before they make a rash decision at a budget vote.
Not everyone has the luxury of skipping work to attend a board meeting.
arent board meetings always at night? Plus regardless, I think there were probably more than TWO people in the entire district not working. That was just a senseless comment.
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Posted 5/18/10 12:43 PM  |
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eddiesmommy
best buds!
Member since 5/09 11524 total posts
Name:
Melissa
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Re: School Budget votes - how do you reconcile?
Posted by MrsProfessor
Posted by eddiesmommy
Posted by MommaG
I don't see having 20 something kids as such a big issue. When I was in 2nd grade, I had 42 - yes, 42 - kids in my class. And you know what? We all did great, even the teacher. Would I prefer a smaller class size? Sure - more attention for each student. But class size, to me, is not a huge issue unless it really gets up there.
i kind of agree....growing up elementary all through high school, we always had a around 25 kids in every class.
Things have changed a lot since we were kids, though. I saw my second grade class pic on FB and counted 30 kids. 
Now, you have classes where you are very likely to have a mix of ELLs and monolingual kids, so the teacher has to juggle more. And NYS is in the process of adding even more standarized tests (maybe even at the K-2 level) as part of its teacher evaluation plan. So, as a teacher, I would say that smaller classes is vital to student learning. IMO, preserving those should be one of every district's goals, even if other stuff has to be cut.
I still dont think 25-27 kids is unreasonable at all. I would be OK if that was Eddies class size. And speaking of my district specifically, there isnt a whole lot of ELL students statistically, so its almost a moot point where I live. There are definitely ELL students but not so many that it would be a detriment to the learning environment when it came to student teacher ratio.
Dont even get me started on the ridiculous and frivolous state testing requirements. Ill give you that. 
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| Posted 5/18/10 12:48 PM |
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MrsPowers
So blessed!
Member since 11/06 10348 total posts
Name:
Ivelysse
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Re: School Budget votes - how do you reconcile?
Posted by annoyedTTCer
Posted by mdn13
Posted by cupcakekid
I personally think the schools bully the taxpayers into voting yes. They say they will eliminate just about everything....activities, bussing, aftercare, etc. They leave most people no choice but to vote yes because they NEED a bus, or they NEED aftercare.
Why can't they keep their budget at what it is THIS year? No one else is getting raisies, so administration shouldn't be..they should just be lucky they have jobs period. I get that the cost of certain goods is increasing, but I don't believe for a second they increase THAT much each year that they need to increase their budgets by a million + dollars each year. I think it's greedy.
Like a previous poster said cuts in state aid, increases in expenses and numerous other things have a say in the budget.
Attend a budget meeting for your district and you will have a better understanding. Sadly in my own distriict only 2 people showed up this year. People should really take the time to become more educated before becoming angry over things they don't have full knowledge of. Also those that have a problem with how money is being allocated should bring this up at board of ed meetings before they make a rash decision at a budget vote.
Not everyone has the luxury of skipping work to attend a board meeting.
Board meetings and budget presentations have been offered at a variety of times during the day and on over 25 dates in many districts over the past 2 months. I am sure that everyone could find the time to make a meeting if it was a priority to them.
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| Posted 5/18/10 7:18 PM |
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HLT407
So lucky
Member since 11/07 1910 total posts
Name:
Heather
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Re: School Budget votes - how do you reconcile?
Posted by eddiesmommy
Posted by MrsProfessor
Posted by eddiesmommy
Posted by MommaG
I don't see having 20 something kids as such a big issue. When I was in 2nd grade, I had 42 - yes, 42 - kids in my class. And you know what? We all did great, even the teacher. Would I prefer a smaller class size? Sure - more attention for each student. But class size, to me, is not a huge issue unless it really gets up there.
i kind of agree....growing up elementary all through high school, we always had a around 25 kids in every class.
Things have changed a lot since we were kids, though. I saw my second grade class pic on FB and counted 30 kids.
Now, you have classes where you are very likely to have a mix of ELLs and monolingual kids, so the teacher has to juggle more. And NYS is in the process of adding even more standarized tests (maybe even at the K-2 level) as part of its teacher evaluation plan. So, as a teacher, I would say that smaller classes is vital to student learning. IMO, preserving those should be one of every district's goals, even if other stuff has to be cut.
I still dont think 25-27 kids is unreasonable at all. I would be OK if that was Eddies class size. And speaking of my district specifically, there isnt a whole lot of ELL students statistically, so its almost a moot point where I live. There are definitely ELL students but not so many that it would be a detriment to the learning environment when it came to student teacher ratio.
Dont even get me started on the ridiculous and frivolous state testing requirements. Ill give you that.
I'm quoting this to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
Growing up I had at least 25 kids in my classes. However, today 25+ kids may not be unreasonable in some districts. In others where ELL students are the majority (like mine) and there are students with special needs not yet diagnosed due to transiency; 25+ kids is completely unreasonable.
Also- not only are children with special needs that are unclassified in today's classrooms, with failed budgets we are LOSING special education teachers. My sister's district cut 14 in one day!! My sister was one of them....Where do all of those children go when there is a strict state ratio law regarding students with special needs? Back when we were in school there was no such thing as self contained ABA classes in regular public school settings. Those students are now going to also be filtered into regular education settings "with supports" (aka- numerous services for which they are pulled out of the classroom).
Mix ELL, students with special needs, those pulled out of the classroom for services that would have normally received from their classroom teacher before he/she was excessed and we have a VERY, very different classroom dynamic than we had growing up. Plus stupid state testing for K & 1. And again- think about state testing in today's classrooms with 25+ kids.. It isn't that easy anymore.
I (unfortunately) have always said "I would never want my child in my classroom in these settings". Now that is sad!
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| Posted 5/18/10 7:34 PM |
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staceyd
LIF Adult
Member since 8/08 2052 total posts
Name:
stacey
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Re: School Budget votes - how do you reconcile?
25-27 was do-able when we were in school.. when school districts kept special education students out of the general education classrooms.. Not every district has high level of ELL learners, but the number of special education students in classrooms today are off the charts.... placement of special education students in their least restrictive environments is not only the law, but it is also the most beneficial for the student.. I am sure that if you have kids in schools now.. and you are happy with their experience... you will see the difference between a classroom with 20 vs. a classroom with 27....
There are a lot of factors that go into education today that makes it a lot different than when we were kids... teachers do not lecture, they do not read out of textbooks... they mostly teach through discovery... through cooperative learning in groups, through hands-on experiences... things that were just strating to be used when I was in HS.... they take a lot of planning and classroom management... and will become extinct if classrooms get bigger and bigger... that is my biggest argument for smaller class sizes...
Message edited 5/18/2010 8:48:11 PM.
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| Posted 5/18/10 8:45 PM |
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staceyd
LIF Adult
Member since 8/08 2052 total posts
Name:
stacey
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Re: School Budget votes - how do you reconcile?
double post.. sorry
Message edited 5/18/2010 8:47:28 PM.
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| Posted 5/18/10 8:47 PM |
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| Pages: 1 2 [3] |
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