Despite the importance of having various learning opportunities for students, more and more U.S. school systems are seeing cuts to their creative learning departments such as music, drama, and art courses. With school closures, teachers are either faced with the prospect of moving to a new school or possibility being laid off from work. The Heavy Impact of School Budget Cuts Head Teachers vs. However, with budget cuts, these activities are typically some of the first to go. Melissa Kelly, M.Ed., is a secondary school teacher, instructional designer, and the author of "The Everything New Teacher Book: A Survival Guide for the First Year and Beyond. Luckily, it appears that those who understand the importance of creative courses in school and see the digital divide happening throughout the nation are working towards a solution.

5Source: www.neatoday.org/2018/07/16/the-high-cost-of-education-budget-cuts/ Although the economy remains in better shape than during the 2008 financial crisis, schools have yet to recover their pre-recession budgets.1. The curriculum implemented in schools over the past several years have become predominantly math and science focused, leaving behind art education in many schools. Message from the President: COVID-19 | Advancing Racial & Social Justice, In the past few years, protests across the U.S. have brought the issue of school budgets into the national conversation.

", ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. 4Source: www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/12/17/does-money-matter-education-schools-research/ It’s important for those pursuing a master’s in education to understand how budget decisions affect individual students, teachers, and the school as a whole. Students are given less choice and teachers are either moved around or stuck teaching subjects they are not ready to teach. No Art Teacher Left Behind. States disproportionately relied on spending cuts to close their large budget shortfalls after the recession hit, rather than a more balanced mix of spending cuts and revenue increases. This is of course a lot easier said than done. Teachers, students and members of the Teachers’ Union rally against budget cuts and the underfunding of D.C. public schools on April 25, 2019. *. Considering the resources available online these days, information found on the internet is outpacing traditional textbooks.

As someone who grew up and was educated in British Columbia, Canada under a provincial government NOTORIOUS for cutting education budgets (and the child of two teachers), I know a whole lot about what happens.

With all of that in mind, teachers who strive to understand and connect with their students are able to better identify their strengths and weaknesses as well as find more ways to be inclusive of each student’s needs, despite these cuts to art education and a significant lack of technology.

Further, teachers who work extra by taking on summer school classes or running activities that provide supplemental pay will often find their positions eliminated or their hours/pay reduced. This happens despite all the evidence that smaller schools are better for students in almost every way. Obviously, this is a big one. With budget cuts shaking up schools all across the U.S., teachers can feel helpless to provide for their students. Let me tell you about budget cuts. Are you or your spouse an active or retired U.S. military service member living outside the United States? In her spare time, she works to advance the progress towards equitable education opportunities. As experts at University of Cincinnati explain, “remember that each student is different and any one strategy is not going to work with all of them. As Ed Source further explains, “The cuts came against the backdrop of the decade-long emphasis on math and reading as mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind law … In fact, in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the state’s largest, one-third of the district’s 345 arts teachers were let go between 2008 and 2012 and arts offerings for half of K-5 students were reduced to zero.” The decrease in creative learning classes and instructors leaves many students who would otherwise flourish in these particular courses with a difficult, overwhelming sense of disappointment within their other academic efforts. In a field that, during good times, about 20% of teachers leave the profession in the first three years, budget cuts mean less incentive for educators to continue teaching. Budget cuts just compound this problem.

But without internet access, they’re prevented from any opportunities which could greatly improve their quality of life. When the administration consolidates classes, if there are not enough students to warrant the positions then those with the lowest seniority typically have to move to new positions and/or schools. They also enjoy higher high school graduation rates than their peers who come from schools that experienced budget cuts.4. For teachers in these situations with students, finding an effective way to take care of their needs becomes even more challenging and ultimately can result in students falling between the cracks, despite a teacher’s best efforts. In the past few years, protests across the U.S. have brought the issue of school budgets into the national conversation.

The Learning Policy Institute reports a positive correlation between school funding and student outcomes.2 Bigger budgets particularly impact low-income students because their parents have fewer resources to lean on outside of the school. Choose the most convenient way to connect with us. Education professionals who reached their breaking point made their voices heard with strikes.

Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, www.hlcommission.org. Expand your career options and earn your degree in a convenient, flexible format that fits your busy life. Research has shown that students learn better in smaller classes. Another casualty of larger classes is that teachers are unable to do as much cooperative learning and other more complex activities.

This can mean that history texts do not include recent presidents, science books do not include some of the recently discovered periodic elements, and geography texts do not reflect some countries’ current borders or names. What works for 10 students might not work for one student. Teaching often involves utilizing available resources to meet the individual needs of students and their particular learning style. There is some hope in all of this. One of the reasons that students from ill-funded schools don’t perform as well as they could is that they simply do not have the resources they need.

Students who come from well-funded schools earn an average of 7% more in pay as adults.

With budget cuts come school closures. Another study found the reverse to be true as well: spending cuts mean lower achievement for students.3 In fact, cutting a school’s budget by just 10% has the same effect on test scores as replacing a school full of average teachers with all teachers in the bottom 10% of candidates.3, Of course, you don’t need to have a teaching degree to know that test scores are not the only important student outcomes. Despite the importance of having various learning opportunities for students, more and more U.S. school systems are seeing cuts to their creative learning departments such as music, drama, and art courses. This, in effect, is like a pay cut for teachers. The natural result of this strategy is that the teachers lead larger classes. With budget cuts shaking up schools all across the U.S., teachers can feel helpless to provide for their students. Many teachers only have outdated textbooks to give their students.

One of the first things to go with budget cuts is the already small discretionary fund that teachers get at the beginning of the year. Typically smaller and older schools are closed and combined with larger, newer ones. Inservice is the official blog of ASCD. For example, budget cuts often mean that schools do not buy updated textbooks. You have entered an incorrect email address! Avery Taylor Phillips is a writer with a focus in early childhood education. You may opt out at any time. While this might not seem like a big deal to some, the truth is that teaching just like any profession, becomes stagnant without continual self-improvement. Following are ten ways that budget cuts harm teachers and accordingly their students. Please view our Privacy Policy or Contact Us for more details. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Typically smaller and older schools are closed and combined with larger, newer ones. Walden University is an accredited institution offering an MS in Education program with a variety of specializations. Schools facing budget cuts typically begin by cutting their electives and either moving teachers to core subjects or eliminating their positions entirely.

Try not to become frustrated if the current strategy isn’t working with a particular child…In the end, you will find a strategy that will work with that particular child.” Forging these relationships with students can also help teachers learn, giving them a wider spectrum of experiences and solutions for future instances. The field of education is changing and new theories and teaching methods can make all the difference in the world for new, struggling, and even experienced teachers.