When money runs out, line up the usual suspects: Arts, music, PE and counselors
Remember those warnings that next year will even be tougher for schools than this year? It appears they were accurate.
The drastic reductions in staffing and programs under consideration in metro area school systems reflect the ongoing fallout from a bad economy. Clayton was considering one of the region’s most extreme responses: Cutting its school year by 37 days and adding two hours to each day. Instead, the county will lay off more than 75 elementary school art, music, physical education teachers and counselors despite opposition from parents — the lost positions represent half of the arts, fine arts and PE staffs.
“I don’t see a way of saving a five-day school week and arts and music at the same time,” said Clayton Superintendent Edmond Heatley.
About 600 Clayton parents showed up at a meeting this week, most to protest the elimination of the positions that they say are essential to provide children with a well-rounded education. The superintendent says aggressive action has to be taken to deal with a $49.2 million budget shortfall expected over the next two years.
As newly elected Georgia school chief John Barge has said at almost all his public appearances, educators have to do more with less. His take on the financial constraints — that tough times don’t have to dim opportunity — may not assuage the disappointed parents whose children will lose orchestra or art.
We can expect similar parent frustration as other systems begin their budget cutting.
- Atlanta Public Schools is in the midst of early budget preparations and expects a shortfall next year, though no firm figure in available yet. Last year, APS finalized a $589 million budget that cut annual spending by $67 million. Austerity measures included bigger class sizes, involuntary furlough days and a system-wide pay freeze.
- Fulton County school officials are expecting a “tough, challenging” budget process for fiscal 2012, said chief financial officer Robert Morales. Between reductions in proposed state budget and a 5 percent reduction in property tax revenues, Morales’ office projects a budget reduction of $43.4 million. Last August, the system approved its first tax increase in over five years to balance the 2010-11 budget.
- Gwinnett County is anticipating a revenue shortfall of about $75 million, though a recommended budget won’t be finalized until late March. Anticipated cost-saving measures include cuts in school staffing allotments, continued hiring freeze at the district level and more division/operational cuts at the central office of at least 5 percent. No layoffs of full-time workers is anticipated.
- Cobb County, the state’s second largest district, was originally expecting a $20 million to $35 million gap, but new estimates put the figure closer to $40 million to $50 million, district spokesman Jay Dillon said. The district is planning for a shorter 175-day school year, five employee furlough days and no salary increases. They don’t anticipate teaching positions will be cut. The district plans to present the board a draft budget in late April or early May.
- Unlike other districts, DeKalb officials said they do not expect a shortfall due to deep cuts made in previous years. They also plan to cancel furlough days for some workers and cut back the number of furlough days for other workers.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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106 comments Add your comment
Trotter Sounds like Martin
March 10th, 2011
11:11 am
Except Trotter is right
oldtimer
March 10th, 2011
11:12 am
As far as PE…Taking kids out for 30 minutes with balls, jump,ropes, frisbees, and some running games is easy. Many Ele. school teachers did this for years as organized PE…more that once a week is a new thing. Art and music are harder to do without training.
I always found kids played harder with just a track and a ball. It is amazing what they can create on their own.
Dr. John Trotter
March 10th, 2011
11:25 am
Maureen: I am not blaming Heatley for all of the financial mess in Clayton County. I lay most of this blame at the feet of the former Chairperson Ericka Davis and the former Vice Chairperson Rod Johnson, along with their cohort, Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell, who were apparently meeting with the Zeus of Alpharetta, Mark Elgart, on a regular basis seeking his intervention into Clayton County apparently because they, quite frankly, were losing political power on the school board. This is what caused Clayton County to go into a tailspin from which it has not recovered.
Yes, Clayton County was a wasteland when Edmond Heatley arrived. But, if I recall correctly, Heatley promised the Clayton County School Board that he was not going to bring an entourage (or anyone, for that matter) from California. It doesn’t look that he has kept that promise. Rather than doing away with Art, P. E., etc., he needs to slash — and I mean draconian slashes — the bureaucracy at the Central Offices. To set an example, he needs to cut his own pay, but I hear that he responded to that notion with a flippant response that this would not save enough money. Right.
TimeOut
March 10th, 2011
11:26 am
We could require that parents handle their children’s education via Virtual School. We would need ‘virtually’ no facilities, no behavior management systems, no ‘central offices’, etc. However, one parent would have to be able to earn enough money to support the family because the children won’t be completing school work on that computer for long if both Mom and Dad are elsewhere, trying to earn enough money to keep them all in a safe, clean neighborhood. Or…………
We could increase responsibilities of teaching staff through use of their summers for those non-teaching duties for which one could wait reasonably until that time to accomplish. We could them eliminate those positions with those duties. We could give administrative disciplinary authority to teachers and eliminate even more positions. We could require that parents pay for texts as they do in other countries that also have citizens struggling to pay the bills or scraping by on welfare and medicaid. We could eliminate all extra-curricular activities, insisiting that other institutions such as the family, church, and civic organizations take on these responsibilities. Or……we can continue to insist that our schools be all things to all people…..or at least give lip service to same……..
Miguel
March 10th, 2011
11:47 am
Want to save millions? Cut middle school sports entirely. There is absolutely no need for middle school level basketball in Gwinnett County, for example. There are already recreation leagues for basketball as well as travelling basketball teams. There is absolutely no need for this duplication. Along with basketball, you can also do without the cheerleaders and step teams who perform for the basketball crowds. This would cut all the costs of the programs, the equipment, the uniforms, the coaches and the cheerleader coaches. Talk about waste in education? This is the perfect example. Leave music and the arts alone. There are direct links between academic excellence and art/music experience.
Counties, like Gwinnett could also cut millions by cutting back on the useless testing, testing, and more testing. These tests do absolutely nothing to prepare our students for the real world. Trivial Pursuit is a great game, but useless in teaching our future leaders. Why can’t education leaders see the forest for the trees?
Dance puppets!
March 10th, 2011
12:04 pm
This is working out great. Continue to pit the people against the educators while we laugh all the way to the bank. Hopefully no one’s looking.
Dance puppets!
March 10th, 2011
12:06 pm
re: Gwinnett. The only county in the state that uses the $3 million a year Gateway, needlessly preventing several people from graduating on time. Gwinnett, the leader of the pack (HA)
CobbParent
March 10th, 2011
12:19 pm
My son plays two sports and two instruments – none of them through his middle school. For one of the sports he is on a “junior” team affiliated with the high school team, but we get no financial assistance from the schools. He wants to play sports, so I gotta pay the fees….and drive to practices and games, buy equipment, pay for extra ice time and batting cage time, etc etc. Same with music…buying instruments and paying for lessons. My responsibility, not the school’s.
HStchr
March 10th, 2011
12:24 pm
I’m not hearing any system talk about reducing high school sports. I think they are an important part of school and reach out to a lot of kids, but if we’re all going to have to cut back, so should the sports programs. But heavens no, the good old boys at the gold dome wouldn’t dare cut that! Kids who have art and music do in fact score better on standardized tests. Those who have football, not so much.
Metro Coach
March 10th, 2011
12:27 pm
Oh boy, out comes the “cut middle school sports” crowd. They did that in Paulding County, it didn’t make one dime’s difference in the budget shortfall. Middle school sports don’t make up 1/100th of a school system’s budget, the supplements are minimal, as are the costs for equipmentand other things.
Metro Coach
March 10th, 2011
12:31 pm
HStchr- that’s because outside of coaching supplements, high school sports are self funded. We pay for officials, transportation, uniforms, equipment, laundry detergent, pretty much everything but the lights, and since our gate money goes into the “general fund” we probably end up paying a good bit of the electric bill too.
Ashley
March 10th, 2011
12:36 pm
When I attended elementary school P.E. was mandated everyone from 1st grade thru 6th had recess (thats what we called it back then). I can honestly say that little 30 minute break re-energized the students. It also promoted social skills and sportsmanship, which seems to be lacking in most schools today. Come to think of it obesity didn’t seem to be that prevalent either. The only exercise kids get now is their thumbs. Don’t remember counselors or music teacher, that came when we were in junior high.Our parents had a way of counseling us when we lost our focus or were disreputive in class Only someone over 50 knows what I mean by that last entry.
East Cobb Parent
March 10th, 2011
12:58 pm
Cobb doesn’t have organized sports associated with the ES and MS. I do think there may be money to make if HS sports were “out sourced”. Most of the teams are self supporting by the parents/booster, so raise the fees slightly and let the teams “rent” the fields. I still feel the largest gains are to be had by seriously examine the Central Office. If you remove the unnecessary and often redundant functions at central we may not need to cut a single teacher, sports, music, art or PE program. PLEASE COBB examine Central Office FIRST for a change. Does Sanderson still have 3 admins?
As a side comment, bring back discipline so teachers can teach those whose parents send to learn. @Ashley not quite over 50, but I know what you mean and have had a few of those “discussions” with my own children from time to time.
RJ
March 10th, 2011
12:59 pm
@Cobb Parent, the music lessons you pay for are not the same as the instruction that a student receives in a general music class. Students learn more than simply how to play an instrument. They learn history when they study various musicians, math when they study composition, foreign language when they study tempo and dynamic markings, science when they study how the voice is used and how instrument sounds are created, physical education when they study how the body is used to play an instrument or sing a song. Students develop creativity skills when allowed to compose their own songs. There is nothing “extra” about these courses and it is sad that these students will miss out on receiving a well-rounded education. For the record, I not only teach music, but I also pay for my kids to get private lessons and participate in recreational sports. There is a difference in what I pay for and what is taught at school. I want my kids to be able to do more than just write well and perform mathematical equations. There is more to life than the three R’s.
momofboys
March 10th, 2011
1:10 pm
@ A Conservative Voice: Thanks so much for suggesting that I see a professional. I must really need one since I have no idea why you would tell me I am living in a fantasy world simply for sharing the dramatic jump in class size we have experienced in one year’s time in our elementary school due to budget cuts.
Dekalbite
March 10th, 2011
1:13 pm
Every nurse, PE teacher, art teacher, music teacher, counselor, gifted teacher, Assistant Principal, special ed teacher, security guard, HVAC employee, parent facilitator, “coach”, etc. you hire means one less math, science, language arts and social studies teacher. If you have 4,000 of those employees, you will have 4,000 less teachers to teach the basics that is the reason our school systems exist.
I would say make draconian cuts in the non-teaching positions first. DCSS has almost 60% of their personnel who never teach a single student so there are tens of millions to be saved that way. If that doesn’t wring enough money to balance the budget and decrease content area class sizes to reasonable levels, then begin cutting teaching positions that do not teach math, science, social studies, and language arts – you know those – the ONLY subjects that students are required to master in school. I couldn’t speak for any other school system, but looking at the sheer number of cost of those 60% of non-teaching DCSS employees, balancing the budget and decreasing class sizes in the content area should be easy if our administrative team and BOE just concentrated on that area.
yeah right!
March 10th, 2011
1:51 pm
I love all of the “cut everything but the teachers” crowd. I would love to see a school run only by teachers. Ha, who is going to clean, see the sick kiddies, not to mention ensure that all of the teachers have their materials and get their paychecks. you might as well suggest that a hospital be staffed only with Dr’s and nurses. or that a restaurant be staffed only by the chef and the waiters. that is all that is needed. Only those who deal directly with the customers or the children. that will last until the teachers trashcan is full and there is no one around to empty it. Yes cuts need to be made but please don’t show your lack of business acumen by spouting off the first things that come to your mind
Toto: Exposing naked body scanners...
March 10th, 2011
2:11 pm
This is good news for the visual arts. Ever since “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” was published, drawing instruction in public schools has become worthless or nonexistent. Home schoolers, however, have an abundance of excellent “fine arts” classes at reasonable prices. Why? BECAUSE HOME SCHOOLERS UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF DEVELOPING THIS PART OF A STUDENT’S BRAIN.
How to solve the problem?
Go Egyptian. Home school en masse.
Dekalbite@yeah right!
March 10th, 2011
2:34 pm
I love all of the “cut everything but the teachers” crowd. I would love to see a school run only by teachers….Yes cuts need to be made but please don’t show your lack of business acumen by spouting off the first things that come to your mind”
Actually, I have used my business acumen to “run the numbers”. Can you show me where my numbers are incorrect? Can you cite your sources that would say my numbers are incorrect?
No one says to cut every job but teachers. You must be a non-teaching support person. In DCSS we have the “incredible shrinking teacher phenomenon”. We have added thousands of employees, yet we are at virtually the same level of teachers that we were at a decade ago. No wonder only around 43% of our employees are teachers and only 24% are Content Area teachers.
Do you know how many of DCSS 15,000+ personnel actually teach math, science, social studies, and language arts? I know because I used an Excel program to calculate this – approximately 3,700. Only 24% of our employees are totally responsible for the core mission of our students. You want to know why our schools fail? This is the reason.
If you want kids to learn math, science, social studies, and language, you have to – ugh – teach it. I think an imbalance of 3,700 employees teaching the only content that is required for students while the other 11,000+ do not have the responsibility for student performance is a recipe for disaster for our students.
Your hospital analogy is flawed. Most of the personnel in hospitals directly give care to patients – nurses aides, nurses, doctors, therapists, etc. Generally, the custodial and cafeteria workers are contracted outsourced workers.
I got my figures from the 2009 state salary and travel audit and the Ga. DOE website DCSS (see the links below). Why don’t you do some number crunching? You may not like what I have to say, but these numbers don’t lie:
Total DeKalb Schools employees: 15,500+
Admin and Support non-teaching personnel: 8,800 (57%)
Teachers and Media Specialists: 6,700+ (43%)
(Sources:
DCSS Superintendent’s FAQ page
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/files/3C2819BD7CDE4BA6B8BE01FC4A39343C.pdf
Georgia salary and travel audit (Click on Salary and Travel Reinbursements)
http://www.open.georgia.gov/
DeKalb Report Card (click on Personnel and Fiscal)
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=102&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2010)
Numbers of DCSS teachers NOT grade level teachers or content area teachers: 2981 (around 3,000)
This includes:
Library Media Specialists:
161
Special Area Teachers:
1369
(Special Education Adapted PE, Pre-K Sp.Ed., Psycho-Ed Sp.Ed., Sp. Ed Interrelated, Sp. Ed. Specialist, Sp. Ed. Autistic, Sp. Ed. Emotional Behavior, Sp. Ed. Hearing Impaired, Teacher of Mild Intellectual, Teacher of Moderate Intellectual, Teacher of Orthopedic Impairment, Teacher of Other Health Impairment, Teacher Of Severely Intell. Impaired, Teacher of specific Learning Disability, Teacher of Visually Impaired, Speech –Language Pathologist, Adapted PE teacher:
1,369
Other Instructional Providers:
42
Instructional Specialists (Art, PE, Music, Band, Orchestra elementary teachers):
445
Gifted:
87
ESOL:
154
Early Intervention Specialists:
128
Instructional Coaches (America’s Choice Instructional Coaches, Literacy Coaches and Graduation Coaches):
80
Exploratory Teachers:
46
Hospital Homebound:
1
Vocational Teachers:
207
Related Vocational Teachers:
11
World Languages in high school and Connections teachers in middle school
250 (estimated)
For those people who don’t want to do the math, take 6,700 teachers and subtract 3,000 “special teachers” – those who do not have responsibility for making AYP – and you will get 3,700 content area teachers – those personnel who are left to ensure our students make AYP. And people wonder why those content area teachers want to leave the classroom? Unfortunately, the students have no place to go.
*Since this was compiled DCSS has added numerous Instructional Coaches and Coordinators positions through the Office of School Improvement while they decreased the teaching positions around 100. But this gives you a rough idea of why our kids are jammed into the classrooms like sardines.
Mitch
March 10th, 2011
2:45 pm
Eliminate the outrageous MATH for everyone but those who need and can use it. Also we could cut out football and basketball. Unless we can find something really useful to teach in year twelve, just eliminate it.
Fine Arts
March 10th, 2011
2:52 pm
“Art, music and PE are not core subjects, no matter how much we love them. Start a local co-op and get them done in an extracurricular setting.”
Cheokee, I beg to differ. Art, music and PE ARE core subjects. check the NCLB law and you will see fine Arts is indeed a core academic subject!
@Dekalbite
March 10th, 2011
2:56 pm
“Actually, I have used my business acumen to “run the numbers”. Can you show me where my numbers are incorrect? Can you cite your sources that would say my numbers are incorrect? ”
You need to sharpen your accumen. Federal and state law will prohibit you from eliminating all SPED and ESOL teachers. Also, you apparently don’t know squat about how much administrative overhead there is in healthcare.
ArtsAdvocate
March 10th, 2011
3:03 pm
What is the difference between Exploratory and Instructional Specialist? Why not end the arts programs? Let’s give kids one more reason to drop out!
ArtsAdvocate
March 10th, 2011
3:04 pm
What’s the difference between Exploratory and Instructional Specialist? What not end the Arts programs? Let’s give kids another reason to drop out!
Tell it like it is, Sandra Scott!
March 10th, 2011
3:15 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTaIOl5Dcdo
Dekalbite@Fine Arts
March 10th, 2011
3:17 pm
So how responsible are you for students making AYP? I taught gifted for many years so I’m passionate about gifted ed, but I know that the school system could function without gifted where it could not function without the grade level and content area teachers. If you cut teachers, I’ve got to go with retaining the teachers that teach the core areas. Students must be proficient in the content areas to get a job. That’s the bottom line for public school systems and in truth for any school system.
Now could and should we cut in the admin and support level? Yes. Non-teaching personnel should experience deep cuts before teaching personnel. Cut, consolidate, and outsource admin and support personnel as much as possible – cut and consolidate positions by ask the remaining personnel to take on additional responsibilities – slash benefit costs by outsourcing – whatever it takes in the admin and support side. Only then should you touch the teaching personnel. Not because teachers are so “special”, but because the teachers’ environment is the students’ environment. If you overcrowd a teachers’ classroom, you overcrowd the students’ work space. If you leave the teacher less time to work with students, the students are the ones that suffer. If you create stress for the teacher, that stress will be passed along to the students.
There are only two groups of people in the physical classroom – the teacher and the students. Decisions should only pertain to what’s best for students. That’s the only reason for our school systems. Let’s play favorites here – let’s favor students.
Tell it like it is, Sandra Scott!
March 10th, 2011
3:32 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTaIOl5Dcdo
Representative Scott discusses the mess in Clayton County at the GABEO Convention. She rips into SACS, Mark Elgart, and Glenn Brock. It’s worth a watch! She’s plain spoken from the jump street. Indeed, she does remind one of Fannie Lou Hamer back in Mississippi in the 1960s. Hamer is a folk legend today.
Music Teacher
March 10th, 2011
3:38 pm
You miss the point. I use music to teach creativity and encourage students to learn to use both sides of their brain fluently, and equally. I use music to teach math skills, and reading fluency. My first and fourth grade teachers ask me to help cover the sound concepts in those science standards, and I gladly do so. History comes alive for students when they see how our country’s history is reflected in the culture’s music. I teach tolerance and respect through exploring world music and world cultures. Isn’t it great that the students learn to sing, read music, and play instruments while they learn “core subjects” through another modality? A 30 minute private lesson per week is just not quite the same experience. The arts are not an extra for the student who struggles – it is a window of opportunity.
Cindy Lutenbacher
March 10th, 2011
3:57 pm
Our state would save hundreds of millions of dollars by limiting the use of standardized tests (or, better, eliminating them). Independent research of decades has shown that these tests reveal two things: socio-economic status and specific test prep. They do not show learning, knowledge, ability, and any of the things that corporate and professional U.S. say they want, such as creativity, critical thinking, creative problem solving, teamwork, etc. They do not reveal learning or knowledge.
Music, p.e., art, second language learning…these subjects not only teach and enhance math and reading, but also nourish the skills/capacities that are most desired.
NCLB pushed massive testing, along with such losers as Reading First (which failed abysmally on nearly every measure), eating up billions of tax dollars in order to funnel said dollars to corporations such as McGraw-Hill. For reading, the research shows that tiny bits of explicit instruction coupled with a great selection of books and time for free reading do a much better job of teaching more kids to read. And they are more likely to become lifelong readers.
More teachers, more highly trained teachers, more room for excellent teachers to do what they know to do…these are where our dollars should go. Way past time to cut the garbage of the standardized tests and the mania of having to teach to the test. They failed miserably.
Eliminate Counselor Positions
March 10th, 2011
4:03 pm
I just had to add my own take on this. Can we please look to cut some of these school counselors, particularly in ES and MS? The ES we’re zoned for has 2.5 school counselors. Are you aware that these counselors take up 50 (that’s FIFTY) minutes of regular class time EVERY week to talk about feelings and good citizenship. When I went to school, we had 1 counselor that you could go to if you NEEDED to talk. The counselor did not take away instructional time from core subjects. Who thought that was a good idea?
And before anyone tells me that these counselors are needed, I say go ask for their list of topics for the year. I have asked several times and apparently it’s a trade secret. Wake up parents and find out what’s going on.
lovemyjob
March 10th, 2011
4:30 pm
displaced in Gwinnett with nowhere to go and nobody’s talking
Dekalbite@ Eliminate Counselor Positions
March 10th, 2011
5:02 pm
I agree.
DCSS has 245 counselors for an annual cost of $22,500,000 including benefits (calculated at 25%). That’s around $92,000 a year on average per counselor. Teachers make around $68,000 a year on average including benefits in DeKalb.
The other area that DCSS has that is totally redundant (counselors and social workers really should and in many instances probably are doing the same job functions) is the non-teaching area called Parent Centers. The Family Services Specialists (several are related to BOE members – remember former BOE member Zepora Roberts who threatened to slug a TV reporter when she asked about Ms. Roberts daughter who is one of these Family Services coordinators) staff the Parent Centers. There are 73 of them for a cost of around $4,400,000 in salary and benefits. This is a tough group to eliminate because they are “friends and family”.
Then there are the 22 Prevention/Intervention Specialists who cost $1,800,000 in salary and benefits. They are not certified teachers, and they mainly deal with teaching conflict resolution and bullying – yet another area that counselors should have responsibility for.
And lets’ not even get into the 90 Instructional coaches that cost DCSS around $9,000,000 a year in salary and benefits ($100,000 per coach a year). The Instructional coaches never teach a child.
In addition, we have 40+ Graduation Coaches that cost $3,000,000+ in salary and benefits. They never teach a child.
We also have 60+ Instructional supervisors who (of course) never teach a child and cost $7,000,000+ a year.
Lest you Clayton County people think this is only in DCSS, think again. You are not nearly as “fat” with non-teaching positions as DCSS, but you too have many of these positions. You have 112 Literacy “Coaches” costing $8,900,000 in salary and benefits. You have 45 Instructional and Vocational Coordinators that cost you $4,800,000 in salary and benefits a year. You have 29 Director who cost you $3,600,000+ a year.
Sources:
http://www.open.georgia.gov/
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=102&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2010
Eliminate Counselor Positions
March 10th, 2011
5:14 pm
To DeKalbite @Eliminate Counselor Positions:
Wow! I’ve not done near the research as you, but it already sickened me. And, BTW, I’m in Cobb County. Imagine what Gwinnett County and Cherokee County have. Somebody needs to compile all of this information. Maybe the AJC would actually do a little investigative reporting to see how much waste there really is. Hmmm…
momofboys
March 10th, 2011
5:16 pm
Music Teacher at 3:38 pm: I loved your post. Your students are lucky to have you.
Dekalbite@ Eliminate Counselor Positions
March 10th, 2011
5:31 pm
Cobb County is IMHO third in line in admin and support “excess”. DCSS being first and APS being second. Go to http://www.open.georgia.gov/ and click on Salaries and Travel Reimbursements. Accept their agreement page if that comes up. Now click on Organization and select Local Boards of Education. Use the drop down arrows to select Cobb County School District. Use the Export Option at the bottom of the page to export to a CSV file (Export Options). You can save the CSV Excel file and do all the sorts you want. In a matter of minutes you can see where Cobb spends its money. Why aren’t parents doing this in every county is a mystery to me.
Henry County Teacher
March 10th, 2011
6:33 pm
Walnut Creek Elementary admins are being paid over $100k to do nothing regarding Bulling. No discipline for bully, but victims are being harrassed. They pay should be cut by half.
fultonschoolsparent
March 10th, 2011
6:58 pm
There are a HUGE number of students who come to school every day just for those music, art, and PE classes. Cut them and you are cutting the heart out of elementary and middle school buildings. In the high school, they are the reason that a lot of students don’t drop out. These ARE core subjects! Just look around you – music, art, and PE are every where in our culture. When I look back on my school experience, I don’t remember the trigonometry or chemistry, I remember the music and art!! I still have friends I made in those areas and so do my children.
Ole Guy
March 10th, 2011
7:12 pm
I couldn’t agree more…YES, it’s bad that these programs have become the scapegoat of fiscal irresponsibility…YES, action must be taken…YES, these programs, important as they may be, could be considered superflous to the hard studies in the math disciplines, sciences, etc. YES YES YES!
What do you do when it rains? You break out the umbrella, get wet, or stay inside…YOU ADAPT TO THE SITUATION! What did the generation(s) of the so-called Sad 30s do? The generation which saved the world from tyranny, placed man upon the Moon and got him back home in time for the evening news with Walter Cronkite, etc, etc, etc. THEY ADAPTED! They didn’t cry piss and moan because times were tough. They managed to educate themselves, redirect their energies, and focus on goals.
Maybe, just maybe…if we stop feeling sorry for ourselves every time the poop hits the fan, we just might find ourselves half way to resolution.
TW
March 10th, 2011
7:21 pm
How do the Republicans reconcile being proud Americans while pissing on our country’s future?
I guess wiping their arse with the flag is easy after you’ve done it with The Bible.
Dekalbite@fultonschoolparent
March 10th, 2011
7:54 pm
For me it was Band. That was my passion. However, music and art are not Core subjects. It doesn’t matter if students come to school for ANY reason if we have Content areas teachers too overloaded to teach them.
That’s really the situation in many schools – particularly in low income areas. The Content area teachers are simply overwhelmed with their numbers of students, lack of discipline support, complete responsibility for achievement (while holding little authority or teaching autonomy) and crushing paperwork requirements. If you want to keep those “special” area teachers, why aren’t you pressuring your BOE reps and Superintendent to eliminate the thousands of non-teaching admin and support positions Fulton County has. Look for yourself. They have plenty.
Go to the website below and download the list of Fulton County Schools personnel and do some data sorts to see where the money is going.
Go to http://www.open.georgia.gov/ and click on Salaries and Travel Reimbursements. Accept their agreement page if that comes up. Now click on Organization and select Local Boards of Education. Use the drop down arrows to select Fulton County School District. Use the Export Option at the bottom of the page to export to a CSV file (Export Options). You can save the CSV Excel file and do all the sorts you want. In a matter of minutes you can see where Fulton spends its money.
fultonschoolsparent
March 10th, 2011
8:35 pm
One other comment – the planning that those classroom teachers need to even begin to keep up with their paperwork and lesson planning to get ready for all those tests? The specials area teachers’s classes give them the time to do it. So if you think the classroom teacher was over whelmed before, just wait until they don’t have any planning time. Watch the quality of your core classes go even lower without any planning going into them.
goodforkids
March 10th, 2011
9:08 pm
Counselors in many systems have a full time job running the SST/RTI process (and all the paperwork that goes with it) before they ever talk to a child individually, consult with a parent, make a DFACS referral, or provide classroom guidance. Not sure what system can still afford for counselors to provide lessons fifty minutes/week- maybe some schools in Gwinnett that have their counselors on their specials rotation?
Anyway, someone who is qualified should be running the process that supports and intervenes with students who are not succeeding. It would seem important that we identify and remediate obstacles to learning so that kids can achieve.
Cut central office and testing first- cut it down to BARE BONES, Then tell me you need to be rid of art, music, PE, and counselors because there is no money.
MrLiberty
March 10th, 2011
9:09 pm
If you sent your child to a private school that emphasized these things, there would not be a problem. Instead, you rely on the political process that emphasizes keeping certain political groups happy and cares nothing about the children or the parents. It doesn’t have to. It takes your money and everyone else’s no matter how upset you are, no matter how crappy a job they do, and no matter if you take your children and go elsewhere. How is a free market alternative WORSE that that??
Dekalbite@fultonschoolparent
March 10th, 2011
9:33 pm
Agreed. Those “specials” give them valuable planning time. And really, Fulton and every metro county has so many highly paid non-teaching positions, teachers should be the last to be cut.
Look how many employees you have in Fulton County that have teaching certificates but they don’t teach:
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=102&CountyId=660&T=1&FY=2010
465 Administrators
Average salary without benefits included: $84,492
Number of days worked a year: 214
665 Support Personnel
Average salary without benefits included: $61,581
Number of days worked a year: 190
6411 Teachers
Average salary without benefits included: $53,080
Number of days worked a year: 190
For every 7 Fulton School employees certified to teach, 1 of those employees does NOT teach. Those Support employees with teaching certificates work the same number of days as teachers, they have NO supervisory responsibilities, they have NO Performance accountability, and they make $8,000 a year more than teachers. Does that make sense to you?
Look at this website and you can see the Revenue and Expenditures broken down for Fulton County Schools. http://app.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/fin_pack_revenue.entry_form
(Choose your year, use the drop down menu to pick Fulton, and then look at what is spent on the category of Instruction of Students (that means personnel who directly instruct – ie. teach – students).
Only $564,701,748 out of $858,879,152, only 66% is spent on Direct Instruction. 5 years ago, Fulton spent 70% on Direct Instruction. Lest you think that is small potatoes, remember that 4% taken away from teachers means $34,355,166 moved to the admin and support side. Would $34,355,166 helped save all those band and music and “special” teachers?
Most BOE members never look at these figures. They just vote for whatever the superintendent wants. Parents/taxpayers all over Georgia need to meet with BOE members and ask why they are not using the data the state collects to make fiscal decisions that impact students. Pass these weblinks to concerned parents. The data is there. Your BOE members and your superintendent need to be responsible and accountable and use data to drive their decisions.
Dekalbite@fultonschoolparent
March 10th, 2011
11:11 pm
…Look how many employees you have in Fulton County that have teaching certificates but they don’t teach:
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=102&CountyId=660&T=1&FY=2010
Sorry – I should have told you to click on Personnel and Fiscal to reach the certified employee statistics
Equitas
March 11th, 2011
12:43 am
Art, music physical education, and school counselors are very
important to a school (especially in the middle grades). I’ve
read some previous post discuss the importance of the the
three subject areas in terms of employment. If the same
criteria is used for higher education, would that mean that
the University of Georgia should only have majors in the
core subjects, or employable subjects based on statistics?
If the arts are going to be cut drastically during every educational
budget crunch in our economic cycles, why spend millions
of dollars establishing state standards and requiring certified
teachers to jump through hoops taking required courses?
The public justifiably states that they can’t afford increases
in taxes, but the state offers the option for the same cash
strapped citizens to gamble away the same money that
citizens can’t afford to spend.
PE2
March 11th, 2011
6:47 am
I may be stating the obvious here; I’m so glad I don’t live, work, or have school aged children in Clayton county.
Depressing!
Black and White Smiley Faces ☺☻
March 11th, 2011
9:34 am
“You are evidently not aware of the millions of people who have great jobs and make a fantastic living in the Arts.”
These “millions” are an exception to the rule, and not typical of what one encounters when entering into the difficult sea that this the open job market.
A lucrative career is what is needed in order to ensure that one can provide for themselves and/or their family, as well as pursue additional opportunities in other fields if the so choose later on.
A liberal arts degree typically does not provide this.
Also, the theme & subject here was with regards to public schools, not arts majors, aka we are not discussing colleges.
As hard as times are with finding jobs, I still had many interviews and offers (I chose to earn a degree in a hard technical field). Life is sweet for those who were willing to make the effort.
Focus on what is really needed first, and all the “wants” second.
Dekalbite@ Black and White Smiley
March 11th, 2011
1:39 pm
“A lucrative career is what is needed in order to ensure that one can provide for themselves and/or their family”
Let’s hope all those college kids who are considering going into teaching don’t take that to heart or we won’t have anyone to take the place of the teachers who are retiring (up to 30% in the next 5 years).
Teachers’ salaries will probably rise as less people go into teaching.
arts funding
March 11th, 2011
2:50 pm
@atlmom: i appreciate your thoughts regarding the importance of core subjects; isn’t it interesting what we consider to be core now vs. the periods in human history when thought and innovation flourished? at the heart of a classical education is the understanding that art in all its forms is what gives meaning to being human; turning our backs on subjects that by their nature are creative endeavors lessens our goal of creating a better person thru public education. other countries are “beating us?” i thought that our country is still the most attractive to the brightest and best from around the world. our education system is based on the notion that a liberal arts education includes subjects that incorporate aesthetic education; why would we settle for less for our students?