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A debate between public and private school
importance of teaching arts and music in schools essay
A debate between public and private school
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Budget cuts have been a hot topic in today's society, starting back in 2008 with the recession. In the big world of budget cuts and what is being decided on being cut, education always comes up in the first draw. The children of this country are told every single day that they will grow up to be these fantastic forces to be reckoned with, but with the US ranking 17 out of 50 countries educational wise, it is hard to maintain that illusion of perfection. We are in a society of free-thinkers, scholars in training, prodigies, and those who want to become something fantastic so that they can stay afloat in this economy. In todays world, one cannot even get a job at McDonalds without some sort of formal education, or they cannot keep it without a high school diploma or a college degree of some sort. Public education is being sought after more than it was 30 years ago, and the popularity and demanding of a fine education is only going to continue to grow. Cutting the budget on education is not an option, although many politicians seem to believe it is the only choice. Their paychecks are absolutely safe, but the education of those who plan on taking over is in constant jeopardy, never to be looked over when the yearly budget comes out. Budget cuts have greatly affected how our children learn, what they learn, and when they learn; unfortunately although it is decreasing significantly, it does not look like it will vanish, at least not in this generation. The Programs that are being cut are becoming extensive, which causes our youth to be starved of their much needed art programs; with that in mind, the amount of the cuts in which are implemented are absurd which can sometimes cause simply, small communities to reach out for help to save their educationally malnourished children.
The programs, classes and work days being cut in the k-12 school budget are greatly impacting our children's opportunities and educational potential in our children, having negative effects on their learning and growth potential. We as a nation see it everyday, your favorite teacher having to leave, your child crying because they can no longer take art because it is no longer offered at their school, or your child happy from not having class because of a furlough day (which they do not seem to realize is not a good thing).
The Chicago Public School District is the third largest school district in the United States educating around 400,000 students. Back in 1987 CPS was named “the worst in the nation”(). Moving its way up to the top, since then, CPS had completely rebuilt its structure, appointing leaders and reformed ideas. Now, with a deficit projected to be around $1 billion CPS is headed back in a downwards path, money being the biggest issue. The United States Federal Government already has financial issues of its own, which makes dealing with a CPS budget a problem within a problem. CPS, with a $6.6 billion FY2013 budget, is now taking a new strategy based upon a flawed “Student-Based Budgeting System”. The Board of Education is also struggling to solve the debt they have reached, and with their FY2014 plans this year’s budget book is argued to be “one of the most poorly written budgets”(). The way CPS is handling their budget is not benefiting the lives and education of students and is leaving CPS at a loss with giant financial issues.
Defense receives the most support and money. Politicians support military spending, mainly because it is “the only form of large-scale public investment that can consistently win political support” (Pollin). However, the heavy support for military spending is counterproductive for our nation’s economy. Since military spending increased in 2001, several industries and programs have had to “bite the bullet.” The Department of Education often gets fewer funds each fiscal year to cover the military budget. Then again, the United States leads all countries in money spent on education. The U.S. education system is well funded, but that statistic is very misleading. If the high cost of college is excluded, the United States ranks slightly above average in education spending (OECD). Per the OECD, U.S. spending is decreasing at a 1% average (OECD). This doesn’t seem like much, but it is still a step in the wrong direction. Only Mexico, Iceland, and Ireland have cut more (OECD). Coincidentally, the percentage of teachers that quit within five years is extremely high at 46% (OECD)! This isn’t surprising considering all teachers in the U.S. work so many hours and are still underpaid. U.S. primary school teachers spend the most time in the classroom amongst all PISA countries
The fine arts were once highly revered by the community and were a part of everyday life, yet today the fine arts must face their biggest competitor, that being sports. Sports have become a big business and many schools find it easier and better to cut arts programs due to low funding rather than athletic programs. Even though fine arts programs are not as profitable as athletic programs, they should be funded equally to athletic programs because they help student achievement, help students improve their cognitive skills, and encourage creativity.
School funding is a recurring issue in the modern era. Debates ranging from give schools more money, to get rid of the system in place and reform a new idea have been plaguing the world over the years. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed in 2009, provided more than $100 billion in education aid to offset budget cuts..” (School Finance). Later, “Congress provided an additional $10 billion in 2010 to avert mass teacher layoffs (Education Week, "Total Recovery Act")” (School Funding). These numbers are just a sample of the struggles in school funding, that is costing a ton of money to keep afloat. “There are many ways schools fund varying from state to state and even school to school. Income taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes, and other fees provide 48 percent of the elementary and secondary school funds. 44 percent of local districts draw money from local property taxes. The federal government makes up approximately 8 percent of state education budgets. These funds are a dealt out on a per-student basis, and categorically to ensure enough resources for each special program or facility” (School Funding). These funds play a huge role in every student's education, either positive or negative. The three main areas that need to be addressed in the school budget are extracurricular funding, building and equipment maintenance, and last but not least staff funding.
Since 2008, approximately 80% of school districts in America have experienced cuts within their arts budget (Metla, 2015). Legislation at the federal and state levels have enabled these drastic and controversial cuts. No Child Left Behind enforced Common Core standards ensured t...
...of money, but money alone is not going to solve it. There are always going to be people that are going to take for granted their education. It is the government’s responsibility to see education be equal for all, but also an individual responsibility to take the time to sit down with each other and talk about the importance of school, learning, and education.
Although cuts have to happen they don't necessarily need to happen at schools, schools should never be making budget cuts when there's so many other things we can cut. Military equipment for example can be cut we just launched fifty missiles into our “enemies” missiles averaging out to a cost of millions of dollars. There is no reason why schools should be cutting programs just so we have other things like military weapons being funded.
The United States has many conflicts, one of them is funding on Public Education. In fact Public schools are to make every effort to try and help the students with all they can. Some schools have better things to offer to their schools. It depends on the population where the school is located. Do you agree that the public schools should get the funding depending on the population of where they are located? So many things are unfair and we the people do not really have much we can say publicly or even speak up to this situation. Every student should have the same opportunities as someone that goes to a school where tons of money are invested into. Let us focus on tomorrow’s future instead because once we know it the time will come to see these successful students take part of our country and keep us going forward for the better. Despite the fact that funding on public education will not help students succeed academically with the money provided to the schools, every school deserves to get as much money because students will receive more proper education and will be more successful students in the future.
They should find other way to solve it before more problems occur that will be severe and immediate. He pointed out some specific examples of the impact of cuts to education which includes “...
...making class size smaller. If the school itself cannot afford to educate its students, then the government needs to provide the school with the money to do so. They’re America’s children too.
Education reform in the United States has recently come under scrutiny after many recent failed proposals. President George W. Bush implemented one of the most popular choices of education reform with his “No Child Left Behind” system. However, that policy reform in the past five years has faded to nothing more than a mistake. This mistake has haunted the education systems in America, but it is not the only reform proposal to shake up the school systems across the States. One new proposal that has caught the eye of some current state politicians is the idea of school choice. School choice is giving the option to parents to take their children to different schools, which is different from assigning children to schools based on the location of their houses. Does giving the parents of children an option to choose what school their child goes to create a spirit of competition? That is partly the goal with the school choice reform policy proposal along with many other facets that can completely revitalize the education system in the United States. The stipulations of this proposal involve a variety of suggestions to help strengthen the core of our education system.
Proper school funding is one of the keys to having a successful school. Americans believe that funding is the biggest problem in public schools. School improvements revolve around funding. There needs to be funding not only in the successful schools but also the schools that aren’t doing as well. In documentary, Waiting for Superman, it talks about how smaller class sizes will help students. Funding is what will help the smaller class sizes. State funding mechanisms are subject to intense political and economic scrutiny (Leonard). Studies have shown that funding is inversely related to accreditation levels (Leonard). School funding needs to be increased, but there must be accountability as well.
I learned that school budgets not only inform us of priorities, but they can also serve as a communication tool for the whole district. I feel as if our school could use the budget as an opportunity to discuss progress as well as our strategic plan, but they don’t. Teachers and parents rarely hear about the budget’s educational and operational objectives and accomplishments. This is definitely something my school could improve on, since the school budget should reflect the community and their values. I also think there is a skewed public, and even faculty, perception regarding the school budget. Some of these views include that the school budget is wasteful, administrators are overpaid, administrators are not forward-thinking, and money is spent in the wrong areas. These adverse perceptions of the school budget are often heard during difficult economic times, such as when our school district recently went on fiscal distress. However, I have learned that without meaningful involvement of the community, educators, and staff, these perceptions will never
All throughout the United States for the past several years, states are “hurting because of falling state revenues,” (Emeagwali), and schools are trying to cope with tremendous budget cuts that are resulting in less funds provided for educational services. These cuts are putting pressure on everyone invested in the education system, including students, teachers and any other administration within them (qtd. in Johnson 2), and the reduced budget is not solely affecting any particular level of schooling either. All levels of education, ranging from primary learning to advanced, have been affected (Emeagwali). Additionally, it is not just one or two states having to adjust their budgets; by 2002, “at least 40 states [had] been forced to consider budget cuts,” and these cuts have taken their toll on the amount of funding designated towards educational opportunities (Feldman). As pressures hit hard on state governments, a rise in educational budget cuts has resulted in deleterious effects on the level of education provided to students. As a result, researchers and infuriated teachers and parents have begun supporting education as it is ignored by government administration.
Supporters of budget cuts for Wisconsin expect that their will be similar results if Wisconsin schools employ a similar strategy. Also, budget cuts have been shown to cause schools to reduce spending in areas outside of teaching practices, such as more fuel efficient bus routes and reducing paper usage by utilizing technology in the classroom (Coleman, Walker & Lawrence 4). The increased fuel efficiency and reduced paper usage not only save money, but are better for the environment as well. Furthermore, reducing paper use leads to the modernization of schools, and integrates technology as a more efficient and effective alternative to using massive amounts of paper. In addition, in an article for the magazine USA Today, Charles Murray, who has a Ph. D. in political science, asserts the increased government funding “does not have any credible evidence for a positive effect” on education. He claims that most of the government spending on education is wasted, and spending less would make the school systems more efficient without decreasing quality of education (Murray 2). Supporters of budget cuts believe that spending less money on schools will encourage them to use the little money they have more effectively, leading to less money wasted and smarter, more efficient