Budget Cuts: What they Look Like in the Classroom

I often wonder if people really understand what “doing more with less” looks like in real life. The following is an example of what it looks like in my classroom.

I teach struggling readers. High school freshmen who are about two years below grade level in their reading and writing skills (and, honestly, “at grade level” would not set your hair one fire).

One of the greatest techniques for increasing reading comprehension and study skills is annotating a text. That’s why highlighters are such a big deal and many of us own college textbooks that are marked up, written in and flagged all over.

When I do short stories or expository texts with my students I copy the stories from a variety of books and magazines. My copy allowance is so limited that I can only make one set—4 different periods share that set.

That they cannot mark up the text makes it harder for me to teach and harder for them to learn. In the end I’m sure it costs the school district and the community more money in that the kids don’t make the progress they otherwise might.

Little things count.

Also, may I point out that this is one reason the “achievement gap” exists. The teachers at my kids highly-rated, suburban school just tell the kids to ask their parents for $10 to go toward his/her copy fund and we gladly contribute. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not an option in a less-affluent area.

Comments

[jenrantsraves]

Yep, money doesn't buy happiness, but it does come with its advantages.

[suburbancorrespondent]

Money isn't everything, unless you don't have it. Then, it is everything.

[busy bee suz]

Oh, the little things that are needed.
I feel for those kids and their families.

[middle-aged-woman]

What about a box of transparencies? Each kid can place a transparency over the cop and do their thing, then clean it off for tomorrow. The copies stay clean, but the kids still get to highlight and note.

[green girl in Wisconsin]

Budget cuts are great in theory. But funny, you never hear about them in too many places. Mostly in schools. Wonder WHY that is???? (she says sarcastically)

[Fannie]

Bureaucrats don’t have to live with results of their budget cuts. Mores the pity.

[K.]

Love the suggestion above about using transparencies. Being allowed to use those was a major highlight for many of us in middle school.

Of course, I guess that brings about the new problem of needing of everlasting supply of dry-erase markers. Ugh!

[Jason]

And it is only going to get worse, I'm afraid.

[Manic Mommy]

Wow. I'm thinking about a note that went home from the lunch ladies saying they were low on paper towels. The whole next week, you saw nothing but cases and cases of paper towels being hauled in by parents.

[Brightside- Susan]

I was visiting my son and entered the same chain grocery store but in a less affluent area than my own. I saw the "tote board" for donations to the local schools indicated astonishingly less money - since it is based on simply signing up and then a percentage of sales I was amazed there could be such a difference. I told my son (who student teaches) to look into it to see if it is a lack of awareness of the process or simply that the store doesn't take in nearly so much income. I suspect a lack of awareness of how to participate has a lot to do with it...

[kcinnova]

I like the transparency idea!
My kids attend school in the most affluent county in the nation, but we are facing huge budget cuts for the next year. We already had a big cut this last year. The disparity is huge, even here.