Paper #3

     Schools from K-12 are in trouble. Schools across the US are cutting programs, and teachers which can severely affect the students and their grades.
For any government funded organization Budgets are tight. The main problem facing schools is how they choose to spend their budget. Every School district gives a different budget to every school, But every school decides to spend it differently. Two schools are being compared in order to see how budgeting can affect the students.  In such a diverse and complex system of education, If how school’s approached their budgets was Changed, it would help the overall success of students in their K-12 education.

    North Kitsap High School,(North) is located in Poulsbo, Washington with about 1,300 students. Coronado High school on the other hand is located in Henderson, Nevada with about 3,500 students. Both schools suffer with a budgeting problem. The difference is that North Has trouble at the school level (what the school uses it on) and Coronado’s majority is at the District level.

    Coronado High school Is about 1.5 Billion dollars in debt as of 2010. The teachers at the school are above average. Like most High schools you have the great ones, and the not so great ones. The school has a great diversity of classes that promote creativity. From numerous Musical, acting and vocal classes to A full on automotive class. With materials from 2 overhead lifts to emission removal ducts (captures the exhaust of a car and vents it to the outside). The school, receives it’s funds through the district, and some donations by wealthy parents. The problem with the school is their long term budget. Currently The school is one of the top ten in America’s public schools.(Us news & Newsweek magazine) Clark County school district is just over 1.5 billion dollars in debt and digging. They recognize this but have not created a plan to even slow the rate of debt

    North Kitsap High School and the North Kitsap School district is a different story. The district (as far as I currently know) Is just little under the debt line compared to Coronado.
The dilemma with this school is how they choose to spend their budget.
It is well known in many jobs,(like Hospitals) the employee that has been working there longer, usually gets better pay then someone who just started.
North Kitsap High School, (unlike Coronado) realizes that they are in debt, so naturally the next step is to find a solution. The problem with their solution school is how they decide to cut their budget. The school has been recently firing the older, and more experienced teachers. This allows them to hire the younger, cheaper teachers to fill these slots or in certain cases “Long-term substitutes”. The older the teacher, does not constitute that they are a better teacher. Yet the selected teachers have been some of the best that the school has seen. For example, At north there used to be a teacher called Mr.Saint-carol or Mr.S. He was a favorite teacher, and a mentor among many students. He really knew his subject of video production/flash animation and brought in his own equipment for the class to use since the school has a tight budget. The school on the other hand just saw a teacher who got paid more than one next door. So they fired him and took the next door photography teacher, (who knew very little about anything but photography) and paid her what she made the year before to teach all three class's. This resulted in less classes in all three subjects while the students now receive a much lower amount of information from these classes.

    I understand that the school has to reduce their spending to avoid the debt, but their are other ways in which to do so.
 The first step would to stop excess spending. In the last two year north has purchased Four Flat screen TV's, and Two very large Doormat's for the entrance to the commons (with the school's logo).  Two are posted very high on a wall in the commons/lunch room. One is out side the main office, and the third is located in a small area in the technology building. The purpose of these are to put images from sport events and announcements. In reality they are hardly watched, except for someone who is bored out of their mind and decided to stare up into the ceiling. If the TV's were put above the cafeteria doors ( on the wall to the left) they could have a practical use. The TV's would be able to show, not only the prices (you can't find out until at the register) but the menu. This would make it much easier for the students, along with the faculty having to change what is written on a small white board every day.
 I know that the TV in the technology building is never looked at, even during the passing period. The reason is because one day I decided to reach up and turn the TV off. Until the very last week of school not a single person decided to turn it back on.

    One of the biggest ways this school could save money is though their lights. Normally any building will leave exterior lights on for security purposes. North (located in a very low crime rate town) keeps every light on, from the display board outside to the hallways/classrooms. Yes, they also keep the TV's running. Their electricity bill would be substantially lower if they kept the non vital lights and TV's off.

    This process has happened with teachers from all subjects. Now I understand that some will deem video production as invaluable as some of the other subjects. This firing of teachers has also happened in the math department. So students don't learn as much as they would have if the previous teacher was there. Math, which Jamie Escalante in the movie Stand and Deliver Was called "The great Equalizer" is going to be what the students are now behind in.

    If Clark County School district (Coronado's school district) Decided to at least slow the ever increasing rate of debt They might be able to focus more on their students. This would allow them to remove some of the bad quality teacher (See “What Makes a good Teacher” in February's blog)

    What could north do?
If the school reduced their spending On doormat's for doors that don't lead outside, Poorly utilized TV's and thousands on electricity. Then they would have more funds available for quality teachers. So the students could learn more, and not only do better the tests, but prepare them better for life


    Both of these schools Seem to have a problem. The problem for schools is when do not put the children’s education first. Quality educators is what makes the students learn. Like in the movie Waiting for ‘Superman' A young girl has the choice to go to a well built school with green grass. The family decides to try for the magnet school, because of their teachers. In Stand and Deliver Mr.Escalante was an inspirational teacher is a run down neighborhood. The main focus of schools and school districts should be to put the students before the facility. If schools changes how they approached the budget, It would solve some of the problems given to students in K-12 Education.