Post by title1parent on Mar 31, 2010 7:25:40 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/opinions/2131223,2_4_AU31_STANFORD_S1-100331.article
School cuts discriminate, hold students 'hostage'
March 31, 2010 Beacon Editorial
I recently dropped in on Mike Chapin at West Aurora School District 129 to talk about the school funding crisis.
For those of you who don't know, Mike is director of community relations for the district. These days, it takes moxie to direct anything associated with public education.
Besides chutzpa, Mike has loads of charts and enough data to make your head swim. Thank goodness he cut to the chase, breaking down the looming calamity in terms that I could understand. Otherwise, I may have gone mad trying to decipher the mess.
What I heard was as bleak as anything I could have imagined, and unless averted, it will adversely affect students, area families and the entire community in ways that are hard to fathom.
Some of it I had already gotten from daily headlines and nightly news. You've heard the dire, sky-is-falling predictions about budget cuts, teacher layoffs and overcrowded classrooms.
There is nothing like getting bad news straight from the source to strike terror in one's heart, and this doomsday scenario is right up there with a Spielberg blockbuster.
School administrators throughout the state are preparing for fiscal Armageddon. In Aurora, where schools already suffer the corollary of an inequitable funding system, any reduction in funding would have a destructive effect.
Consider this, according to 2009-2010 ISBE General State Aid Entitlements, cuts in the school funding level at 10 percent would wreak havoc on local schools. Therefore, just imagine what a 15 percent to 17 percent funding cut, as suggested by Gov. Pat Quinn, would do.
According to Dr. James Rydland, superintendent of School District 129, the Illinois funding formula and most recently proposed cuts in state aid to districts, "would send the message that we are comfortable with a generation of children without a basic education." Rydland asserted that such a system "discriminates against minority children and children of poverty by denying them their right to a quality and free public education."
For Rydland's district, the cuts would mean losing $17 million in funding and forcing the release of 127 teachers.
The ominous scenario etched in my mind should generate great concern for people with children attending our public schools. Still, in case you need more, ponder this:
Annually, West Aurora spends about $9,160 per student, while St. Charles spends $10,950. That is $1,790 more per student. The 20 percent difference in funding per child equates to high school graduates who are better prepared for college.
Already woefully underfunded, the per-public-school-student operating expense would be ravaged by the cuts and Aurora West students would suffer an $847 cut per student, versus St. Charles students, who would incur an $80 reduction per student.
These reductions would set in motion the dismantling of a quality education for all of Illinois' public school students, but especially poor and minority children by dealing a devastating blow to their futures.
Rydland joins Fox Valley school administrators, stressing the significance of the proposed cuts, saying, "Education provides the hope and real possibility for continued education, a job and an answer to discrimination and ending the cycle of poverty. Education funding either supports children who are already vulnerable, or shuts the door to their future."
Illinois' School Funding Formula largely contributes to the disproportion in funding between rich and poor school districts, and is what State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia is working to change.
Chapa LaVia chairs the House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriation Committee and her clarion call to reform education funding is garnering widespread support. A passionate Chapa LaVia, who never misses an opportunity to talk about the need for funding parity, made it clear, "Illinois education funding reform is holding our children hostage."
There are no easy solutions or quick fixes, but as I see it, preventing these budget cuts from occurring is essential. Next up, fix a funding system that is inherently unfair, terribly flawed, and an impediment to the future of all public school students and, ultimately, the entire community.
Anthony Stanford is a freelance writer living in Aurora. Contact him at bmhtales@sbcglobal.net.
School cuts discriminate, hold students 'hostage'
March 31, 2010 Beacon Editorial
I recently dropped in on Mike Chapin at West Aurora School District 129 to talk about the school funding crisis.
For those of you who don't know, Mike is director of community relations for the district. These days, it takes moxie to direct anything associated with public education.
Besides chutzpa, Mike has loads of charts and enough data to make your head swim. Thank goodness he cut to the chase, breaking down the looming calamity in terms that I could understand. Otherwise, I may have gone mad trying to decipher the mess.
What I heard was as bleak as anything I could have imagined, and unless averted, it will adversely affect students, area families and the entire community in ways that are hard to fathom.
Some of it I had already gotten from daily headlines and nightly news. You've heard the dire, sky-is-falling predictions about budget cuts, teacher layoffs and overcrowded classrooms.
There is nothing like getting bad news straight from the source to strike terror in one's heart, and this doomsday scenario is right up there with a Spielberg blockbuster.
School administrators throughout the state are preparing for fiscal Armageddon. In Aurora, where schools already suffer the corollary of an inequitable funding system, any reduction in funding would have a destructive effect.
Consider this, according to 2009-2010 ISBE General State Aid Entitlements, cuts in the school funding level at 10 percent would wreak havoc on local schools. Therefore, just imagine what a 15 percent to 17 percent funding cut, as suggested by Gov. Pat Quinn, would do.
According to Dr. James Rydland, superintendent of School District 129, the Illinois funding formula and most recently proposed cuts in state aid to districts, "would send the message that we are comfortable with a generation of children without a basic education." Rydland asserted that such a system "discriminates against minority children and children of poverty by denying them their right to a quality and free public education."
For Rydland's district, the cuts would mean losing $17 million in funding and forcing the release of 127 teachers.
The ominous scenario etched in my mind should generate great concern for people with children attending our public schools. Still, in case you need more, ponder this:
Annually, West Aurora spends about $9,160 per student, while St. Charles spends $10,950. That is $1,790 more per student. The 20 percent difference in funding per child equates to high school graduates who are better prepared for college.
Already woefully underfunded, the per-public-school-student operating expense would be ravaged by the cuts and Aurora West students would suffer an $847 cut per student, versus St. Charles students, who would incur an $80 reduction per student.
These reductions would set in motion the dismantling of a quality education for all of Illinois' public school students, but especially poor and minority children by dealing a devastating blow to their futures.
Rydland joins Fox Valley school administrators, stressing the significance of the proposed cuts, saying, "Education provides the hope and real possibility for continued education, a job and an answer to discrimination and ending the cycle of poverty. Education funding either supports children who are already vulnerable, or shuts the door to their future."
Illinois' School Funding Formula largely contributes to the disproportion in funding between rich and poor school districts, and is what State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia is working to change.
Chapa LaVia chairs the House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriation Committee and her clarion call to reform education funding is garnering widespread support. A passionate Chapa LaVia, who never misses an opportunity to talk about the need for funding parity, made it clear, "Illinois education funding reform is holding our children hostage."
There are no easy solutions or quick fixes, but as I see it, preventing these budget cuts from occurring is essential. Next up, fix a funding system that is inherently unfair, terribly flawed, and an impediment to the future of all public school students and, ultimately, the entire community.
Anthony Stanford is a freelance writer living in Aurora. Contact him at bmhtales@sbcglobal.net.