Education cuts in Texas..UGH!

It is the start of another school year here in Texas. For me, I am starting my sixth year at a middle school outside of Austin.

My district is set to lose $7 million dollars in state funding this year, and $10.7 million dollars in the 2012-2013 school year. But at the same time, our district is one of, if not the fastest growing in the state. It doesn’t make sense, right?

You can tell there have been cuts. The biggest loss we have felt is the lack of campus technologists. They were part of a reduction in force (elimination) of non classroom teachers. Our librarians have taken on a small part of the extra workload, but they are not trained to be technologists. This means we have to put in a work order for everything = waiting time to get things done. In fact, on Friday, a technologist from our district came over, moved one of my printers (that I really NEED for my technology class) and didn’t check it to make sure it was working properly before he left. I did all the troubleshooting I could, and so did my librarian, but we couldn’t get things working again. The real question will be; how long will it take to get him to come back? I can only imagine in a district with 22 schools, I am not high on the list of priorities.

We also have larger class sizes. Granted my class is technically considered an elective, which usually means the administration will put as many kids in as they possibly can. I have 29 computers—and 32 kids in most of my classes. It will surely require some creativity on my part—but I will make it work.

Truly, I am not saying that I am the only one with huge classes. It is everyone at my school and across the district. My heart goes out to the content teachers whose classrooms are full to the brim AND they have to get their kids to pass a state standardized test (or several tests). We are facing great challenges and the kids have not even walked in the door.

It will be weeks/months until we truly can find out how the cuts will really affect our kids. Maybe they won’t at all? I know we have a ton of fantastic teachers in our district and even more awesome students. We will do our best to make sure the kids have everything they need, even if it comes out of our own pockets.

Yep, I have spent about $100 on stuff for my classroom and I know that my sister (who is also a teacher in the district) has spent about $200.

Anyway, we will see how things go.

Do you think that technologist works weekends and he came by to fix my printer?

I will give you an update on Monday…when I get to meet all 177 (and counting) of my new students.