Budget Cuts Cripple Palm Harbor Elementary

Our nation’s current economic struggle is not leaving any area untouched. Setbacks can be seen all the way from Wall Street in regards to the shutdown of major institutions and is personalized with the foreclosure signs all throughout our neighborhoods. Hillsborough and Pinellas county schools are facing a major crisis in regards to the ever growing budget cuts. According to a bay news 9 report, last year alone 3 schools in Pinellas County were forced to close and this year’s round of budget cuts is only putting more schools at risk for the same fate.

The school superintendent in the state of Florida announced that budgets for schools would be cut by almost 2 percent, which many not seem like a lot to most but it actually translates to about 21 million dollars in the Pinellas county school district alone.

I feel that this is a very poor reflection of our society’s priority system right now. I realize that a time like this there will be a need to cut back on certain things, but education should not be one of them. Even so, a reasonable cut is understandable but one that endangers the school’s existence should not be tolerated. I imagine this is one of the many reasons that the educational system in Florida is lagging behind most of the educational systems throughout the nation.

Budget cuts affect students in many ways. Budget cuts can affect things like field trips, extracurricular programs, and supplemental instruction programs which are key to many students success such as free tutoring. However it is not just the students that are affected, many people will loose jobs. Though the board of ed. has previously stated in interviews that they will put the biggest effort possible to fight that this doesn’t happen, they admit they can’t guarantee it.

Palm Harbor Elementary is one of the schools that are facing the possibility of being closed down. Their website states that they have consistently produced high scores on the FCAT, have an exemplary music program, and have a variety of before and after school programs. This means that a school which has been “recognized by the state of Florida as high performing”, is going to be closing its doors? A school that has not failed its students, but has excelled has no amnesty from our economic crisis. And what will happen to the parents who depend on these before and after school programs? My mother was one of these parents when I was a child. She worked late and would therefore enroll me and my brother in after school programs to ensure that we were being looked after rather than having to walk home alone. Though there will be other schools available for students to attend, this will surely mean a farther drive for some parents, which means leaving earlier or possibly arriving late to work. Some schools may not offer the kind of programs that are offered at Palm Harbor.

Palm Harbor has been working on a school improvement plan and uses many resources provided by district funding in order to ensure that they maintain their ‘A’ standing. Palm Harbor has an extended learning program which invites struggling students to a book club instructed by their teachers who use books chosen that will interest these students and motivate them to do better. Palm Harbor not only provides this tutoring service but it also coordinates parent workshops to help parents better understand their children’s curriculums. The school district funds provide resources such as professional books, assessment programs, FCAT preparation materials, online supplemental instruction, and reading programs.

In the end, every school matters. Education is not only important but vital to our future. We should invest every penny possible into education, not withdraw funds from it. Florida will continue to lag behind other states if it continues to consider education only as a secondary priority. Our governments are failing us as students and instead choosing to invest in those things that will only benefit them and that they have a financial interest in. If we are seeing the discussion of bailouts for the automobile industry and the bailouts we have provided for the housing market, why can’t we then also help our educational system? I see how important it is to keep our economy flowing and how helping these industries is important but it has been too long that education has been overlooked. And if we are in such an economic crisis, we are likely to have to begin anew and thus we should focus on what can help us lead in the future and help us move forward. Allowing for crippling budget cuts to our schools is not an option.