Happy Birthday Mr. Madison! (First Article)

McKenzie Fink

NC Times

"School funding messier than usual"

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/walters/walters-school-funding-messier-than-usual/article_20dd70ea-19e8-5189-97ac-9eb6717e2ea5.html

The government is really making school funding even more confusing than usual.

This article was about how school funding in California is already difficult enough without the Legislator arguing with Governor Jerry Brown and his plans to overhaul how school money is distributed. The state is torn on which idea they want to use to distribute school money now. The California Teachers Association agrees with Brown's sales and income tax, but the California Federation of Teachers is supporting and state PTA are supporting other ideas. Yet, all sides are against Brown's plans to make multibillion-dollar cuts in schools if his tax idea is rejected. They also disagree with altering the distribution of school funds by giving less money to some well-preforming schools and more money to low-preforming schools. The Education Coalition told legislators that until the state repays $10 billion-plus already owed to schools, aid should not reduced in some schools to increase it for others. To make it worse, Legislators' and Brown's budgets are not matching up on how much money the current state's tax system will make. Nor how much money will be made if the governor's plan would make more or less money if it is approved. Basically, school officials have no idea how much money they are going to be getting from the government and are having to use the "worst case scenario" plans which include sending thousands of preliminary layoff notices to teachers and other employees. School officials have until late May to make the final decisions on whether or not they will fire these teachers but it is highly unlikely that the Legislature will be able to come up with a budget until--at least--after the June 5 primary election. Even then, legislators will not be sure of whether or not voters will approve the new taxes for schools in November. To sum everything up, our government seems to have no idea what it is doing with its money which is effecting the children of the next generation by possibly ruining our education.

Questions:

1. Why didn't the government think about saving money for school budgets if they realized they were losing more money than they were making?
2. Is the situation really that bad or is the government over-dramatizing the issue to try and get more money?
3. What new taxes are being created to give money to the schools?
4. How many teachers will actually be laid off?
5. Will the legislators be able to come up with an income plan fast enough to help the district decide on how many teachers they will lay off?

Concerns:

1. What will happen to class sizes if a lot of teachers are laid off?
2. How will students be affected by the increase in class sizes?
3. What will happen to electives like band, choir, art and more if the budgets are cut too much?
4. Will schools be closed down because the government can't afford to keep them running?
5. When will the government realize that unless they figure out their stuff, our schools will have no money, therefore causing fewer children to be taught, finally ending up with a country full of fools without any education?