<p>"What happened to schools being about the students? "</p>
<p>Ummmm, What happened to schools being about education - period - and not the out of control spending on big time football, the stadium arms races, etc</p>
<p>This post has certainly touched a hot button with many posters. Yet, I can’t help but feel that many here are blindly expressing their strongly-held political/economic beliefs, rather than seeking the available facts and discussing the school funding situation this district is facing. Don’t you think a dialogue involves more than firmly stating your opinion?</p>
<p>For the people who complain of the bloated extra-curricular budget, the article stated, “extra-curricular activities and high school busing …account for about 1.6 percent of the district’s $185 million budget.” That’s not much money being taken from academics to support athletics, EC music, drama, arts,clubs, and buses for high school students. Is there someone here who believes that 1.6% of the budget for all extra-curricular activities and high school busing is excessive?</p>
<p>For those who believe that the district still has plenty of fat it could cut, well that may be so. But according to the article, "School district officials paint a much different picture than Jones. They argue that sports and busing were cut only as last resorts. ‘I’d feel differently if that was the board’s decision to make our first cuts,’ Superintendent Bill Wise said. ‘But after you’ve implemented $18 million of cuts and cut close to 12 percent of your staff?’ "</p>
<p>The article goes on to point out that teachers and parents are worried that the next round of budget cuts would dismantle the AP program and other advanced courses. But perhaps for some of the posters here, that wouldn’t be a problem either. They could just pay for outside-of-school classes, the same as they pay for club sports, music or dance lessons for their children.</p>
<p>The public schools were created to provide educational opportunities to everyone. Please recognize that there are many children whose parents don’t value education and don’t provide their children with enriching life experiences. Some parents are so busy struggling to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table that they can not focus on anything of lesser importance. Some parents are dealing with drug addiction, physical or mental illness, or abuse. Many of these children are bright and able, but do not do well academically. A sports or music program may be the only thing keeping a child coming to school and working to pass their classes. We all will pay in the long run if the marginalized children do not get a sound education.</p>
<p>I suspect that <em>some</em> of the posters on this thread and other threads that rail about the low quality and high cost of our public schools are people who homeschooled or private schooled. They resent every penny of their taxes that go to support public schools and so they whine and complain that public school funding is wasteful and unnecessary.</p>
<p>I have put in many hundreds of hours and dollars doing fundraising for EC’s in our public school. I think sports teams, music, band, choir, cheerleading,etc., are well worth every cent of tax money that goes into them.</p>
<p>And sometimes I get tired of hearing the pious, self-righteous lecturing and complaining from the above-mentioned persons who opted to stay out of the public school system. They are entitled to their opinion, and I am entitled to barf when I have to hear it.</p>
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<p>Athletics and marching band, etc ARE education.</p>
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<p>Nobody forced them. Except maybe their elitist atittude that many of them display.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay,
"Does your school provide transportation? " - Yes, since all of us are paying taxes that are going towards Public school budgets, including buses. Kids who are traveling from another state or far away in our state are on their own though.</p>
<p>I would like to stress the point that NOBODY here is against EC’s and maintaining school spirits and so forth. However, it should be done on volunteering basis by families who want to participate and paid by these families instead of making whole community including elderly population, parents of kids who send their kids to Private Schools and everybody else who lives in in this community (including apartments, since taxes are passed down) to pay for somebody else’s afterschool hobbies and athletics, however important they are. I am sure that some families on limited incomes sacrifice their necessities to pay for others luxuries (which all these ECs are). As I have mentioned, my own D. has been involved in a lot of ECs, at some point she had 5 different activities, with one of them being daily. She could not decide what to drop for awhile. I have paid out of my pocket for every single one of them fully. I have worked full time and was driving her after work, having dinners in a car, most of the time without stopping at home after school/work, while some others cold have decided that they should be staying at home moms. I do not blame anybody, it is very personal. However, there are consiquenses of each decision, like limited income. So, we either have to limit spending or limit our free time, but asking others to sacrifice for our kids luxuries seems not to be right.</p>
<p>“Is there someone here who believes that 1.6% of the budget for all extra-curricular activities and high school busing is excessive?”</p>
<p>Well, when you price that out, your measly 1.6% equates to nearly $3 MILLION dollars. Excessive? You bet !!!</p>
<p>Skyhook - IMO, your post is inapproriate and not conducive to rational discussion and I hesitate to respond to it. But I must. I do not believe there was ANYONE on this thread who spoke out against public education nor was there ANYONE who said they were against sports and EC’s. The difference of opinion is simply how EC’s and sports should be funded and if School Administrations, which have become used to feeding from the public trough, need reigned in with respect to spending all of our taxpayers dollars.</p>
<p>I am a big believer in civil discourse, but I allowed my anger to show in the previous post. I apologize if I was too acid.</p>
<p>However, I do not believe for an instant that those who say that it is excessive for public schools to have tax-financed marching bands and football teams are not “against public education.” To say these programs should be totally funded privately is, in essence, to say that public school kids can do without them.</p>
<p>Pay totally for your own EC’s = Let them eat cake</p>
<p>Skyhook - your commetns are too severe as most of us are eating our cakes on our own expenses and paying for other’s cakes at the same time. However, it is the loudest voice winning all the time, so way to go, you are a winner and USA public education is a loser. Win you battles, loose your wars seems to be your position which, of course you are entitled in free sociaety (yet free, not sure for how long).</p>
<p>Personally, I think high taxes isn’t what bothers people, per se. It’s paying high taxes and not getting anything for it. And I think that ultimately this Ohio community will end up with the worst of both worlds. High taxes (at least to them), miserable, unhappy, unsupervised kids, while parents who can will flee the system for better all around schooling elsewhere, public or private. </p>
<p>The link here that I think some people don’t get: Extra curricular stuff like music, the arts, and athletics, are not an either or proposition when compared with academics. They all work together to many kids’ advantage. (Which is why it’s probably better to call them CO-curricular instead of extra curricular) The sports team or drama club or marching band or whatever can keep a kid engaged in his studies when nothing else will. It can also provide a kid with meaning, stability, and teach him the value of hard work, discipline, teamwork and how to lose—something many kids are very, very bad at after watching too many American Idol episodes or bench-emptying brawls in the NBA and MLB. </p>
<p>While the overemphasis on these things—the Friday Night Lights stuff—can be bad, I’ll suggest that it works the other way too. The overemphasis on academics that some kids and parents have is equally unhealthy; the pressure to take the most AP courses, or to get into an Ivy League, the crazy family dynamics that can be seen in books like The Overachievers and A Class Apart , all point to the fact that kids need a sorely missed balance. </p>
<p>The big question isn’t who pays for the right mix of academics and co-curricular activities. The question is what we’ll all pay if kids in public schools don’t get it.</p>
<p>Folks, All of us want our “cake and eat it too.” Yes, we would all LOVE many EC including marching band, all sports, parties for kids, clubs etc. I remember gong to all the high school football games for our kids and thoroughly enjoying the games. However, in an era of tight economics where many folks are stuggling to not only put food on their table but to actually stay ahead of foreclosure, state budgets must be cut. It is simply a case of not enough inflow of cash.</p>
<p>To me, sports programs are not as important as math, science, language, english and social studies and even programs in the arts. If schools can balance their budgets by simply eliminating their sports programs, so be it. If parents want to keep certain programs such as marching band and ( yes, dare I say it), sports, so be it. However, I see nothing wrong with making these ECs optional even if it marginalizes a few kids. </p>
<p>I see lots of posts asking about whether education shouldn’t be about the kids. In America, we started much of our education in little schools houses that focused on the primary skills of reading, writing and “arithmatic,” as it was known. Sports was never, ever considered a primary skill. Education wasn’t just about our kids happiness and welfare. It was more about inculcating certain skills in our kids.</p>
<p>Bottom line:We are in a tough economy. Tough decisions have to be made. If you don’t think that programs like sports should be cut then suggest alternatives.</p>
<p>Family friends of ours moved to England a few years ago with their teenage daughter. She attended classes from 8-5 everyday and part of the curriculum included home ec classes (sewing, etc.). No sports as far as I know.</p>
<p>Also, I wonder what is going to happen with the sports facilities in existence at this point. Can the school district lease them out to increase income? Are they still going to maintain the facilities? That’s going to cost money if that’s the case. Football stadiums in particular (or anything with grass like soccer fields) are very expensive, etc.</p>
<p>So sad to see all athletic activities come to a halt. Even kids who aren’t athletes participate by being in the audience. I also agree with the “cheaper than bail” statement. I’ve come across several girls playing my daughter’s sport who teeter on the brink of truancy. Scary what happens to them when they decide to give up on their sport.</p>
<p>A number of years back, I worked in a struggling school district. A proposal was made to close down one middle school, for a savings of a million and a half per year. </p>
<p>I stood up at the meeting and asked how much money was spent on football alone for the four high schools in the district, counting coaches, athletic directors, equipment, uniforms, field maintenance, etc. A million and a half.</p>
<p>Somehow the money was found for the middle school… but I noticed that football team members had to pay a small activity fee the next year. </p>
<p>Football–specifically football–is an extremely expensive sport. It is also extremely likely to cause injuries. I would like to see all high school football eliminated. I know the vast majority of Americans hate that idea.</p>
<p>Our solution (we are in OH and cannot relocate) was private schools with a lot of parents participation, working both full time and living in very expensive (high real estate tax) neighborhood. Not much better we could do to raise a family under circumstances and I am happy that due to our new awesome county auditor both Real Estate and Real estate taxes were re-assessed considerably down.</p>
<p>School must focus on teaching math/science/reading/geography/philosphy/etc. to our kids, otherwise more and more job will be going out of the country. Once manufacturing goes away, R&D will move away close to manufacturing. Without jobs who is going to pay taxes to fund all the school curriculum. These extracurricular activities are important but parents must also pay far more for these EC activities than than an ordinary poor citizen on fixed income.</p>
<p>yes, collegeinusa, not only jobs, but people are going also back to India, China, other places where they have better chance at employment. MD’s are planning to retire earlier or cut their hours considerably because of new health care proposals. Yes, who is going to pay taxes, answer: you and me. Be ready!</p>
<p>Hmmm…</p>
<p>Didn’t know about this, but saw it on the front page of the forum. Quite interesting. </p>
<p>Still, for this issue in gegpneral, the voters knocked the levy, the kids suffer. It’s just the way it works. Strong public schools are essential to the community, and sports just emphazise the school as the center of a community. Next time you at the football field on Friday, think of all the people in the community you see, and how the event really allows you all to bond together. It’s really essential for many communities as simply a basic way to group together.</p>
<p>I understand that many out there are the product of private schools, but still, wouldn’t having all of the sports ripped out severely damage your already delicate community? </p>
<p>Sports need to be there, like it or not. Without it, the community is lost and all will faction, creating a wweak shell in the place of what was a great institution.</p>
<p>One real interesting point in reading the article that i do not believe has been mentioned. The voters have voted down this same levy THREE times already. The school board is trying for a FOURTH time in November. And the School Board is spending money each time to try and convince the public to vote their way. What a boucnh of ego driven, arrogant #%$^& on that school board to willfully try to ignore the will of the public. After a THIRD no vote, you think they would get the message</p>
<p>The first three times the levy was on the ballot, the school board did NOT include “pay to participate” language. Local news reports have stated that P to P had been proposed yet each time the board chose to leave it out. </p>
<pre><code>This Week Community News : Third levy loss narrowest yet
</code></pre>
<p>"In unofficial final returns, the Franklin County Board of Elections said the issue received 16,495 “no” votes (50.84 percent) and 15,949 “yes” votes (49.16 percent), the closest margin yet. </p>
<p>In May, the issue lost 13,171 to 10,481. Last November, it was defeated 31,101 to 22,822. "</p>