Five Ways Students Will Feel Budget Cuts
By Ben Wieder, Stateline Staff Writer
With billions of dollars cut from education budgets across the country, students are confronting some major changes as they return to school this year. Schools have been facing cuts for the past several years, but federal stimulus dollars softened the blow. Now, the federal money is dried up. Increasingly, school leaders at both the K-12 level as well as at public colleges and universities are unable to shield students from feeling the impact of budget cuts in the classrooms and in their daily lives. Here are five ways students will feel budget cuts this school year:
Squeezed in — and out — of classrooms
The most obvious thing many students will notice is that their class sizes are larger. According to a national survey of school superintendents by the American Association of School Administrators, more than 100,000 public school teachers have been laid off for the school year that is about to begin in some states and has already begun in others. In many school districts, having fewer teachers means packing more students into each classroom. High school students in Huntsville, Alabama, found classes packed with 40 to 50 students when they returned to school earlier this month, the Huntsville Times reports, after the state lost more than 1,000 teachers this year due to cuts.
Teacher staffing problems are creating other issues, as well. High schools in Manchester, New Hampshire, are eliminating some elective courses in the English department — cuts are still being finalized — and have had to turn some students away in the sciences, even from required classes. There’s a shortage of science teachers, partly as a result of budget cuts, and the state caps lab classes at 24 students, so cramming more students in the room is not an option. “Students may not get everything they asked for,” says district Superintendent Thomas Brennan.
The district’s three high schools will have to prioritize. They plan to focus first on making sure that juniors and seniors are able to fulfill requirements to graduate on time. Younger students might have to wait an extra semester or two to get into certain classes. The district is asking some teachers to take on additional classes and encouraging others to work toward certification in subjects where schools are short. “We’re trying to come up with any approach that we can to ensure that we have our core courses,” Brennan says.
Fewer majors to choose from
Incoming students at public colleges in states such as Missouri, Arizona and North Carolina might notice some changes to the course catalog this year. Dozens of majors were eliminated in those states, after legislators asked colleges to identify low-producing majors and programs, based on criteria such as enrollment and availability in other colleges in the state. In most cases, students who are already enrolled will be allowed to complete their major, but incoming students won’t be allowed to enroll in programs that have gotten the ax.
A wide variety of majors are on their way out. At North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, a 14 percent budget cut last year led the administration to terminate French and Spanish majors. At Arizona State University, where the state has cut funding by $110 million over the past three years, students and faculty in the professional golf management program found out late last spring that their academic track would be eliminated.
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