If you’ve ever wondered where the money goes, this is the response from my asking that, on a local level.
” Currently, we the total formula revenue we receive from the state per student is $7,997. Because the funding is tied to our enrolled students our funding fluctuates based on the number of students enrolled in our schools every day. The Federal Funding we receive is not for every student - those funds can only be used for the students being served by whatever program the federal funding is being provided for. Another challenge we face is that our funding from the State is a zero sum game - by that I mean that if our property tax collections locally increase, the state decreases the amount of funding we receive. And things like our poverty rate affect our funding. So for example, I found out in December that because the Federal government determined that our poverty rate had decreased, the State is going to be taking back nearly $1.2 million in funding that had already been committed to our District. That money will then be reallocated out to Districts that the Federal Government determined their poverty rate had increased. I have to deal with these fluctuations in funding every year - I can get a notice out of the blue that our funding is going to be either reduced or increased at any time during the year.
So - all that being said - the other expenses per classroom that we have to pay for are:
Teacher’s Aides - in some cases, for those students with special needs we have to have 2 aides per student; in our elementary schools if enrollment in a class goes over a certain threshold we have to increase the aide time for those classes also;
Aides on the playground - we have to provide adequate adult supervision while the students are outside during lunch and breaks - we have to provide staffing for that;
Custodians - we have to maintain our buildings and grounds so we have to have adequate custodial staff to clean our buildings and maintain the grounds;
Food Service Staff - all of our students are eligible for free breakfast and lunch - we have to provide the staff to prepare the food and serve the food; we also have to purchase the supplies so we have adequate ingredients to prepare meals - our kitchen staff are truly amazing - we access grant funds to provide our students with local fresh fruit and vegetables as a supplemental program so that they can experience what real farm grown food tastes like - many of our students have never seen food in a garden - we also have gardens at our schools to provide our students with this experience;
Maintenance - we have to provide for routine maintenance on our buildings and grounds that are outside the scope of what our custodians are able accomplish within a day - we have to have adequate staff for this. They are the ones that our out there servicing our old boilers; creating new spaces for special needs programs; creating outdoor spaces for our special needs students; repairing irrigation lines; servicing our wells when we have issues with things like well pumps;
Transportation - we have to transport our students to school and home each day - we have to buy the buses and provide the drivers for those buses. And for our students with special needs, we have to provide aides on the buses to attend to their needs;
Technology - we have to provide adequate access to technology so that our students can learn the skills they need to be able to compete in a 21st century world - this means we need staff to get the devices ready for the classroom including installing program that prevent the student from accessing nefarious websites as well as providing the infrastructure for technology - including installing infrastructure for wireless access as well as making sure the devices are repaired (we don’t buy new technology every year - we repair what we have and make it last as long as possible);
Library techs - we have to staff our libraries so that our students have access to the books they need to further their education and to simply enrich their educational experience - our libraries also provide a wealth of technology support to our classrooms;
Counselors - we have to provide counseling for our students at the High School so that they can make informed choices about their plans for high school that will prepare them for college or careers after high school. We have counselors that provide mental health support and support for students battling addictions - not all of our students come from stable homes - we have many students that are homeless and in foster care - we have students that come from homes where they are enduring unimaginable forms of physical, mental, and sexual abuse - that takes a HUGE emotional toll on those kids - we try to provide the support they need so their minds are ready to learn.
Special Education services - we have many students who are non-ambulatory and non-verbal - with a vast variety of health and emotional issues. We have to provide staff to deal with trach tubes, G(feeding) tubes; catheters and all manner of toileting services. We have diabetic students who have to have staff to help them with insulin and carb counting; we have students with traumatic brain injuries and seizure disorders and heart conditions - we have to have staff to support these students. We have many autistic students - in many instances we have two staff members to one working with these children. We have to employ Psychologists, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Braillists, staff that work with our Deaf and Hard of Hearing population, and Autism specialists. We have to provide Transitional Services for our special needs students who are between the ages of 18 and 21 - we have to provide staff to serve these students;
Students with English as a Second Language - we have to provide staff to work specifically with and support students coming to use who don’t have English as their first language - in some cases, these students don’t have no English speaking capability;
Office and printing needs - because so much of our curriculum is digital now - we have to have print services for those lessons where the teacher actually needs a printed document. We have an in house print shop that provides these services (they are amazing, by the way) - we also provide print services to other school districts - and we do charge those districts for those services;
Athletics - as do all schools in the Nation - our students participate in a variety of athletic endeavors - we have to provide coaches and support staff for these activities. If you ask any education professional - they will tell you that athletics are the hook that keep a large number of students coming to school each day. Extra-curricular activities are foundational to a well-rounded education experience.
Safety - we employ security personnel and our District is unique in that we partner with our local public safety department to provide plain clothes, retired, armed police officers at our schools. Unfortunately, our new reality is that we have to be prepared for an active shooter situation.
This is where the money is going to serve students - the needs are great and in some instances the cost to educate these students is extremely expensive depending on their level of need - it is not an option for us to not provide these services - Federal and State law govern the programs that we have to provide.
I would encourage anyone who is questioning how any school district spends their money - to come and visit the schools - we would love for everyone to see the challenges we face on a day to day basis. Come and talk to the business officials and administrators - find out what the business of education looks like in the 21st Century. While our administrators and supervisors could be considered part of the 10% - what they do to support our students, teachers, and families is truly amazing. They are the most dedicated group of individuals I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I know you didn’t ask about this specifically - but I would be remiss if I did not comment on the challenges they face on a day to day basis - from getting assaulted by students with special needs to enduring the verbal abuse from the parents who are strung out on drugs - they have to endure parent embroiled in custody battles who bring those fights to the schools. Our public safety department officers are so quick to respond - but it still takes a toll. But despite all that - they still come to work every day with a smile on their face because they know that for some of these kids the only safety and stability they have in their lives is at their school.
I appreciate your questions and the fact that you are taking the initiative to become more educated about what our business entails.”
Thank you for your explanation. My wife is a retired teacher - Master teacher. One of our daughters is a Charter school principal and we have a granddaughter who now teaches in the Beaverton, Oregon school district and another granddaughter in college pursuing a degree in Education. While I am somewhat familiar with school’s respective financing, my point is that there is TOO MUCH federal government in our schools. Too many unfunded federal mandates are a problem. National required indoctrination subjects - LBGT promotion, being federally required to show 14 year old kids pornography in class, etc. takes away from the education mandate of the schools AND takes away from other, more important, subjects - the founding of our country, US history, world history ( how did the mideast become what it is today), etc. We now teach our kids WHAT to learn rather than how to learn. We give them the answers rather than have them reason out the answers. We reward them with credit for attending “demonstrations” we favor and suspend them for attending demonstrations we do not favor. Too much indoctrination, too much government, not enough education.
Public education is nothing but legalized and institutionalized child abuse. And every adult who participates or facilitates the system should be strung from a lamppost.
From the reply you posted: ... in some cases, these students don’t have no English speaking capability;
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Don’t have no English speaking capability?????
I hope the person who wrote that reply to you isn’t teaching ESL classes.
I think the entire reply was something written by a person in the NEA (union) and was meant to justify the massive bloating of public school funding.
It looks like whoever wrote this don’t have no English speaking capability, either. Or, with all of the school’s needs, they can’t afford an editor (although I’m sure they have an English teacher or two).
Seriously, that letter makes it look like the school is trying to do a whole lot of things that it should not be doing. Why are all of the special needs kids going to the regular school? Wouldn’t it be more cost effective to have them at a centralized location, so as not to duplicate resources? Why so many aides? Why is *every* student on a free breakfast and lunch program? Is all of that computer technology really necessary, or is it just providing students a way to waste time during school hours? Etc. It also looks like the funding model is seriously flawed.
Yet with all those ways to be inefficient and dump tons of money into the schools, they still can’t manage to teach students the basics. The students get to college knowing how to be perpetual victim bullies who throw tantrums when faced with non-totalitarian ideas, while they are completely clueless about important things like researching potential majors as to whether they are likely to provide a return on one’s education investment. Although, if one must take a “studies” major, it leaves open the question of whether that student was ever smart enough to be admitted into university in the first place.
Thanks for providing that missive from your local school. The way it is written tells me that you are not the first person to challenge the school on its bloated budget.