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8.5 teacher jobs on the cut
Governor Chet Culver announced Oct. 8, 2009 that as part of his plan to keep taxes down he would cut 10 percent of 2010’s school budget. Every school is expecting 8.5 jobs being cut to stabilize the budget.
Vice principal Mel Green has been through shares of budget crisis before, and knows it can be rough.
“A lower budget introduces problems like fewer teachers, less technology and fewer programs, it’s really too bad,” Green said.
Music teacher Anna Wolf has also felt the struggle of a lower budget. Two years ago she was almost put on half time pay, just as, if this cut goes through, another teacher will face.
“The school just can’t afford to keep up with us,” Wolf said.
Most of the money granted from the government goes to paying teacher’s salaries. The rest goes to buying new supplies, equipment and other funds.
Despite the struggle for money, things aren’t always as bad as they seem.
“They usually don’t cut all those jobs, some people leave, we get some more money, things like that, it’s just the worst case scenario,” Wolf said.
If taxes were raised some money may be able to return to the schools, but in the poor economy many adults are unwilling to fight that battle.
“Taxes are just an important thing nobody likes to deal with,” Green said.
There is also an issue of seniority in budget cuts. Older teachers are shown to stay when younger and less experienced teachers have to be let go.
“Because of seniority in teachers, we could lose some really talented, young teachers just because they’re low on the totem pole,” Wolf said.
Despite all of the struggles with money, members of the staff manage to remain confident that the faculty will keep up their work through everything.
“We’ll always find a way to get through budget cuts, there’s some strong teachers and staff to keep things going,” Wolf said.