http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20140115/NEWS02/701159923/1003
Published January 15, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Springfield eyes $1M school cut By Kevin O’Connor Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — This town’s School Board is considering cutting nearly two dozen teachers and support staffers to save residents almost $1 million from tax bills that otherwise could skyrocket. “Obviously the impact is as large as the number of people,” Superintendent Zachary McLaughlin said. “But when we saw what the potential tax increases were going to be, we started contemplating worst-case scenarios.” With a proposed $960,376 in cuts to the 1,450-student, 359-employee pre-K-12 system, a household with a $280,000 home and $115,000 income would still see its school taxes rise this coming academic year by $174. But without any reductions, the increase would double to $352. “This is not a pleasant experience for anyone,” School Board Chairwoman Jeanice Garfield said. “It’s important for the community to come out and talk to us.” As a result, the board will hold a special public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Springfield High School library. Under the proposal, the grade K-2 Elm Hill primary school faces $208,510 in cuts, including two classroom teachers, two paraeducators and a mental health clinician, leading average class sizes to rise from 18 to 20.5. The grade 3-5 Union Street elementary school faces $150,570 in cuts, including four paraeducators and a mental health clinician, leading average class sizes to rise to 22. The grade 6-8 Riverside Middle School faces $243,992 in cuts, including one world language teacher, half-time teachers for language arts, math, science and social studies, and one half-time and two full-time paraeducators, leading average class sizes to rise from 17.47 to 24.67. (The middle school cut would require the hiring of a half-time library clerk, the superintendent said, “because in order to fill the schedule with some of these cuts, the librarian will have to teach for half of the day.”) And the grade 9-12 Springfield High School faces $270,396 in cuts, including one social studies teacher, half-time teachers for English, math and Russian, one instructional assistant and the elimination of the Precision Valley alternative education program for students in danger of dropping out. The high school cut would force the elimination of the current four-year social studies requirement, as well as Advanced Placement math and Russian programs. With all the cuts — which also include the $74,000 loss of an evening maintenance supervisor — the coming budget would increase just $8,233 from the current year’s $28 million but still require a tax increase of 6.2 cents because of changing local variables in a complex state formula. Based on preliminary response, the School Board isn’t happy with any option. At a meeting Monday, member Joseph “Bill” Harbeson noted that depending on individual decisions to retire or relocate, up to 23 people could be losing their livelihoods. The superintendent responded: “We’ll be discussing positions and not names because it’s not personality-based choices. We employ the same number but we’ve lost 100 students. It may lead to some beloved people being cut, but this is not about emotion, this is about how we run the system we have in place.”
I do not understand how come there is not any cuts in the Central Office? Is there job more important then the educators? I do not want anyone to lose their job but an office employee over a teacher? How many computer tech people do we really need? There are other places to cut before teachers. How about taking an inventory of supplies before ordering more this year? I will be at the meeting Please come out and support your teachers and children's education.
ReplyDelete"Precision Valley alternative education program." A glorified babysitting program for students to goof off.
ReplyDeleteWhen this program first started it was incredibly successful. It was not located on school grounds, it held students accountable for their own actions and it provided true alternative learning for students who did not successfully function in a traditional system. Through the years this program has undergone many changes in the name of budget adaptations. These changes have made it a non-working program that has not served the needs of students enrolled in it. It was returned to the school grounds, it was set up as a miniature traditional classroom setting that just did not work for these students, so they dropped out. This result is exactly what the program was designed to stop, but instead of saving students from becoming drop outs, it has become just another program that does not work, thanks to too many cuts and restructurings. Some kids need alternative education, but the program this has become no longer offers true alternative education, so maybe it is time to let it go. Very few students have been saved from dropping out since the restructure began and the school system has lost a lot of kids who otherwise may have gone on to a more successful life with a diploma in hand.
DeleteTo bad you didn't educate yourself before writing this response... It was reported at the school board meeting ....6 seniors in the PVP program last year and 6 GRADUATES! If my calculations are correct....that's a 100% graduation rate! I guess SOME were saved from dropping out after all!!
DeleteIt is good to see a school board that is finally realizing that the cost of educating our children is too high in this town. With 100 less students, there is no need to keep the current number of staff positions and I’m glad the school board sees that. Now we will have to listen to the teachers making allegations that our children will not get a good education if these cuts happen. It has nothing to do with our children; it’s the teachers wanting to keep their jobs and is using this scare tactic once again. As a taxpayer I ask you, the school board to keep this purposed budget as is. It’s about time us taxpayers get a break!
ReplyDeleteIf the "purposed" (proposed?) budget stays "as is" there will be a tax significant tax hike.
DeleteOkay but what about my kids? They have enough trouble getting into a good college with the stain of Springfield High School on their apps. Three years ago their honors classes were taken away. Now their AP Math is being taken away. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get into a good college without a GPA greater than a 4.0?
DeleteOnly saving grace I know of for a college application from Springfield High School is Green Horn. The journalism program, Janiszyn, are the only thing that kept me from pulling my kid out of there. He made all the difference.
Delete6:54, you are absolutely correct! 7:50, 22 kids in a classes of 8-15 year olds, with less para educators... How does that not directly have an impact on kids education? This has everything to do with children getting robbed of the best education that SPFLD can offer. Whether you like it or not or choose to accept it or not, when re-locating or even deciding whether to stay in town or not, people look at the school district 1st thing after securing employment, 22 kids in a class with no aids/para's? Absurd...Who would want to put a child in that environment? With no kids in school, to me it appears the school district is full of young and enthusiastic professional educators with the drive and passion to teach kids in a town where frankly, they know they are in a pretty crappy situation, but they still give it all they can. Now, I understand you can't just keep increasing and increasing, eventually enough is enough and we are well on our way to this point but there NEEDS to be a better solution than getting rid of teachers and support staff (who I assume often double as the only postive role models for kids who need them) Maybe it just wasn't put into the article but central office needs to be included in cuts and like the first commenter said, how about some inventory taken of supplies before ordering... There must be a better way..
ReplyDeleteRole models? You can't think highly of them, if they are so undedicated to the students, as to cut out of there because the class sizes are at the recommended state number or under. A great, passionate teacher can inspire 22 kids in a class. And, furthermore, teachers and staff posting on social networking sites about wishing it were already June, and complaining about their job isn't going to make any child feel positive. Don't want to be there? Don't teach. Perochial schools of my youth had over 30 children to a class, and our education was excellent. The students respected their teachers. (No, we didn't fear them). How much is being spent on "adminstrators" with no administrative degree, and all this teacher training that puts the kids out of school on all these half days and days off? My neighbor had a half day this week, and two days off next week. That is not the best education Springfield can offer.
DeleteThe school system is not a government jobs program. It's an education system which should have a goal of providing a quality education to our children. I doesn't matter how many people loose their jobs. I matters that those remaining do a good job for the money. Remember when class sizes were 30-35? I guess teachers were just better back in the old days. I know, the paperwork, the regulations, and on and on. Teaching isn't the same as it was in the dark ages. Teachers will have to do more with less, just like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteIt's not about teachers. It's about a community of future generations being unemployable. Teachers were better back "then"? Actually, America's drop out rate has improved substantially. But Asian countries' test are higher! WRONG. They don't test all of their kids. We do. We test the dyslexic, the kids with low IQs, the kids with ADHD, ect.
DeleteWhere do you think these teachers will go after you cut their jobs? Maybe they'll stay and use YOUR tax dollars for unemployment, maybe they'll take YOUR provided tax dollars and live in NH or another state and not support YOUR local economy, or maybe they will re-locate to a community who appreciates them. EIther way, YOU the taxpayer loses. Right, you didn't mean "loose"? You meant lose, I assume?
You know the breakdown of ass-u-me right? I would assume you do since spelling is so important to you on a internet blog. Your threating liberal base answer is getting old. Maybe you can provide a count (because I don't know this) of how many employees of the Springfield School District make their home here. Go further and breakdown by position would be even more interesting. I'm thinking that maybe they already do spend my tax dollars in another Town or State. They may support the local economy swinging through Dunkin in the morning but that could be the extent of it.
DeleteThat being said where did the machinist go? Where did the engineers go? Where did all the small business go? Did many not leave while the school system was going strong and on top of the Vermont better education venues? What went with all those aforementioned folks? Tax dollars which create what? The ability to expand or sometimes maintain public services. The Town of Springfield certainly has paid a price, just drive around and hit some of the tank traps on our roads. Home value is another subject in itself let alone saleable property.
Now you want us to believe the school system is the game changer. Business will flock to Springfield because no tightening of the belt is ever made by the schools. As a business owner (at least for now) high taxes at all levels are a problem, which also means higher school taxes count in my thinking. So for you teachers and Chuck stop telling us to build it and they will come, that only worked for the prison. Whom or what positions need to be cut by the Board I don't know, I'd expect they'll make the right decision. If taxes, all taxes keep going up I'll be making decisions also regarding staffing. This too will hurt the local taxpayers and for sure I know these folks live in Springfield.
P.S. I've hired many Springfield dropouts and grads. Most are not really all that employable for higher low level positions. I guess that is more than a Springfield problem these days.
Notice the "we" there, 6:35? These NEW teachers are so defensive.
DeleteWhat about a partial compromise...several teachers have already announced their retirement at the end of the year. Hold this year's cuts at those positions. Continue this approach over a couple years to get back to an appropriate staffing level for our enrollment.
ReplyDeleteBeware the deception being used by the school board. Their proposal makes a big deal about saving the tax payers a million bucks while continuing to raise your taxes. Whoopie! The facts are that Springfield Schools are some of the most expensive in the state and are some of the worst schools for academic achievement in the state. Now that enrollment is falling they are still unwilling to cut the budget significantly. You still get a large increase in your taxes while they continue to run a dysfunctional school system with less students in attendance. Try cutting the salaries and benefit packages like the rest of the population has experienced. Don't be fooled by this trickery to con the residents into remaining in their slumber.
ReplyDeleteSpringfield Voters and Citizens:
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that the state will change their proposed funding for our school system and restore the nearly 1 million dollars that is being stripped from our budget. Springfield's needs are great, that's just the reality of the place and time in which we live. It is troubling that a decision made in Montpelier could result in such a significant reduction in funding for one of the districts already struggling to provide quality education to students with limited funds.
If nothing changes, then there are going to be a lot of difficult adjustments and struggles related to this. Beyond the nearly two dozen employees who will be out of work and the hardship this means for them and their families, challenges within the school buildings will abound. One of the major problems I see is that the class-size increases are directly opposite solid research-based practice and contrary to the intention and advice of scholastic policy such as No Child Left Behind and Common Core Standards. The increase illustrate in the example of the middle-school, while at the same time reducing support staff, will mean that the service offered to students and the education offered to students will be impacted significantly.
Personally, it's difficult not to see names instead of positions because I have worked closely with many of those being considered for reduction. These people are my colleagues and friends. My hope and prayer is that something will change in the very near future and that the voters will be willing to absorb a little more expense for the benefit of our students and ultimately our community.
Dave "Big D" Bentley
Substitute Teacher and Teacher-in-Training
Springfield, Vermont
They are just doing the school board hustle similar to a bully saying he is only going to blacken just one of your eyes instead of both of them. See how much better that will feel?
ReplyDeleteokay back when I went to school, our teacher's didn't need para-educators, they did it all, is that too tough for teacher's now? Come on time to get it together, Springfield is a hurting area, we all have to cut our budgets~~at home and in town~~
ReplyDeleteWe also had segregated classes where students with mental handicaps were off in another classroom. Now they are integrated.
DeleteWhy can't we go back to that?
DeleteYea, let's go back to separating the black kids and white kids.
DeleteYou all speak of back in the day. When I was in school students respected adults. They respected their parents, respected their teachers, respected their principal and surely respected elderly community members. Children are changing and their needs are increasing. Parenting is too relaxed. Children are not held accountable anymore. Parents aren't involved in the schools like they used to be. Parents do not come to PTA meetings; maybe 12 out of how many families...
ReplyDeleteFamily structure has changed drastically and children are running the roost. Now, you put several of these disrespectful, violent children into a class of 22 with no para and you expect them to succeed as they did "back in the day." Those are unfair expectations as everything else has changed too. I do not believe it is the teachers and our school system, but rather the needs of our children outside of school are not being met. If you are hungry, upset, angry, etc...could you focus on a math assessment?
I knew someone would blame the parents and the children. Never mind that the teachers get far more pay and benefits today then back in the good ole' days. Never mind that the teachers are not held accountable for being bad teachers. Never mind that the coaches are not held accountable when they prove time and time again that they are incompetent. Never mind that the school administration has failed repeatedly and yet they don't get fired. Yes, this all of the children and their parents fault. Oh and lets blame the demographics, too. Created by a prison that no one wanted and a town dependent on government giveaways. Ya it just could not be overpaid incompetent teachers and administrators with no accountability that think they are entitled each year to strip more money from those bad parents paying their salaries with their taxes..
Delete9:04- Or maybe the teachers and principal used to earn respect? What will happen when the few dedicated teachers still there, who have served the Springfield community for over 25 years, decide to leave? It's going to go downhill, worse than it is now. You think Springfield is full of kids with more problems than any other town or city in these last 10 years, or have we just got some bad luck with administrators that run our schools into the ground and leave?
DeleteDuring the last three years, Springfield's school system has cut several teachers and many para-educators. No reductions in staffing or pay have been made in the central office. Instead, central office employees have been promoted, staffing has been increased, and pay has been increased. Central office staff are still housed in Park St. School, which voters decided to eliminate years ago, and were ignored.
ReplyDeleteFrom the budget reductions currently proposed, it appears the purpose of the Springfield School System is to fund a lucrative administrative fiefdom, an over-staffed, over-paid central office, which erodes the educational goals of our students and tax payers by wasting funds and discharging teaching staff.
Before any other portions of the budget are reduced, the central office staff must be down sized and moved to less expensive quarters. Central office jobs must be combined and staffing reduced. Certainly the education of our children will suffer less if we discharge administrators first, teachers and para-educators last, and close Park St. School.
Obviously, there is more than one special education program in Springfield. There is one for students, and one for central office administrators who feel they are special, entitled to their lucrative jobs that require no actual teaching responsibilities.
DeleteWhile it is unlikely that central office staffing will be reduced, perhaps staffers can be induced to volunteer to teach as substitutes, when teachers are absent. Last year, when such a proposal was made, central office staffers were horrified! What, have to leave their ivory tower on Park St., have to work on the front lines of education, actually have to teach a child in a classroom? Their reaction was in effect, "Hell no, we won't go! We are special!"
Springfield voters should insist, should fire any administrator who is unwilling (or unable through lack of skills) to act as a substitute teacher when needed.
Springfield's educational funding decisions should not be seen as a battle between the rich and the poor, but a reflection of the wisest use that can be made of assets at hand. Our school system is in a figurative life boat. If any administrator is unwilling to paddle, to put his oar in the water when needed, to do more than shout "paddle harder" to a smaller crew, it is time to throw him/her overboard.
Please attend tonight's meeting 6:00pm in the High School library. A public meeting at which central office staffers are asked to act as substitute teachers will allow tax payers to separate the willing from the unwilling, (the sheep from the goats), and determine which, if any, should join the teachers and para-professionals who are being sacrificed.
LOL - This coming from someone who used to advocate for union tactics that hamstrung the shops and, to borrow from the above metaphor, accelerated the sinking of those once mighty ships. Multi-tasking? Cross-training? Perform other duties as assigned...or get fired? Unheard of in the now sunken union infested shops! Heresy! But now it's the solution for our schools? Upon what do we owe this sudden conversion?
DeleteDo you oppose a solution you think would have saved the machine shops in Springfield? Is it OK in your opinion to double the work load of many teachers and reduce their numbers, but not to ask an administrator to act as a substitute teacher? I would bet money that you will vote "NO" on the school budget, no matter what it costs.
DeleteChris, thanks to you (and a very few others here) for using your name. In my book, anonymous posts have reduced credibility. Just for the record, the union did not close down the Springfield shops. In my opinion, the union was unnecessarily confrontational and also out of step with the times, but the union didn't close those factories - a predatory company named Goldman Financial did it, in Springfield and a number of other places. - Phil Caron
DeleteI'll vote YES for a responsible budget when and IF they finally produce one! As for the rest of your hyperbole, calm down and seek the facts. Workloads don't have to be and won't be doubled to solve this, but difficult decisions will need to made regarding essential versus nonessential services.
DeleteDavid Goldman was an accountant for Textron, who convinced Textron to sell him the machine tool companies in Springfield, even though he had driven Round Top Mountain, a ski area in Plymouth, Vt. into bankruptcy, and was named on a Vermont arrest warrant for the illegal dumping of industrial wastes, which polluted the ground water under a grammar school in Plymouth.
DeleteDuring the time he owned the machine tool companies in Springfield, he sold their extensive spare parts inventories without replacing them, crippling each company's ability to service customers' needs; he constantly laid off personnel, until each company was operating with skeleton crews; he eliminated research and development programs; he stripped retirement programs until they were underfunded; he received a 3 million dollar grant from the State of Vermont to implement a computer based inventory and manufacturing system, which he failed to install successfully, and subsequently his manufacturing system collapsed since he had discarded the previous inventory tracking system; he failed to forward laid off employees' COBRA insurance payments to respective insurance companies, and deposited them in his own accounts; and he created a $127,000,000. debt, and filed for bankruptcy in Delaware.
When Goldman's companies were sold at auction, all of Bryant Grinder brought less than $187,000.. I bought a three inch bar J&L lathe for $15.00. When the auction at Fellows was conducted, I bought the entire contents of the Finance Office for $60.00: tables, chairs, file cabinets by the truck load. It was a potential nightmare for the Goldman Group, because the Finance Office still contained a huge file cabinet with all the financial records of the company, executive pay and bonus schedules, and the personal hand written notes between top executives informing people who would be responsible for "vendor propaganda" each week. For a former Chief Steward at Bryant Grinder, it was a formidable acquisition.
Despite the clear evidence that Goldman executives had at the least committed theft of services, no one in state government was interested in acquiring and examining the evidence of corporate crimes, not even the Vermont Attorney General. His position was he did not have the staff to take on a major corporation. He seemed unconcerned that the collapse of the machine tool industry had cost the state millions in lost tax revenue, with additional millions to be paid to unemployed persons. The state's treatment of Goldman was a superb example of how executives are rarely held accountable for their misdeeds, because, after all, they are special!
When UE 218 insisted that temporary transfers of personnel into classifications where employees were laid off would not be allowed, it hardly "hamstrung" the companies. It simply made certain the recall rights of laid off employees were respected. I was employed at Bryant Grinder 24 years and was laid off 21 times, each layoff being anywhere from a week to 30 months. I knew that anyone with recall rights who was laid off deserved to be recalled when work in his classification was needed.
The Union also insisted that all job openings with training offered had to be posted and awarded to the most senior qualified bidder. Such a requirement hardly "hamstrug" the companies, but allowed senior employees to receive training in new job skills.
Thank you Chris, and Amen! Has anyone mentioned how many "adminstrators" we have that don't have actual admistrative degrees, or have very little experience? Why are they being paid the same salary as past admin with advanced degrees, and years and years of experience? Not saying this one is better than that one, but the salary should be earned by time put in to the degree and years in education. Great deals for us if we get a newbie who is good, but getting the pay they should get at an entrance salary, or a teacher willing to fill an adimistrative position for their teaching salary, until they earn a degree. Hell, it'd be great if they were actually in an actual classroom for more than 5 years, before being promoted. How is this allowed?
DeleteChris, run for school board. This is good stuff, "Our school system is in a figurative life boat. If any administrator is unwilling to paddle, to put his oar in the water when needed, to do more than shout "paddle harder" to a smaller crew, it is time to throw him/her overboard."
DeleteAh, the classic misdirection by employing selective recall to try and completely vilify Goldman while wholly ignoring the union's obstructive behavior and complicity in the shop's demise. Oh well, if it soothes a guilty conscience, so be it.
DeleteIt must give the guy a good catharsis. A salve for his bitterness.
DeleteDid anybody notice the justification for the cuts-- the cost to our Springfield families with $280,000 homes and $115,000 incomes?
ReplyDeleteGuess how many of those families we have? Guess how many families we have that make more than $115,000?
To give you a clue, Springfield is a community with a median (half live in homes worth more, half in homes worth less) one-family home value of $138,000.
Make your guess… For bonus points, guess how many $280,000 homes Springfield has.
Actually I was surprised those figures appeared. The budget is usually sold with the "you're poor so it won't cost YOU anything" approach. I'd rather hear what it will cost the tax payer than the tax user.
Delete76 households?
Delete888
DeleteI believe $115,000 is close to the point at which you stop getting the State "prebate" on your taxes. And I think it's a fair assumption that people (couples, families, etc.) who make that much probably are in houses close to that "overvalued" price on the grand list. People who make less in the Springfield, get some assistance with the school tax increase but it's hard to calculate for all...they should really do a graph of table that shows ranges so people can understand where they and what the implications are. Having said that the increase of $350ish is only $30 a month. If you are actually making $115,000 that's doable. If you make less you pay less, and it should be proportionally doable.
DeleteHaving said that, I do believe our system has wasteful spending for what our kids are getting out of it. And I agree, let's look at the things that wouldn't impact the classroom.
3:08, here's the 2009 info. Note that it breaks hh incomes down by racial categories, just not very clearly labeled at the beginning of each section.
DeleteI have the 2011 information broken out into a series of charts, but I don't think I can paste it in a text box. Contact me if you'd like them.
http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Springfield-Vermont.html
This type of information is public record, probably found on such as Wikipedia for a Springfield, VT. I'm posting as "anonymous" because I recently closed-out my Google account. My name's Gregory Eddy; I live in Claremont and attend church in Springfield.
ReplyDeleteI've looked up the numbers for Claremont over the years. I'll guess that in Springfield, no more than 15 (20 at the most) families have household income over $115,000. Those are most probably mostly families with two parents working for outside income and with only 1 or 2 children at home. As a speculative profile, the parents I imagine are typically local health service managers or professionals in helping professions (like education or medicine), with a few private business owners or corporate managers, too. They provide care for, and service to, those most in need who are unable to care for themselves as do most people; perhaps ironically, some of the needy people who could benefit from the help of the well-compensated professionals and entrepreneurs don't avail themselves of the help for a variety of reasons (just for example, not to cast aspersions: fear, ignorance, false pride, envy, hate, etc.), resulting in other social costs in the longer term, manifesting as a vicious cycle of co-dependency, blame, regret, and resignation. Just an observation; "my two bits," for what it may be worth.
In Claremont, median income today is probably still a few thousand dollars below $40,000, I'd guess. (Could actually be significantly lower now, since the 2008 fallout.) Springfield's like Claremont in many demographic respects, since the great global economic changeover.
I like guessing games that help me chuckle a little to deal with the pain that observation of such suffering causes me. Thank you, all, for your continuing support of all true teachers and helpers and healers.
I totally agree with the reduction of the administration and moving (closing) park street. Does anyone know how much it cost to heat Park street. It must be a huge number.
ReplyDeleteThe school district still owns East School. Move the central offices there. It must be better on heat as it is smaller.
DeleteUh, no! The hospital owns East School now. But thank you for playing!
DeletePut the central offices in Riverside or the HS. There is no need for Park St School to be open!
DeleteClosing park St would be a huge financial burden to the district. Do your research.
DeleteThe hospital does not own East School, they simply entered into a MOU, they did not purchase. Why are there so many uninformed people on this blog and in this community.
DeletePublished August 28, 2013 in the Rutland Herald
DeleteSchool Board approves East School sale
By Christian Avard
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield School District is saying goodbye to one of its historic school buildings.
The School Board approved a $100,000 sale during Monday’s meeting of the East School building to Springfield Medical Care Systems, the parent company of Springfield Hospital on Ridgewood Road.
That means that the school board approved the sale of the property for 100,000 to Springfield Medical Care Systems. It does not mean Springfield Medical Care Systems actually bought the property.
DeleteThe sale DID NOT happen. It was approved, but it never happened.
DeleteThis school district is a joke anyway. The kids are not getting a good education, most of them cant read or write and they go on to graduate! Special Ed dept is just as bad. I don't like the idea of cutting anything in the school district, it needs all it can get...why not cut some of the towns employees who fill their pockets with money and do nothing?
ReplyDeleteIt is not a joke. My elementary grade schoolers love their teachers, and are learning a great deal. There are excellent teachers at Elm Hill, including the PE, Music, and Art teachers. The principal at Elm is also wonderful. There are excellent teachers in every school.
DeleteU.S. Census projections:
ReplyDeletehttp://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_5YR_DP03&prodType=table
Note the "income AND BENEFITS" designation
Thanks, 8:35. What is the significance of the fact that it's the American Communities Survey and not the Census Bureau's official estimate? And does this projection reflect Springfield's profile? If so, what point would you like to make with it?
DeleteDoes the proposed budget include the purchase of a house on union street with capital approved money that could be used for maintenance costs to existing buildings or are they hiding it ?
ReplyDeleteRe: "My hope and prayer is that something will change in the very near future and that the voters will be willing to absorb a little more expense for the benefit of our students and ultimately our community." by Dave "Big D" Bentley
ReplyDeleteDave, the taxpayers of Springfield have been taking the big D where the sun don't shine and "absorbing" the town's increasingly unjustified expenses for too long now. It's time that our "privileged" civil servants and elected "officials" understand that the taxpayer's rubber band can't stretch any more. People are quite literally tapped out. Now it's finally time for the bureaucrats to stretch their own rubber bands and in a disciplined, methodical, and organized manner find ways to fulfill their responsibilities with less. The taxpayers themselves have been doing the very same for too long and now it has got to stop.
School budget for Springfield is 28 million and the school budget for Burlington is 67 million. And I always thought that Burlington was such a big city and Springfield such a small town. Hmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteYes Kate, that is about right. Economies of scale (Burlington has over 4 times the population than Springfield does) apply here. The DOE has not updated their website in awhile but the cost per student was nearly identical for the 2010 school year.
DeleteSpringfield Cost per Student: $17,406
Burlington Cost per Student: $17,544
so the board wants to drop the 4 year social study requirement. heres a better idea. how about dropping the pe and art/music requirement and let enrolement decide the fate of the programs.
ReplyDeleteDrop PE.. Our children need to be engaged physically. With the influx of video gaming and facebook, PE, Art and Music get our brains thinking physically and creatively. Art and Music allow our students to show their talents. Students should have PE everyday. There is not enough physical activity nowadays. PE in some case is the only exercise students are getting in their life.
DeleteThirty-one families make between $110-125,000 and live in Springfield. Only 14 of them are in the age range one expects to find parents of school kids.
ReplyDeleteOne hundred and one households make more than $110,000.
Why did the school board not think of the 1,700 families who make the Springfield average and live in average springfield homes?
My guess is that a $750 payment for a family making $115,000 is as much of a burden to them as $273 is for a household making $42,000, but they used the scarier figure to justify the cuts. $273 won't even buy you a decent pair of cowboy boots-- but it will provide better education for the kids we're leaving this country to! What does it say about Springfield when we won't make the least sacrifice to provide the best education possible for our kids?
You talk like we don't already sacrifice for our kids...over and over. And it seems to be with no positive results.
Delete7:01, When you know what kids need, then you begin to get a sense of what your conscience requires you to do.
DeleteIt takes a man or woman of great charity who has escaped a potential lifetime of defeat and despair to reach down and provide a child with the help no one ever gave him or her.
Do you know what it means when a teacher has to carry an unwilling child onto a school bus to make him go home? Do you know what lies at the root of a ten-year-old's bullying behavior? Do you see a problem when a school counselor recommends that a senior consider being a bootblack after graduation? Do you see missed potential for the student who doesn't-- or can't-- participate in any extracurricular activities whatsoever? And can you see some child unable to make the connection you were lucky enough to make when you were his or her age?
If so, then you probably have a very good idea of how much sacrifice is needed.
And with human beings, don't count on seeing the results yourself. Humans, like fine wine, benefit from aging.
When you hear former union hucksters begin to advocate for summarily firing workers, then you know how low the times have become in Springfield!
ReplyDeleteIf they cut paraeducators and mental health clinicians and these services are in a childs IEP how is that going to work? I thought, by law, a school has to provide services that are on an IEP, if they eliminate these services that are already in place then what happens to the IEP and the rights of the child to have a proper and fair education? Do they amend the IEP and eliminate these services? That would not benefit any special needs child if their success in education depends on services that are no longer in place.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was the case as well, but as a parent of a student who has recently been given an IEP, I find it is a CONSTANT battle to get the services my child needs.
DeleteGood luck. I have been a very active advocate for my kids in this school district for years. My suggestion is to get in contact with Vermont Family Network, they are wonderful! They are advocates for parents, they are full of info and its all free. Even if u just have questions, they have the answers! They go above and beyond helping to make sure children gets their needs met. By law there are things that the school has to do, many times parents have no clue on these laws and the schools take advantage of that, just google them...
DeleteI did speak with someone in the school district asking the questions I stated in my first comment. I was told that if this all gets passed and we lose those services then all the IEP's will be amended and those services will be removed. I am just confused as to why or how they expect those children to succeed in school without the services that they deserve and need. It is very hard to get an IEP in place as it is, and to get services to be put on it is even harder so once they are in place they are there for a good reason, taking them away is only going to set these children up to fail..
re: ".....the rights of the child to have a proper and fair education?"
ReplyDeleteYou are owed NOTHING beyond the exact same opportunity any other student receives. The fact that your child comes to school unprepared to learn is a reflection of home life and not my willingness to disproportionately finance their education.
At some point, your child will have to compete in the real world. A dog eat dog existence that will unmercifully defeat them should they hold expectations of "special" treatment.
You make absolutely NO sense. *shakes head* EVERY CHILD has a right to a fair education..special needs or not! AND u think a special needs child goes to school "unprepared to learn.."? and it is a "..reflection of home life"?? are u serious? wow, all I can say is it u dont know what u are talking about its probably best to say nothing!!
DeleteJune, as an apparent constitutional scholar, could you please cite for us the section of the U.S. Constitution that bestows the "right" for "EVERY CHILD [to have] a fair education"? And we're all just a little perplexed by how you would define "fair". Once again, perhaps you should heed your own advice!
DeleteThere is something called F.A.P.E. (Free Appropriate Public Education) that states "All qualified persons with disabilities within the jurisdiction of a school district are entitled to a free appropriate public education"
DeleteALSO I copied this from ACLU website
"DO ALL KIDS HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN EQUAL EDUCATION?
Yes! All kids living in the United States have the right to a free public education. And the Constitution requires that all kids be given equal educational opportunity no matter what their race, ethnic background, religion, or sex, or whether they are rich or poor, citizen or non-citizen. Even if you are in this country illegally, you have the right to go to public school. The ACLU is fighting hard to make sure this right isn't taken away.
In addition to this constitutional guarantee of an equal education, many federal, state and local laws also protect students against discrimination in education based on sexual orientation or disability, including pregnancy and HIV status.
In fact, even though some kids may complain about having to go to school, the right to an equal educational opportunity is one of the most valuable rights you have. The Supreme Court said this in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case when it struck down race segregation in the public schools."
June, the United States Constitution does NOT specifically mention education whatsoever. Therefore, education is a power reserved for the States. However, over the course of history, the due process and equal rights provisions under the Constitution have been invoked and brought to bear on matters of public education with respect to any number of factors. So, once again, in your zeal to score points, you have resorted to "cut and paste" pseudo-intellectualism that has misstated the facts and succeeded in nothing but a comparison of apples and oranges.
Delete*rolls eyes* lol
Delete"Anonymous" now that I know more about you, I will step aside and allow you to continue "trolling" this site.
DeleteI have said what I wished to say....copy/paste and all!
You clearly are more intelligent, resourceful and stand on a much higher pedestal than I do. I take a bow before you as I step away...please, continue on :-) oh and I did not know we were trying to "score points" I actually thought this was just a place to post opinions and comments regarding the headline story..hmmm and you have reminded me I have some wonderful oranges in my fridge I just may go have one!
DeleteAnonymous at 8:50 said, "At some point, your child will have to compete in the real world. A dog eat dog existence that will unmercifully defeat them should they hold expectations of "special" treatment."
Not true for the 0.1 percent! George W. Bush is the classic example of an unprepared kid who by virtue of nothing more than connections made it into one of the best colleges in the country. We who dwell at or near the bottom of the heap have a vested interest in having our kids educated better than undeserving children of privilege like W. It's a dog-eat-dog world if we do not stand by one another. If we do not do everything in our power to give them the best education possible, we-- and they-- will be treated like peasants by the likes of those who advanced him.
If only our own school leaders were as forward thinking as this instead of having the same ole same ole answer lets throw money at the problem.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/01/low-income-schools-see-big-benefits-in-teaching-mindfulness/?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook
Re: What does it say about Springfield when we won't make the least sacrifice to provide the best education possible for our kids?
ReplyDeleteWhat does it say about the usual cast of Springfielders who perpetually deny the annual sacrifices borne by the taxpayers of the town and perennially demand more and more of other's limited means?