School districts across the state of Florida are wrestling mightily with the tasks of making draconian cuts in their budgets. School Board members are losing sleep, superintendents are visibly depressed and teachers are all on edge, wondering if they will have jobs in the coming months.
But what are the parents saying? In one county, at least, we don’t know publicly what the parents are saying, except for those who have called their school board members. While Clay County school officials have urged teachers and parents to send them their ideas on how to cut the school budget and to contact their legislators to appeal for more funding for education, there hasn’t been that uproariously loud voice from the community protesting the cuts. At least not yet.
The worldwide economic crisis is wreaking havoc with families, banking, finance, construction, infrastructure and probably more areas that we can even imagine at this time. As I have said before, I am not sure that all of the changes that may come about because of the financial chaos will be bad. There are benefits to a leaner, meaner economy, the least of which is greater efficiencies and more conservation in many areas.
Look at what has happened in the oil industry. Prices went through the roof in the U.S., motorists reduced their driving by billions of miles and prices came down, thus producing a benefit to the environment. (I know gas prices have rebounded against all odds, but there are other reasons for that.) You can see similar results in water usage and prices for all manner of Read the rest of this entry »
Was Monday’s announcements of massive nationwide layoffs the flash-flood warning of an economic tsunami heading our way?
School districts across the state are facing large budget cut that will force them to eliminate jobs. Home Depot, Sprint, Caterpillar and Pfizer are among the latest national companies to announce huge job losses.
I am hearing talk of layoffs in nearly every walk of life these days, including the elimination of a job that recently hit home. Clear Channel Radio announced on Jan. 20 it was laying off 1,850 employes across the country. One of them was my son, Joe, an advertising sales person in Jacksonville. He lost his job on the day Barack Obama was inaugurated and the same day that both radio talk show personalities David Lamm and Joe Cowart lost theirs. Read the rest of this entry »
I am sure that tongues were wagging at water coolers around many schools today, and rightfully so. Cuts are coming. Schools face the prospect of layoffs because of declining enrollments and cutbacks in funding from the state. Several counties have already begun closing underused schools.
As one superintendent said, “It may get uglier before it gets better.”
In Clay County, School Board members will be wrestling with a proposal to eliminate some 115 positions at a savings of $6.3 million for the 2009-2010 school year.
”We have no growth,” Superintendent Ben Wortham told board members at their regular meeting Thursday night. (Jan. 15) as he laid out a plan to reduce the district budget by $10.5 million due to a decline in state funding.
posted
Mar 1, 2009 by Lamar Thames
