Mrs. Sunny Hilts from the Alaska Association of School Boards came and spoke to some UAA Elementary Educations students all the way from the Kenai! She came as an ambassador to tell us soon to be teachers what a school board is and does. I won't go into specifics here, but she had an interesting comment that we all need to be aware of. One of the points Mrs. Sunny made was concerning the budget for schools. She said that right now the school systems are sitting in a large pool of cash. The oil industry has done well and has pumped lots of cash into education as well as the government stimulus packages. The school budgets are rather flush at the moment. Consequently great bounds in technology, resources, and training is available like never before.
The bad news is, this education funding bubble will not likely last forever according to Mrs. Sunny. What she calls 'The Gap' is coming. 'The Gap' is what she estimates as a 5 year period where funding will dry up from the oil and the government and schools will be left with very little money for technology and other perks. She wanted to prepare all of us teachers for a drought in educational opportunities.
I say this for two reasons: 1) to ask if you think her information is correct according to your outlook and 2) to ellicite ideas of what we should do if she is correct?
Honestly, I'm curious as to where all of this money is actually going; is it really being invested in technology and teacher training, because if that is the case, then why are the schools constantly sending the students home with money fundraisers? In addition then, why are parents forced to purchase surplus school supplies, that will be shared by all in the classroom? I just don't understand, if Mrs. Sunny claims there is a huge amount of cash to spend, then why are the families being forced to pay for the extras and fundraising if there is extra money for the schools. In my personal opinion, I think they need to stop building new schools and invest in the ones they already have. Also, Clarissa, these questions are not necessarily directed at you, but rather the news of this surplus money. It makes me angry and confused when I hear this, because I don't see where they are using the money to benefit the children and their families, and perhaps it is because I don't have the entire story. I hope you don't feel attacked by my comment, because that it is not my intent. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, no Ashley! I would seek to ask the same question. Indeed that is the case with most of the government dollars that get shoved into projects. We common people don't see the fruit of a cent of it. Mrs. Sunny was from the Kenai district so I really haven't gotten an opportunity to see those schools nor observe the changes that any stimulus money might have had. So, I can't give you the bigger picture sadly. I can only guess that there is too little, too late, and not the right way.
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