Florida School Hurting in Poor Economy

The economy today is a mess. Individuals as well as businesses from all corners of the country are feeling the pain of the weak market. Cooperate giants and small business owners are suffering but so are government-run agencies. And that includes schools.

Florida school boards are scheduled to submit balanced budgets in July that will reflect the $2.3 billion in legislative cuts to education. Before the 2008/2009 school year even began the Hillsborough County School Board shot themselves in the foot when they re-vamped the transportation system. They took away the courtesy bus for students who live within the 2 mile radius of the school, and they decreased the amount of bus stops. All of this, just to save money. But it caused more problems than was worth.

Schools across the state faced budget cuts which caused a domino effect of issues within the different schools. With no extra money, there is no incentive to keep good teachers, or even fill enough for the amount of classrooms the school holds and Hillsborough County is already facing a shortage of teachers. Of the teachers that are staying in the schools, they often find themselves in a bind. They need certain materials to teach their classes correctly but there is no money in the budget for it so they are forced to purchase it out of pocket, or not have those supplies at all. It is sad, but the children are really the ones that will suffer, and as cliché as it is, the kids are really the future of America.

Also with less money and less staff, School programs are cut. “Summer school programs, extracurricular activities like art and music, and seven period school days will be gone, said Senate Democratic Leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. Kids are going to be taught less which once again is bad for all. But Hillsborough County is one area in Florida that is trying to cut other costs instead of teachers. Hillsborough County Public Schools just hired 200 new teachers, according to spokeswoman Linda Cobbe. “We are not cutting any teachers. We will make sure that we don’t affect children and the classroom. There may be positions we don’t fill and we are looking at other cost-cutting measures.”