Do schools spend too much or not enough?

[Beck]

On special education?

On extracurricular activities such as football, music, art, etc?

Do you feel your child(ren) are not getting what they deserve in school?

Who gets the Lions share?

[kingclick]

1. On special education. Not enough.
2. On extracurricular activities. Not enough. (when you put music and art in there)
3. Of course they are not getting what they deserve.
4. Administrative Budgets for schools are OUT OF CONTROL. We just hired a "Director of Diversity" in our local district for over $100,000 a year. What is her job? To make sure that minorities get hired. Freakin waste of money.

[GracieMae]

On special education? Definitly not!

On extracurricular activities such as football, music, art, etc? No

Do you feel your child(ren) are not getting what they deserve in school? There is no doubt in my mind they are not

Who gets the Lions share? I wish I knew

[Beck]

Ok, since there is not enough money to go around, which groups should get the "majority" of the money?

Should the special needs get it, because they need additional services to achieve "common", "normal" goals?

Should the regular classes get the majority share so they can enjoy and participate in extracurricular activities such as music, art, dance, drama.. etct?

Who do you feel takes up the most money now?

[GracieMae]

I think you know my answer already. IMO special needs children get the short end way too many times :mad:

[Beck]

~pats Kays hand~ I know honey, but I'm trying to get others input! :lol Trying to get a debate going here, ya know!!

[kingclick]

The lions share should go to regular education.

If there is 100 kids in a district and 10 of them are special needs. The special needs should not get MOST of the money. They might need to get more per student but they do not need to get the lions share.

And most money right now (*that actually goes to education) is taken up where it should be. With the general student body.

[GracieMae]

Ok Beck. I'll take a seat now.

I really must say unfortunatly 9 times out of 10 unless a parents has a child with special needs they really don't even think about educating SN kids :(

[Beck]

The lions share should go to regular education.

If there is 100 kids in a district and 10 of them are special needs. The special needs should not get MOST of the money. They might need to get more per student but they do not need to get the lions share.

And most money right now (*that actually goes to education) is taken up where it should be. With the general student body.

Ok. Say the school has $100 for each normally developmental student (NDS).

Say the school has $100 for each special needs child (SNC).

Each student has a $100. NDS wants to have band practice and that costs an additional $20.

The SNC needs to have speech/language therapy twice a week. That costs an additional $40.

How does each child come up with the additional money to cover what they want or need?

[kingclick]

So the $40 and the $20 are ABOVE the normal costs for educating these kids?

[IdahoMom]

OK, I know I'm not answering the question. (That's b/c I don't know the answer :p ) I will say that the whole funding issue is one of the reasons DH and I are considering homeschooling. The governor for Idaho just announced his proposed budget for next school year. :mad: His proposal will cut out ALL technology funding. WTF?! It is insane. I understand that there is a major funding problem, but when it cuts out all technology education, in this day and age, then something is completely f*cked up.

Like I said, I don't have the answers, I wish I did. But I see OUR (Idaho) public schools going downhill pretty fast and it scares me.

[Beck]

So the $40 and the $20 are ABOVE the normal costs for educating these kids?

I'm going to go with the answer of yes KL.

Though I might be making my point incorrectly.

I think I can assume your answer is going to be "the parents need to pay for it".

But it costs more to educate the SNC. Theirs is not a "want" but a need for something to help them accomplish the task of getting their education.

[IdahoMom]

But it costs more to educate the SNC. Theirs is not a "want" but a need for something to help them accomplish the task of getting their education.

What about the gifted child? Isn't theirs a need as well. They need more advanced classes, specialized instruction, etc. to help THEM accomplish the task of getting their education? Yes?

[Beck]

Yes, but is that above and beyond the same "education" that every child deserves?

I guess I see "gifted" children, that excell in math, reading, english.. etc. can take college prep and/or college courses if they are that far advanced over their peers. I don't see their education as limited.

BUT, there has to be the ability and option for these gifted children to obtain the "higher" education such as taking accredited courses, college courses, etc.

[kingclick]

I'm going to go with the answer of yes KL.

Though I might be making my point incorrectly.

I think I can assume your answer is going to be "the parents need to pay for it".

But it costs more to educate the SNC. Theirs is not a "want" but a need for something to help them accomplish the task of getting their education.
Ok. Let me get something clear. When you are saying "lions share" what do you mean?

[April]

I haven't read all the replies (I feel like dog crap) but to answer the OP, I think too much is spent on sports in most schools, not enough on academic-based curricular activities and "special" needs whether they are gifted or learning-disabled or physically disabled. I think they need to implement 'social skills' programs that teach kids basic stuff like household budgeting, parenting, things they'll actually use. Who cares if you can solve a Pythagorean theorem if you can't balance a checkbook? It doesn't need to be a class, maybe just a seminar format. I'd rather see a kid miss class for that than a damn pep rally.
I think schools should have to rebudget every year and base the percentage of their budget on how many children are affected by each program and what the long-term benefit is.
Oh, and they spend too much on social crap like proms and homecoming dances. For most kids, those popularity contests are just another source of pain added to the already-difficult teen years.

[kingclick]

Proms and homecoming dances are paid for by the Students. That stuff doesn't come out of the school budget.

[April]

Proms and homecoming dances are paid for by the Students. That stuff doesn't come out of the school budget.

Not always. Might be true in your area.

[Minnie_Beebe]

They spend the money they actually do receive in the wrong places and likewise don't spend enough in the right places. They all need a tip-top accountant.

[Beck]

KL, I guess when I say lions share, I'm thinking along the lines of how much is spent on sports, etc that the NDC gets.

I'm out of time for tonight. I'll try to touch back in tomorrow.