Budget cuts to the Clark County School District in Las Vegas are inevitable. Here are my suggestions to save money:
1. Stop sending employees paycheck stubs to their home via U.S. Mail.
2. While CCSD police protection is needed at basketball and football games, is it really needed for school concerts and plays, track meets and baseball and softball games while paying police officers overtime to cover the event?
3. Teachers are paid up to $30 dollars an hour to attend meetings and classes that related to their job. Reduce or eliminate these payments.
4. Reduce the number of Special Education buses. At our school, we have about 10 SPED buses that carry about 4-5 students each. Each bus has an aide and driver.
5. Reduce cost by have schools directly mail their mail. right now,if you want to mail a letter, you have to put in a box at school, the box gets picked up and taken to another centralized building, where it is send out in the mail. Put a mail stamper in the school and eliminate the middle man.
6. Privatize some services. I have seen the following at our school in the past 2 weeks. Two school employees replacing tile in a shower room and 2 employees changing light bulbs in the street lights in the parking lot. Why do we need CCSD employees doing these jobs?
7. Eliminate Staff Development Days. They are a waste of time and money.
8. Do not open any new schools the next school year.
9. Get rid of consultants. We have a talented pool of employees in CCSD, we don't need consultants.
10. Go to a 4 day work week and increase the number of hours of education.
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I also am a teacher transplanted into Nevada and agree with these cost savers: 1-the 4 day school week (proven success in other districts here in Nevada); 2-Eliminate the overuse of "consultants"; 3-Defer Staff Development Days for times when the district can afford it; 4-Don't open any new schools until the economy improves; 5-Weed out "chronically disruptive students" and increase class size; 6-cut administrative positions to bare bones (I have heard a lot of teachers training to be administrators "to get out of the classroom with all its problems...."); 7-ENFORCE the Parent-Student-Teacher Involvement Contract.
ReplyDeleteTeachers spend out of their own pockets for cases of copy paper (because the schools don't buy consumeable workbooks for students)and are forever providing for students pencils, erasers, etc., so further cuts in teacher pay will not help the teachers nor the students. Remember, the cost of living continues to go up, while teachers not only suffer with a freeze in pay, but face their pay becoming lower by cuts. With 21st Century Technology in most schools, teachers are not so reliant on textbooks, and can make due with skeleton sets. The district might need to adjust changing textbooks every four years, until the economy improves (most of these books are now printed in other countries, so it will hardly impact employment in the USA).
Or, maybe CCSD needs to look at other states, their models to provide for students: some states require families to buy/rent/or put a monetary deposit on books for their child for each school year and are required to purchase specific school supplies before the student shows up for school. Just imagine how that would shift responsibility-about education, accountability, and economically! This impact would be huge. :) Star Ali Mistriel
Even if the school district does all those things you say, it is still not enough to cover the loses.
ReplyDeleteIf we goto a 4 day work week, we loose federal money for transportation, so it would not save us money but we would loose more money... talk about red tape!!!
My opinion is to temporarily double the sale tax for a few months and let everyone take the hit... not just teachers, police, firemen, other public employees.
I would not be opposed to a one time sales tax increase but you know how temporary a temporary tax is- it becomes permament. If they impose one, then it has to have a firm ending date. I also would not double it.
ReplyDeleteTo Star Ali, good additions. There is fat in the budget- maybe not at the school level, but certainly in the administraion. The text book issue is spot on.
Another factor is the cost of illegal immigrants. I see first hand the amount of extra money we spend on illegal immigrants. Because of confidentiality, i can't divluge specific cases, but I know we have to buy special equipment for special ed. kids who are here illegally through their parents. It's not a few dollars, but thousands upon thousands of dollars.
I work in a school about 2,000 miles away and yes we had to cut costs also. Here's some things we did that might help your school. 1. Students are to supply their own supplies. Each student brings in 7 pencils and donate 2 for the class collection. Same for pens, klennex, etc. 2. Our students have short hours one day a week. They get out 45 minutes earlier and in that 45 minutes, teachers have their "grade level meetings" and still get out at the same time. This eliminates the o/t for professional days. 3. SmartBoards are the way to go for classroom material. Not only are they high technology, but they cut way back on the cost of books. The cost of one math book can buy about three cases of copy paper. That's 5,000 sheets of paper! Fundraising. We do everything from candy to car washes. Hope these ideas may help.
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