How to Close that Pesky Budget Gap?

 Opening the floor for suggestions on closing the SPS budget gap. 

1. Obviously, for the Legislature to truly fund public education for every child. I'm not sure I believe this will ever happen but I do also understand why there is hesitation to give money to districts that are not doing well. I think any "ask" should be accompanied by "and here's how we will use those new dollars wisely."

2. No raises for anyone for two years. Most people don't get a raise every year anyway and maybe it will stem the hiring at JSCEE.

3. Again, for those in the back, CHARGE THE CITY for pre-k classrooms. Yes, I do keep up and I know the City has its own budget problems. But it's just ridiculous for the district to give over many, many classrooms to the City's pre-k program AND to allow the City to withhold payments to the district for the program operation until certain measures are met. 

4. Sell off non-school property like Oak Tree or the professional building off Lake City Way or even the Cleveland Forest. 

5. End the district use of consultants for any reason except direct support to classrooms. That includes all SOFG consulting and conference trips. 

What are your suggestions?

Comments

Anonymous said…
The district has so much real estate. Along the same lines of pre-k, can they charge or increase fees for use of sport fields, theaters, meeting spaces etc? Can they sub-lease classrooms in the mega schools to private schools? Also, do they need to keep all of JSCCE? It’s not exactly centrally located and most transactional services with families are online.
11/29/24, 5:12 PM
Anonymous said…
We should move to turn over control to the state ASAP to stop the bleeding. The sooner strong cuts are made, basically lined up with your list, the less severe and long the crisis will be.

CBA Parent
11/29/24, 5:38 PM
Anonymous said…
For the next teacher contract, it’s going to have to be a cut in pay rates. If there is a strike, it will need to be a return to work or be fired ultimatum. The hole is just too deep and the prior contract was absurd.

-We’re Broke
11/29/24, 6:06 PM
Anonymous said…
Get rid of all tech with maybe the exception of two computer labs in elementary schools. Kids are perfectly capable of learning to type and use Wikipedia in middle school. Elementary school should refocus on the basics.

Not only would we save on tech costs, but also tech support, the time it takes to give the kids their laptos during the start of the school year, fix them during the year, take them back at the end, refurbish them over the summer. And we would save on all the tech we pay for on the laptops like Amplify, Google classroom, etc.

Broken Record
11/30/24, 7:58 AM
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