budget. cuts.

Henrico County (a county just outside of Richmond, Virginia) announced its budget cuts last week for the 2010 school year. I feel like I can kiss my future teaching position further into the future after viewing the areas that the division is cutting down on. Here is the breakdown of what unfortunately made the cut.

$6.2 million: cut about 98 teachers and increase average class size by .75
$2.7 million: general operating supplies
$1.6 million: delay school bus replacement purchases
$1.4 million: cut about 22 Central Office positions
$1.2 million: delay textbook replacement
$759,000: reduced stipend and substitute pay
$631,000: staff development
$481,894: equipment
$397,012: contract realignment
$372,000: middle school laptop savings
$276,000: construction and maintenance
$248,400: testing expenses
$241,621: leave vacant three instructional positions
$162,000: community organizations
$87,850: visiting international faculty
$71,482: mileage reimbursement

Additional options for reductions:
$1 million: reduced fuel spending based on current prices
$252,670: reduce Central Office take-home vehicles
$784,000: eliminate purchase of eight buses for two new schools in the fall
$250,000: reduce staff development tuition reimbursement
$27,932: 2 percent additional reduction for a total of 6 percent to Maggie L. Walker Governor's School
$22,488: 2 percent additional reduction for a total of 6 percent to the Math Science Innovation Center
Total: $19.2 million (Source: Richmond Times Dispatch)

I'm assuming that since 98 teachers are getting cut, there will be no hiring. This is extremely frustrating to me. I finally decide that I want to be a teacher, go through school and then find out that there won't be jobs when I'm ready to start teaching. Substitute positions will also be lowered, eliminating even more opportunities. But, you know who I feel really sorry for? The students! I feel that the children are the ones that truly suffer when you start to take away from their education. Textbook replacement will be delayed so our kids, so they will keep learning out of the same ones, not updated and thus not modern enough. School bus purchases will also be delayed, so the older buses will still stay in use. I find this sad.

When will the economy correct itself so that we can turn around the budget? I wish that I knew. Seeing numbers like this is truly disappointing. I was even watching the news on the budget cuts one evening and they said that the "light at the end of the tunnel had been turned off." Ouch.