If you were in charge of FCPS, what budget cuts would you make?

[Anonymous]

I am alarmed at some of the proposed cuts. What is on the list that you feel MUST not be touched? What cuts would you make? Here is what I would cut if I were queen and I absolutely had to make cuts

Keep:

-Class size and instructional assistants-classes are already too big

-Special Ed services as they are

-Counselors-with the rise in mental health issues, bullying issues, etc this should be essential


-Make cuts:

-HR (Some of the people I e countered had way too much time on their hands)

-FLES-in an ideal world it's a great idea, but it's not essential. If you want your child to learn a foreign language and your child is not in an immersion program, look at after school classes in the area. When the county bounces back I'm all for bringing this program back.

-Find a way to measure teacher quality and have 3 different levels of raises each year: needs improvement-no raise, competent-whatever percent and then exceptional gets a higher raise than the usual level

-Decrease school psychologists who just do educational assessments. Families than can afford to may use testing/evaluators from outside the school system and those who cannot use the school system's professionals. So many times we all get outside assessments anyway and we contest the school's results so why not make a school assessment optional. Just lists the tests a private assessor must use. Some school psychologists are exceptional, but too many are mediocre.

[Anonymous]

Thought of another- have undocumented families (what some call illegal aliens) pay a fee to use the school system. If they aren't paying taxes, they should contribute in some way. I would say it could be graduated based on income, but there is no way to officially verify income without income tax reports.

[Anonymous]

school system is funded via property tax. if undocumented families live in the county and follow zoning ordinances and other regulations regarding # of persons in household, than they're contributing and should be allowed to use public schools same as anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thought of another- have undocumented families (what some call illegal aliens) pay a fee to use the school system. If they aren't paying taxes, they should contribute in some way. I would say it could be graduated based on income, but there is no way to officially verify income without income tax reports.

Most students I know don't have income high enough to pay taxes.

[Anonymous]

1) I'd cut out Level IV centers and just implement the advanced curriculum across the board. Keep the Sp. Ed. instructors to help those that can't keep up.

This gets rid of the expense of bussing, applications, the committees that go through all of the applications and the cost of testing in both 1st and 2nd grade plus the make up days for getting into the program while improving the quality of education for all FCPS students.

2) I'd also cut out many of the admin. paper pushing positions.

3) Also, change the school year to a modified calendar with multi-tracking. Several studies have shown that it is more cost effective to multi track with modified calendar year when school capacity is too high. Cheaper than modulars, additions, and new schools which require more staff and a it's a better use of existing facilities. Bonus, no summer learning loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
-Make cuts:


-Find a way to measure teacher quality and have 3 different levels of raises each year: needs improvement-no raise, competent-whatever percent and then exceptional gets a higher raise than the usual level

I highly doubt that this would result in a budget cut. Raises have been minimal, if not non-existent over that past 5 or 6 years+ (they are starting to run together at this point). Raises as you suggest would go to most of the staff and would result in a budget increase.

I'm curious what you think would be an appropriate raise at the "competent" level. 2% maybe? That would be welcomed by most, but would be pricey for the schools. I need a raise, but I don't know if your suggestion is an affordable one for FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1) I'd cut out Level IV centers and just implement the advanced curriculum across the board. Keep the Sp. Ed. instructors to help those that can't keep up.

This gets rid of the expense of bussing, applications, the committees that go through all of the applications and the cost of testing in both 1st and 2nd grade plus the make up days for getting into the program while improving the quality of education for all FCPS students.

2) I'd also cut out many of the admin. paper pushing positions.

3) Also, change the school year to a modified calendar with multi-tracking. Several studies have shown that it is more cost effective to multi track with modified calendar year when school capacity is too high. Cheaper than modulars, additions, and new schools which require more staff and a it's a better use of existing facilities. Bonus, no summer learning loss.

I agree the level 4 is bullshit. Keep the AAP centers, but really the enrichment at a level 4, non AAP center is a joke, at least at my child's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
-Make cuts:


-Find a way to measure teacher quality and have 3 different levels of raises each year: needs improvement-no raise, competent-whatever percent and then exceptional gets a higher raise than the usual level

I highly doubt that this would result in a budget cut. Raises have been minimal, if not non-existent over that past 5 or 6 years+ (they are starting to run together at this point). Raises as you suggest would go to most of the staff and would result in a budget increase.

I'm curious what you think would be an appropriate raise at the "competent" level. 2% maybe? That would be welcomed by most, but would be pricey for the schools. I need a raise, but I don't know if your suggestion is an affordable one for FCPS.

I hold good teachers in the highest regard and think it is a very important profession. That said, we are all working hard many hours a week and in a lot of fields due to the economy raises are minimal if there are raises at all. We all face increased taxes, grocery store prices too. We are facing difficult times and not many fields are exempt.

[Anonymous]

I would make any teaching outside of the class room self pay

[Anonymous]

Paper. So much paper. Just transitioning the dreaded Tuesday folder to a weekly email with a PDF attachment would have to save billions. And a few trees as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would make any teaching outside of the class room self pay

What does this mean? Explain please.

[Anonymous]

Stick to chalkboard and chalk instead of smartboards or whatever they call them. How much did all that cost??? Good all chalkboards and overhead projectors not good enough?
That could've saved a ton of money.

I also wouldn't have even allowed for the turf fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stick to chalkboard and chalk instead of smartboards or whatever they call them. How much did all that cost??? Good all chalkboards and overhead projectors not good enough?
That could've saved a ton of money.

I also wouldn't have even allowed for the turf fields.

At both of the schools my kids attend, the PTA paid for the smartboards.

I agree about the turf.

[Anonymous]

I know this will be inflammatory -- but the core/essential purpose of schools is the academic part. So, keep PE b/c everybody needs a break and they do learn about health.... but get rid of sports teams. Those are just not part of the core mission... sorry.

If I have to choose between counselors and a football team, I'm choosing counselors who might keep my kid from being bullied or might help someone with anorexia or abuse.

Then I'd reduce the number of instructional assistants -- I was shocked to look on my kids' elementary school website and see about 25 instructional assistants listed. That seems like a whole lot. Maybe we still need a lot of them for the special needs, but if they are not being used for special needs or kindergarten, I think they probably have to go.

Band/strings -- I'd hate to see it go, and I could argue that it is an academic pursuit b/c you can get a degree in music/fine arts. But, it could become a fee-based program.

I'm willing to pay more taxes for all of the above and to avoid any other cuts.

[Anonymous]

FCPS needs to prioritize. Start with what they need by law. Then choose. FLES needs to go. Nice to have programs need to go. Magnet programs need to go.