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.

Exactly. Everything done on a SmartBoard can be done on a chalkboard, and using manipulatives.

Anonymous wrote:Thought of another- have undocumented families (what some call illegal aliens) pay a fee to use the school system.

Or, ship them back to their family's country. Problem solved. Undocumented = illegal.

Anonymous wrote:Back to basics. Sports, music, PE, AAP, all frills must go. Agree about keeping the counselors. Property taxes should be raised.

Let's lock the doors and turn off the lights and HVAC as the last kid leaves each day to save money. Don't want a bunch of kids hanging around after school participating in a bunch of worthless athletics and clubs. What use is learning how to be a good team member once you're an adult? Just a waste of time!

And you know what, all the kids could use that extra time to get jobs so they could pay taxes which would help offset the budget shortfall! Wow, cutting out athletics and clubs is a great answer to this whole budget problem!

So now students are being encouraged to register as ESOL even if they don't need it for what reason? Because of this needs based staffing ratio or because of state or federal money? What is the benefit?

Money, I'm sure. But, I imagine it is a handful of kids compared to those who really need extra help. Remember, lots of these don't join our system until long after first grade. Some have never been in school in any language.

get rid of halfday Mondays.

Back to basics. Sports, music, PE, AAP, all frills must go. Agree about keeping the counselors. Property taxes should be raised.

So now students are being encouraged to register as ESOL even if they don't need it for what reason? Because of this needs based staffing ratio or because of state or federal money? What is the benefit?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on folks

The FY13 Budget was $2.4B
The FY14 Budget is $2.5B

There are no cuts. The budget is going up by $100,000,000.00 The "cuts" are from the dream request.

They have more money! Sheesh....

The expenses are going up b/c there are more kids entering the school --- (sheeesh!) And a higher proportion of all the kids in the system are needing extra services b/c they are ESOL or low-income. --- (sheesh!).

Next time think a little harder before you get all condescending.

At least you understand there are no cuts.

Student population is up .4% so that would account for about 10M. Where do you get a 90M increase in ESOL or low-income costs? Facts please.

Let's do the math folks and not get worked up based on a journalist story about cuts that don't exist.

"With 7,652 new students in ESOL this year, that represents an additional $25.3 million."
That is just the increase, imagine the actual budget for ESOL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/number-of-fairfax-students-who-speak-a-foreign-language-at-home-to-surpass-50-percent/2012/09/08/de47a92a-f84d-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_story.html

This story is a year old and inaccurate as well.

Agreed, ESOL does not mean the kids need any extra services. My kids are "ESOL" even though they speak only English and our school practically begged us to register as ESOL (we did) since there is a ton of federal tax dollars they get based on the numbers. My dad lived with us and he speaks Gaelic primarily so they hear and understand some but receive no services. It's a racket to justify more taxes. Many of this 7,652 are kids of immigrants who speak English only as the article barely mentions.

But, even if you accept it at face value (I don't) it's still only 23M of the 100M increase (along with 10M) for new students. There is simply no budget cut. The bureaucracy just wants more money and is scaring people with mis-statements talking about cuts.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on folks

The FY13 Budget was $2.4B
The FY14 Budget is $2.5B

There are no cuts. The budget is going up by $100,000,000.00 The "cuts" are from the dream request.

They have more money! Sheesh....

The expenses are going up b/c there are more kids entering the school --- (sheeesh!) And a higher proportion of all the kids in the system are needing extra services b/c they are ESOL or low-income. --- (sheesh!).

Next time think a little harder before you get all condescending.

At least you understand there are no cuts.

Student population is up .4% so that would account for about 10M. Where do you get a 90M increase in ESOL or low-income costs? Facts please.

Let's do the math folks and not get worked up based on a journalist story about cuts that don't exist.

"With 7,652 new students in ESOL this year, that represents an additional $25.3 million."
That is just the increase, imagine the actual budget for ESOL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/number-of-fairfax-students-who-speak-a-foreign-language-at-home-to-surpass-50-percent/2012/09/08/de47a92a-f84d-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_story.html

This story is a year old and inaccurate as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on folks

The FY13 Budget was $2.4B
The FY14 Budget is $2.5B

There are no cuts. The budget is going up by $100,000,000.00 The "cuts" are from the dream request.

They have more money! Sheesh....

The expenses are going up b/c there are more kids entering the school --- (sheeesh!) And a higher proportion of all the kids in the system are needing extra services b/c they are ESOL or low-income. --- (sheesh!).

Next time think a little harder before you get all condescending.

At least you understand there are no cuts.

Student population is up .4% so that would account for about 10M. Where do you get a 90M increase in ESOL or low-income costs? Facts please.

Let's do the math folks and not get worked up based on a journalist story about cuts that don't exist.

"With 7,652 new students in ESOL this year, that represents an additional $25.3 million."
That is just the increase, imagine the actual budget for ESOL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/number-of-fairfax-students-who-speak-a-foreign-language-at-home-to-surpass-50-percent/2012/09/08/de47a92a-f84d-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_story.html

Does anyone know how much it would cost a taxpayer to fund these cuts or extras?

I think they call them cuts because they have been holding off on giving raises for some time. There are actual cuts to programs just to give teachers raises this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on folks

The FY13 Budget was $2.4B
The FY14 Budget is $2.5B

There are no cuts. The budget is going up by $100,000,000.00 The "cuts" are from the dream request.

They have more money! Sheesh....

The expenses are going up b/c there are more kids entering the school --- (sheeesh!) And a higher proportion of all the kids in the system are needing extra services b/c they are ESOL or low-income. --- (sheesh!).

Next time think a little harder before you get all condescending.

At least you understand there are no cuts.

Student population is up .4% so that would account for about 10M. Where do you get a 90M increase in ESOL or low-income costs? Facts please.

Let's do the math folks and not get worked up based on a journalist story about cuts that don't exist.

PE teachers are paid tens of thousands of dollars more than physics and calculus teachers.

I assume the difference in pay is because of coaching?

Could you provide a link to this information, please?

And are you saying that individual PE teachers are making tens of thousands of dollars more than individual physics and calculus teachers? Or are you saying that all the salaries of all the PE teachers added up total tens of thousands of dollars more than the added up salaries of physics and calculus teachers? It would be interesting to see the figures for the salaries referred to here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:13:47 I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Much of the time, the "less fortunate" don't have to pay for athletic fees, etc. because they are on a sliding scale or are free to them.

I meant the threads that basically say that "I live in McLean and I don't want to subsidize the less affluent schools. It's not fair that my kid has more students in his class (even though statistically, they will be higher performing students). It's so unfair that Title I schools have small classes. Waaaaaaaahhhhh!"

And my kids don't even attend a Title I school. It's a very middle of the road school with a significant cultural and socio-economic mix. Our class sizes are almost exactly the same as the McLean schools' and there are houses that are worth about the same as mine (some even less) in the McLean Districts, so I'm paying the same property taxes as some of the whiners. Yet I get why Title I schools have smaller classes.

Oh, and also, I don't get why you wouldn't want the less fortunate kids, who because of their economic issues may have more social issues, to have proper counseling so they can grow up to better better off than their parents and contributors to society at large.

Should we give a ahit