Comments on: On belt tightening

By: Tina

Tina — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:41:42 +0000

My budget has been cut to $500 plus whatever grants I can get. I do what I can with whatever is FREE. I buy only Fiction. No databases; no special services. The next cut will be ME!

By: kat

kat — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:06:46 +0000

I would be interested in a follow-up on what databases your teachers and students can’t live without.

By: joycevalenza

joycevalenza — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:48:28 +0000

lfox18, I love that idea! Do you have any idea how we might start that movement to redefine class texts? I’ll happily get on that bus!

By: lfox18

lfox18 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:36:19 +0000

Certainly the textbooks laws need to be changed to reflect the reality that, in so many places, online databases and e-books have become the textbook as teachers move to more authentic an inquiry based learning. That would free up those textbooks dollars to be used for resources that the kids really need!

By: elisabeth

elisabeth — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:42:46 +0000

These are incredible cuts. I am cringing thinking about what will be coming down here in Illinois. I had my LTC budget frozen for this year and I know more cuts are coming. Your well written article only brings into sharper focus the need to support each other for the sake of our students.

By: Terry

Terry — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:03:33 +0000

Joyce, Our district leadership informed us this week, that due to a significant shortfall in CT State funding for mandated special education programming, we must accept 2 furlough days for every employee (certified and non-certified) AND the expect layoffs of 20 “at will”(aka part-time) employees; OR if unions do not agree to the furlough days, layoffs of 6 – 15 (or so) certified staff will happen in January. Guess who the certified staff are? Yup, “Instructional Support”, which in CT includes library media, guidance, social workers, etc. If Arne Duncan, Newt Gingrich, and Al Sharpton want a “Race to the Top”, how about starting with Federal funding for educational mandates instead of the “fire hose” economics pouring down on local school districts, eroding away our abilities to bring the 3S’s (sifting, synthesis, and sharing)~ the “new literacies”~ of critical Internet and ICT skills to students. We no longer have a choice 3R’s or 3S’s, our kids must have BOTH. (Thanks go to Patrick Woessner, Technology in the Middle blog, for the articulation of 3S’s). How can we get our collective experiences heard and shared?

By: Diane

Diane — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:29:23 +0000

Joyce, those are some huge reductions at the state level. As local resources dwindle, regional, state, and federal resources become even more critical.

If we can find money for [insert large government spending item], then we should be able to find money for educational resources.

By: Jude

Jude — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:26:24 +0000

Ah, well. I have a miniscule budget to begin with (I purchase one database, EBSCO). When I started 6 years ago, I had *no* budget at all. We are facing cuts as well, but somehow I don’t think it will make much of a difference.