Stories from the Field: Cuts Leave More and More Public School Children Behind
From the National Education Association (NEA)
Many states and local communities are still struggling with severe budget shortfalls and have cut back on instruction time or
laid off quality teachers and school staff. Parents and students are holding bake sales and auctions to save teaching
jobs, music, art, and various student activities.
It will be impossible for our public schools to meet the strict demands of the "No Child Left Behind" Act if vital
school services continue to be cut across the country.
The National Education Association (NEA) believes this gap must be bridged by increasing federal aid to the states and by
increasing public awareness of the school funding crisis. That's why we've collected this state-by-state sampling of layoffs
and cuts affecting public schools -- and the responses of students, parents, and communities -- for 2003 through the end of
November. As students began returning to school this fall, there were some shocking reports, including:
The first state in the nation to require physical education in public schools, California now has extremely overcrowded gym
classes, with an official average of 43 students. The crowded classes are taking their toll on students' health; in some
districts, only 16 percent of students met the minimum standard to be considered physically fit.
In Florida, many art teachers have been bumped out of their classrooms and forced to use traveling carts.
Well over half of Iowa's school districts have already laid off teachers or support staff, increased class sizes, or cut back or
delayed purchases of textbooks, materials, supplies, and technology.
Due to bus routes being eliminated this year, up to 60 children are not attending preschool in Lowell,
Massachusetts, because they have no way to get there.
Under pressure from "No Child Left Behind," Yonkers, New York, is spending more on test preparation while
eliminating 233 teaching positions and all athletic, visual arts, vocal, and instrumental programs, and halving
the ranks of public safety officers in the high schools. Yonkers also plans to cut 41 guidance counselors, 28
librarians, and 30 social workers by the end of the following school year.
And Ohio, a national leader in state funding provided for Head Start, has eliminated more than one-third of its slots,
with 6,238 fewer children being served and dozens of teachers laid off across the state.
Drawn from news reports, our National Education Association affiliates, and other sources, this list is updated monthly as
state and local elected officials continue to wrestle with growing fiscal crises and the decisions they must make for the good
of the educational future of our children. For more information or to notify us about changes or additional cuts and layoffs,
please contact Daniel Kaufman at [email protected].
Alabama
The state plans to lay off 4,000 teachers and 2,000 support personnel in the spring, after laying off 2,000
teachers in the previous three years. Schools are now being forced to raise class sizes, trim extracurricular activities,
delay library enhancements and technology updates, cut back on professional development, and pay for their own
supplies.
The state had planned to update its mathematics textbooks after a seven-year hiatus, but funding will not be
available this year, and only students in grades K-2 will receive textbooks during the upcoming school year. Nine
schools were closed in Birmingham, and others shut off air-conditioning in classrooms last summer.
Alaska
The schools on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula are increasing class sizes by three students in grades four and up,
combining elementary grades in single classrooms, or eliminating money for athletic team travel. The Fairbanks North
Star Borough School District has eliminated math tutors for high school students, summer school for lower grades,
and new elementary science materials for this school year.
Arizona
Mesa Unified School District, the state's largest, cut 100 support employees and sent its reading and math specialists back
to the classrooms this school year. In Scottsdale, a police drug-prevention program in the schools was eliminated.
After the Nixia School Board slashed much of its transportation funding and eliminated busing for many students,
community leaders there held a Back-to-School Safety Fair raffling off bikes, helmets, and pads and promoting safe
ways to get to school, including tips on "safely crossing highways."
California
An estimated 3,800 experienced teachers did not return to classrooms statewide -- not including the lessexperienced temporary teachers who were not asked back -- and nearly 9,000 secretaries, bus drivers, clerks, and
other non-teaching employees across the state have also lost their jobs. Many who received notices were hired during
the last several years in a statewide effort to reduce class sizes, which are now increasing across California just
as student enrollment is rising.
California already ranked dead last in the nation in meeting the need for school counselors and nurses even
before the layoffs, and more than 80,000 portable classrooms are being used by schools around the state. Districts have
also cut back or indefinitely postponed textbook purchases, maintenance, summer enrichment classes, school bus
routes, maintenance, athletics, student newspapers, and/or electives such as the arts and computer science.
The first state in the nation to require physical education in public schools now has extremely overcrowding in gym
classes, with an official average of 43 students per class. The crowded classes are taking their toll on student's
health; in some districts only 16% of students met the minimum standard to be considered physically fit.
Local cutbacks include:
Los Angeles has raised class sizes in grades four through 12, and the school district now has gym classes that
often exceed 70 students per teacher.
San Diego has abolished magnet programs at seven middle and high schools and laid off 400 school personnel.
San Francisco closed down summer school for elementary school students.
Oakland laid off 85 janitors and other support staff.
Orange County has cut back its after-school services.
Nearly 500 teachers from the Santa Ana Unified School District will not return to their classrooms, and others
have been forced to accept unpaid leave days.
The Fremont Unified School District has decided not to order any new textbooks and has eliminated 35 jobs and
added two students per classroom -- for a ratio of 27 to 1 -- in grades seven to 12.
The Campbell Union School District chopped the hours of its three middle school counselors -- who are
responsible for helping roughly 900 students each -- in half.
The Sunnyvale School District will forgo buying new science books this year.
The Mountain View-Whisman District cut several health clerks responsible for dispensing medication, and a thinning out of
the janitorial staff means students will be pitching in by carting piles of trash to a central location.
In the Glendale Unified School District, the number of students in most summer enrichment classes has risen to almost 40
per class.
The Los Alamitos District is urging parents to make a $40 donation for each day a student misses classes to
make up for state aid lost through their absence.
In the West Contra Costa School District, all middle and high school guidance counselors have been eliminated
and smaller classes eliminated in K-3 classrooms.
The Mt. Diablo School District has cut or transferred to other positions all of its 15 reading specialists.
In Rancho Cordova and Folsom, youth sports programs began paying fees this summer to use school facilities
such as stadiums, playing fields, and multipurpose rooms.
In Vista, district officials have eliminated 140 teacher and other staff positions, decreased hours for many nonteaching jobs, expanded kindergarten class sizes, and reduced extracurricular activities for students.
At Newark Junior High School, all elective courses such as band, art, drama, wood shop, economics, computer
literacy, and reading comprehension were eliminated. As a result, many student musicians now practice in the
hallways.
A school in Marin County ran out of white paper earlier this year, its rooms get vacuumed every other day, and
fewer of its lights are left on.
Schools, parents, and communities across California are mobilizing to raise millions of dollars through mail and
telephone campaigns, charity races, auctions, telethons, raffles, and bake sales to help save classroom jobs, keep classes
small, provide basic supplies, maintain music, art, sports, and other programs, and even keep schools open. For example:
Sonoma County schools are aggressively trying to boost attendance to obtain more state money. Some parents
are checking in their student just for roll call or bringing in a sick child to pick up homework so that their
school can collect the daily per child allowance from the state.
Also in Sonoma County, a group of students facing severe cuts to their band program, library hours, and textbook
purchases, gave up their allowances and sent the previous governor and their local school board $100 in pennies,
nickels, and dimes to help out with the debt.
In North Hills, parents are purchasing thousands of dollars in classroom supplies and volunteering to help
landscape school grounds.
Woodside parents raised about $1.3 million—a whopping $3,000 for each child—through donation-request letters
and phone calls as well as an auction.
In San Carlos, a school foundation brought in a seasoned fundraiser who, with the help of 90 parent volunteers, brought in
$320,000 -- five times more than what the district was used to getting in prior years. These efforts saved teaching jobs,
brought back a laid-off vice principal, and restored music programs.
Fremont's telethon and mailing campaign buys an after-school band program for 1,000 students in all 27 elementary
schools to make up for music classes cut a decade earlier.
The local education foundation in Los Gatos bumped up its fund-raising goal from $185,000 to $1 million to avoid significant
teacher job losses.
In Belmont-Redwood Shores, some parents were working to raise $200,000 to save student music programs -- as others
attempt to save teacher and librarian positions -- partly by planning a huge benefit music festival and auction.
Benicia recently cut $200,000 from the high school's sports budget, leaving parents and community members to raise the
money. One freshman said he had participated in a weight-lifting fund-raiser and planned to do some tutoring -- and maybe
a paper route -- to help defray the $1,000 the school would have spent for him to participate in three sports.
Parents in the Mountain View-Whisman School District received letters asking for help in raising an additional $635,000
needed to rehire secretaries, physical education teachers, custodians, and to fund other programs.
Parents raised almost $250,000 to save the jobs of five librarians and one music teacher in the Belmont Redwood Shores
School District.
Parents at Moreland School District, which straddles San Jose, Campbell, and Cupertino, were trying to raise $335,000 to
save their librarians, computer lab aides, and music teachers;
Irvine parents raised $420,000 to preserve the 20 to 1 student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through third grade.
Menlo Park Elementary School parents have raised more than $900,000 for the district's four schools this year, mostly from
their annual auction to pay for librarians at each school, an elementary school science teacher, the middle school art
program, math textbooks and materials, musical instruments and field trips, among other things.
Orangewood School in Redlands held a drive to collect one million pennies -- or $10,000 -- to save the jobs of as many as
30 teachers.
At Redwood Heights Elementary School, the PTA raised $106,000 this year to pay for a librarian, field trips, office
equipment, a lunch supervisor, and classroom grants for teachers.
Brywood Elementary School in Irvine held a "jog-a-thon" that raised about $6,000 to keep class sizes small.
And parents at Hoover Middle School in San Francisco were trying to raise $108,000 after five teachers, two counselors, and
a librarian lost their jobs. One parent included a note asking guests to her wedding to consider donating money to Hoover
instead of giving a gift to her and her fiancé.
Colorado
One of the earliest states to begin government-funded pre-kindergarten programs, Colorado is now reducing offerings in
early childhood education. The number of children served dropped by nearly 1,900 this school year, and Denver
Public Schools alone went from funding 56 full-day kindergarten classrooms to 14. Some local businesses in the
state purchased classroom supplies and groceries for teachers. The Denver Police Department also took all
seven drug-prevention officers out of schools.
Connecticut
School districts across the state have canceled textbook orders, laid off teachers and paraprofessionals, and deferred
building maintenance. A total of 68 teaching and other positions have been eliminated for the school year in New
Britain, and there are now six fewer buses serving K-3 students, so those who live within a mile of school will
have to walk.
The school district in Norwich, once known for its early-childhood programs, has eliminated all-day kindergarten
and all day pre-school classes, and has also cut sports, the band, and the choir.
Moreover, the district has closed one of its 10 elementary schools, causing class sizes to increase, and has
eliminated nearly 100 jobs in the past two years. In Glastonbury, students who play one or more varsity sports
must pay a $75 participation fee, and the parking fee has risen to $100 from $20.
And supporters of the Six-to-Six Magnet School in Bridgeport have scheduled a golf tournament to raise money for that
school's new library, which lacks books, paper, copiers, supplies, and administrative staff.
Delaware
Some social studies classes in Wilmington's Mt. Pleasant High School have as many as 39 students.
District of Columbia
Many schools no longer have money available for teacher recruitment, professional development, or even
necessities such as toilet paper.
Florida
The state has cut the amount of learning that a student needs to receive a high school diploma in order to keep
class sizes from increasing; students can now graduate by earning the bare minimum of 18 credits in three
years rather than 24 credits in four years.
Many art teachers have been bumped out of their classrooms and forced to use traveling carts. One hundred
fewer aides will help kindergarten teachers this year in Hillsborough County, and a number of guidance counselors and
school security officers are also being laid off.
Volusia County is eliminating the jobs of 157 teachers and classroom aides, cutting in half the budget for employing
substitute teachers, and reducing the amount of funds directed to extracurricular activities.0
Monroe County canceled summer school and after-school programs.
At 19 Pinellas County Head Start centers, 1,600 children were sent home a week earlier than usual for the winter
holidays.
In New Port Richey, the closure of a 29-year-old science and education field trip center popular with students
prompted one teacher, who had taught at the center for 24 years, to publicly offer to take a $20,000 pay cut to
keep the center running for the year, but his offer was not accepted.
Palm Beach schools have eliminated the seventh period when most high school students take elective classes or
make up failed courses.
To help soften the blow of 340 lost teacher aide positions in the district, the PTA of the Addison Mizner Elementary
School is using $52,000 of its own money to hire three aides to help kindergarten and first grade teachers.
Georgia
High school students are now only eligible to receive state aid to take just one Advanced Placement test per
year. Some schools have been forced to delay textbook purchases and maintenance and reduce the number of crossing
guards.
In Lowndes County, up to 40 teaching positions were cut for this school year, and on the first day of classes, some
kindergarten and first grade classes had 24 students -- four more than state guidelines permit. Hundreds of parents in
Fayette County have accused the district of endangering their children's safety after most bus routes within a
half-mile radius of a school were eliminated and stops were moved farther apart to save money.
The new Luella High school in Henry County opened its doors this year without "frills" such as paper clips,
staples, and rubber bands. A third-grade class in DeKalb County went five weeks without a teacher when officials there
hoped to fill the opening with a transfer rather than a new hire. And Atlanta metro schools reduced spending on
supplies such as pencils, light bulbs and paper by 19 percent and left vacant jobs for carpenters, roofers, custodians,
and air conditioner repairmen unfilled.
Hawaii
This year classrooms are seeing cutbacks in Hawaiian-language immersion, safety management, vocational
education, athletics, other after-school extracurricular activities, and part-time teacher hires. A newly built library
has no books due to lack of funds, and the bookmobile -- the only library access for many in the islands -- was
cut.
Idaho
Boise is eliminating 78 positions this year, and class sizes are increasing. Twin Falls was able to keep its hearing
specialist on staff only after teachers gave up a day's pay. Parents have been raising money for teacher
salaries through bake sales and auctions.
Illinois
School districts across the state laid off thousands of teachers and support staff, leaving class sizes of nearly 40
students in some schools. They also cut salaries for other employees, shortened school days, eliminated elective
courses, no longer funded clubs and extracurricular activities, and downsized bilingual programs. Chicago
closed down five schools, including two for teen parents, while Hamilton County shuttered two elementary
schools, and the Carpentersville School District cut 140 teaching positions. Middle-school students in Gurnie
must now pay $145 to play a team sport and $60 to join the school band or choir.
Indiana
Two thousand teaching and support staff positions, most statewide K-12 technology funding, and some elective
courses such as art and foreign languages have been lost.
Students across the state are being forced to endure larger class sizes and fees or fundraisers for any activity
outside the classroom. In addition, since 1999, the number of students in Indiana enrolled in ESL classes has risen 500
percent, but funding per student is now just half of what it was that year.
A number of school districts are charging fees for summer school, slicing course offerings, or eliminating their
summer program entirely. Evansville -- the first district in the state to provide full-day kindergarten to all eligible
students -- eliminated this service, as well as its rare elementary instrumental music education program.
Brown County teachers were asked to do away with classroom appliances such as coffee makers, microwave ovens, and
refrigerators to decrease energy expenses.
Iowa
Well over half of Iowa's school districts have already laid off teachers or support staff, increased class sizes, or cut back or
delayed purchases of textbooks, materials, supplies, and technology.
Seventy-five percent of the districts have cut back on field trips or required families to pay for extracurricular activities. At
least 350 Iowa teachers received pink slips last spring, with media specialists, librarians, guidance counselors,
and art and music teachers the hardest hit.
Over the past few years, the average class size in Des Moines public schools has grown from 25 to 38 students,
teachers were asked to take two days of unpaid leave, and a fund has been established to attempt to save the jobs of
24 teaching associates as well as other school employees.
The Pleasant Hill Parent Teacher Organization sent out e-mails to parents of students at the Pleasant Hill School
encouraging them to help raise money for items such as text books, pencils, and erasers by saving box tops from
cereals and taking advantage of school contribution offers at stores and shopping malls.
Kansas
Half of the school districts cut staff, 50 now charge students to participate in extracurricular activities, and several
moved to a four-day week. Kansas City eliminated another 20 teaching spots and laid off at least 24 other employees
one year after it cut 60 teaching jobs, while slashing funding for libraries and special education.
Students at two city elementary schools brought in small change and their parents raised funds so that the
schools could still have nurses, counselors, and foreign language teachers. Shawnee Mission has dismissed 121
teachers, and Hope/White City schools have postponed textbook, equipment, and supply purchases and increased driver's
education fees.
Kentucky
One thousand teacher and support positions have been cut, and school superintendents have slashed technology programs,
eliminated field trips, reduced maintenance projects, cut back school supplies, and delayed textbook purchases and school
bus replacements.
Dixon switched to a four-day school week to cut costs -- the first such move for any public school district in the state.
And in Fayette County, the struggling school system sold 30 buses on eBay to raise funds.
Louisiana
Rapides Parish reduced its teaching staff by 160, and 15 janitors and 32 special-education teacher aides in junior high and
high schools also lost their jobs. Jefferson Parish School Board eliminated regular summer school for the fourth
through seventh grades. Nearly 400 students at four of New Orleans magnet schools now have to rely on either
public buses or alternate forms of transportation because the school district can no longer afford to provide them with
busing.
Maine
Cuts to sports have trickled down into middle schools. Parents at Saco Middle School were forced to raise $21,000 to revive
the falls sports programs, but students will still be forced to pay a fee to participate.
Maryland
Montgomery County delayed expansion of its successful, all-day kindergarten to every elementary school, while neighboring
Prince George's County postponed expansion of magnet programs in three high schools and reduction of class sizes, and
closed an alternative middle school for troubled children.
The state cut support for after-school programs in high-poverty areas in Baltimore, a national model that
enabled families to work their way out of welfare by assisting in after-school programs for their children.
Baltimore children who fail a grade at least twice were not invited to attend summer school this past year. An
extended-day childcare program for Head Start children that last year provided care for more than 100 preschoolers in
Ellicott City and Columbia also was slashed.
Massachusetts
The state eliminated tutorial assistance to students who fail its MCAS test -- which is required for graduation -on their first try.
Seventeen school districts were denied state money to fix leaky roofs, breaking boilers, and overcrowded
classrooms, while hundreds of school nurses around the state were laid off.
More than 100 districts are charging students a fee for school bus transportation ranging from $25 to $850, and
more than 70 are requiring fees ranging from $25 to $850 to participate in a particular sport.
Boston closed six schools and eliminated 1,000 teaching and other positions. The shortage of teachers there has forced
many high schools to bring back study hall periods that were scrapped ten years ago, many of which are unsupervised and
offer no specific coursework.
In East Boston High School, some elective classes have more than 40 students. Even in the most affluent suburbs outside of
Boston, class size is edging up to 30 students and now special education services are being cut back.
In Reading, postponed maintenance led to water pipes bursting in the local high school, flooding the classroom of
the state teacher of the year, and schools or kindergarten centers in Framingham, Braintree, and Weymouth have been shut
down.
Springfield laid off 181 teachers and other staff members, leading to larger class sizes, while eliminating its hot breakfast
program and closing all school pools.
In North Andover, class sizes are increasing to 30 or more in social studies and physical education, fine arts instruction is
being cut, and science labs and a librarian eliminated.
In Winthrop, the high school has eliminated its French program and now offers only Spanish.
The number of school buses in Milton was sliced by two thirds, the average size of kindergarten classes increased
from 19 to 25, and only one teacher was left to teach physical education to 1,700 elementary school students.
Class sizes are also going up in Marborough after the elimination of several educational assistants and teachers.
Due to bus routes being eliminated, up to 60 children are not attending preschool in Lowell this year because
they have no way to get there.
Northampton, the city hailed as the "Best Small Arts Town in America" in 1998, cut art, music, and physical
education from its elementary schools, in addition to middle school physical education teachers.
A principal at Clyde F. Brown Elementary School in Millis acts as a school nurse in the morning, and the school
also raised class sizes from 18 to 23.
Fortunately for one elementary music teacher in Holliston, parents who collected $28,772 in only 10 days saved his job.
A $30,000 donation from parents in Merrimac allowed the city's two elementary schools to add an additional kindergarten
teacher and rehire a recently-laid off media library aide.
High school students in Harvard have to buy their own AP textbooks at $85 each and are paying $200 for bus
service.
In Oxford, a group of parents, teachers, and administrators gathered more than $135,000 from raffles, bake sales, and car
washes in an effort to prevent their district from abolishing all clubs and sports.
Arlington parents have to pay $1,500 to send a child to full-day kindergarten this school year—three times more
than last year—and some raised $270,000 to bring back much-needed reading specialists to all area elementary schools and
are now raising money to rescue a discarded environmental science camp.
Michigan
Many local school districts cut teaching jobs, closed schools, or eliminated classes such as arts and literature. Districts have
fewer bus routes, and many schools no longer offer late afternoon and evening hours for community and student
use.
Supply budgets were significantly reduced, field trips eliminated, and adult education services sliced drastically. Across the
state, funding for gifted and talented students and services was slashed by a whopping 95 percent, and some
districts are asking parents to pay fees to participate. In some districts, updated textbooks are not being purchased,
and outdated technology is not being replaced.
Detroit closed 16 schools, and area school districts laid off teachers and support staff, delayed purchase of computer
equipment, raised school lunch prices, forced students to pay-to-play athletics, or lowered heat to save money.
East Lansing dismissed dozens more educators and is charging a $100 one-time participation fee for sports and performing
arts, Hart schools imposed 30-student class sizes across the district, and Dearborn laid off 160 teachers and social workers.
Cuts in the Kalamazoo area led to the elimination of Latin and calculus classes at several schools, while three
elementary schools were either closed or converted for other uses.
Avondale Schools in Auburn Hills sliced five high school sports and dismissed coaches throughout the district, as even a
$100 pay-to-play fee could not cover expenses.
With districts across the state skimping on supplies for students, teachers are spending an average $400-$600 of their
own money on supplies, and parents are being asked to pay fees for textbooks and provide their children paper
towels for class.
Minnesota
School districts across the state laid off favorite teachers, increased class sizes, and/or slashed transportation, arts, music,
special education, after-school, and summer school programs.
Family and early-childhood education services took the biggest hit, suffering a nearly 19 percent funding cut. The state
recently eliminated physical education as a graduation requirement. Up to 700 teachers -- most of them recent hires -- and
other school staff in Minneapolis received pink slips last school year, and city districts are cutting back their assistance to
poor students, special education pupils, English-language learners, and early childhood and adult education.
Meanwhile, students at St. Paul's Central High School are now reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the image of a flag
on classroom televisions because their school is one of many in the area that cannot afford to purchase flags
and flag holders.
The St. Paul School District's most recent estimates show that some 1,300 classrooms lack flags and another 970 lack flag
holders. In Willmar, after-school enrichment programs that served mostly immigrant children were forced to close, and
students in Mounds View are seeing their fees for participating in extracurricular activities doubled.
Parents and communities held large private fundraisers or volunteering in schools to replace laid-off personnel around the
state. In Edina, parents and community organizations donated $20,000 to save a second-grade Spanish program.
Missouri
School districts across the state are continuing to reduce teaching positions, increase class sizes, hold off on buying
textbooks, and put off maintenance projects. St. Louis has laid off 2,000 employees and closed 16 schools, including 12 in
the northern part of the city.
Springfield cut 81 teaching positions, while Independence eliminated 121 such positions, cut instructional specialists and
supplies, ended coaches and teams in some sports, and introduced a $50 fee for participating in extra-curricular activities
next year.
In Hickman Mills, all 71 first-year teachers were not brought back this fall, and, 32 teachers did not return this fall in
Columbia. The Moberly School District froze salaries for all staff and eliminated regular summer school and field trips.
In Joplin, an alternative school was closed, in-school-suspension program cut, and summer school scaled back.
Hazelwood laid off dozens of reading and computer specialists and librarians, cut teacher mentoring and training and its
day-care and kindergarten centers, and decided not to replace five buses.
Educators in some of Missouri's smallest school districts have been forced to drastic measures in their fight for survival:
At Middle Grove in Central Missouri, a donated side of beef was raffled off to raise money for the small elementary school.
A teacher in Mirabile spent her summer raising funds for new bulletin boards and then installed them herself.
When the Missouri City District laid off 10 of its 22 part-time employees, the superintendent made ends meet
by teaching, driving the bus, and even cooking in the cafeteria.
Montana
Lack of adequate funding led to neighborhood school closures across the state, severe cuts in academic programs, and
teacher salaries that are some of the worst in the nation. More than 100 teachers and about 50 staff members in Billings,
including instructional aides and reading aides, were dismissed. Helena cut funds for libraries and textbooks, and class sizes
are estimated to grow and extracurricular activities scaled back in Missoula.
Nebraska
Hundreds of teachers in more than 40 districts around the state received layoff notices. As a result of these cuts and
requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind" law to spend time and money on testing, courses such as art, music,
foreign languages, and driver's education were cut back or eliminated. The state's two largest districts, in Omaha and
Lincoln, now have nearly 370 portable classrooms. In Grand Island, the district delayed textbook purchases and
increased some class sizes.
Nevada
Las Vegas students saw their class sizes rise into the 30s and 40s and basketball and cheerleading activities eliminated
entirely, and some children were given paper copies of materials, rather than textbooks, to take home. Washoe
County decided not to rehire 30 teachers, counselors, and librarians for this school year. Funding for enhancing
education technology has also been cut.
New Jersey
Trenton laid off 600 school employees ranging from teachers to custodians, and 670 school staff in Passaic received
non-renewal letters. Englewood school trustees fired 120 teachers and other staff, abolished art and music lessons, and
halved the hours for pre-kindergarten. And the Holland Township School District replaced foreign-language
teachers with video instruction for grades four through seven.
New York
School districts across the state imposed hiring freezes and cut staff members and services such as preschool and sports.
Ten after-school programs were cut, leaving 500 children from Utica to Auburn with nothing to do in the afternoon and
working parents scrounging for childcare.
New York City laid off more than 800 paraprofessionals from the school system and shut down cafeterias at 177 schools
that serve fewer than 200 students each for summer classes. At Manhattan's Booker T. Washington Middle School,
teachers still have classes with more than 40 students and a shortage of books, chairs, computers, lab materials
and space, while William H. Maxwell Vocational High School in Brooklyn is so severely overcrowded that classes
are being taught in the library, cafeteria, auditorium, and shop areas.
Syracuse eliminated more than 200 teaching and other staff jobs. Buffalo students recently lost 276 teachers and 250
librarians, guidance counselors, and reading specialists, at least two elementary schools, and an alternative
high school. In addition, after-school activities such as chess, science, or debate teams are largely being scrapped, and
interscholastic sports are being forced to rely largely on parents and coaches for transportation to games and practices.
Buffalo officials also have asked middle school and high school teachers to draw up their own class lists based on
which students report to class rather than provide each teacher a master list in an effort to cut costs, but the
move has backfired with students cutting class or ending up in the wrong classroom. Buffalo also decided to raise class
size in elementary grades from 25 pupils to 30 pupils, close 10 schools, and eliminate 218 teaching jobs and 121
other positions over four years. In Troy, there are no social workers left.
This spring Yonkers is spending more on test preparation under pressure from "No Child Left Behind" while eliminating
233 teaching positions and all athletic, visual arts, vocal, and instrumental programs and halving the ranks of
public safety officers in the high schools. By the end of the following school year, Yonkers will also cut 41 guidance
counselors, 28 librarians, and 30 social workers.
North Carolina
Vocational education for seventh graders and a school breakfast initiative were cut back. Some schools buy one set of
books that remain in the classrooms instead of giving each child their own book. The Durham school system
eliminated 112 positions—mostly teachers and teaching assistants.
North Dakota
At least seven schools were closed for this school year.
Ohio
Ohio, a national leader in state funding provided for Head Start, eliminated more than one-third of its slots, or 6,238
fewer children, causing numerous centers to close and dozens of teachers to be laid off across the state.
Cleveland cut 172 teacher positions and limited summer school to high school seniors. Toledo laid off 230
teachers and 73 other support positions and closed down three area kindergarten and elementary schools at the
beginning of this school year.
Summit County eliminated 304 spots in the Head Start program, closed two of the popular program centers, and laid
off 50 staff members. Canton school officials dismissed about 10 percent of their teaching staff, Springfield
eliminated 69 teaching positions, and Norton cut teaching jobs, reduced busing, and imposed pay-to-play fees of $450
or more to play sports
Oklahoma
One thousand students are without bus service, and some 5,000 teaching, coaching, and educational support
positions have been eliminated over the last year. As a result, teachers are taking on more classes while their
salaries are frozen and they lose school supplies, and they have even filled in to mop floors, drive buses, and
cook cafeteria food.
The state already exempted 11 school districts from class size requirements, allowing them to create classes
with 30 or more students. In the state's largest school district, Tulsa, school personnel gave crash courses in
teaching to community volunteers to work as substitute teachers.
Six hundred of 900 school bus stops were eliminated. Oklahoma City school officials closed seven schools and laid
off 600 teachers, and principals in Putnam City and Enid are filling in for missing teachers.
Oregon
Across the state, 3,000 teaching positions were cut, schools closed, class sizes increased, and music, art, athletics,
marching band, and other extracurricular activities were cut or eliminated. Almost half of the school districts carved a
total of almost 500 days, or 12 million instructional hours, off the last school year, and 30 of them weren't able
to maintain the minimum number of instructional hours required.
The state has abolished state student tests for writing, math, and science in middle schools and some schools
have received no new textbooks since 1988. Spanish is emerging as the sole option for Oregon students who want to
study a foreign language, as budget cuts translate to reduced programs in languages such as German, French and Russian.
Examples of the impact of budget pressures at the local level include:
In Douglas County, 80 new teaching positions were eliminated for this school year, class sizes were expected to increase
from the mid-20s to the low-30s, and sports and other extracurricular programs continue to take a hit.
Yamhill High School saw average class sizes jump by 10 to 20 students this year.
A math teacher in Hillsboro has two classes that top out at 54 students, and other classes throughout the state
routinely have 40 or more children.
In Portland, teachers agreed to work 10 days without pay so that the last school year was not cut short, and
high school students and their parents in the area were running telethons and auctions and collecting recyclables
to raise money to pay for teacher salaries and basic supplies.
Fifty parents in Eugene donated blood plasma to raise $30,000 to pay for a schoolteacher's salary.
The Medford School District eliminated 23 staff members, including seven child development specialists, two school
nurses, two psychologists and several maintenance and secretarial positions, and the district is charging each student a
$100 pay-to-play fee per sport in high school and $50 in middle school.
Lake Oswego families are paying as much as $900 a year for their children to play high school sports.
In order to retain as many teachers as possible and keep class sizes down, the Dallas school district was unable to
purchase new textbooks. Many students were studying from textbooks older than themselves until an
anonymous $185,000 donation provided 2,700 children with new science or math books.
Other school districts asked parents to help curb the supply shortage by pitching in a variety items, including
crayons and even toilet paper.
And after the Junction City School District cut art, music and gym classes, laid off three teachers and
eliminated all field trips, some local male residents -- farmers ages 40-70 -- decided to drop everything "Full
Monty"-style by modeling for a nude pinup calendar to raise funds for schools.
Pennsylvania
The Mill Creek School Board cut 30 positions for the school year, including teachers, educational assistants, custodians, and
athletic staff.
Rhode Island
Providence cut 128 positions, slashed funding for the arts, and eliminated elementary science and technologyenrichment classes. Cranston schools were forced to eliminate sports, extracurricular activities, and substitute
teachers at the middle and high school level.
South Carolina
Two thousand teachers were dismissed, leading to average class sizes at the state maximum of 35 students in many
high schools, and many school staff and maintenance personnel were laid off.
Several schools were closed, and many that remain open cut out foreign language classes, gifted-and-talented
programs, other electives, athletic activities, guidance services, and/or field trips. Some poorer and rural districts
eliminated music and art while laying off teachers.
Summer school and teacher training have were reduced or eliminated, and the Charleston community rounded up
volunteers to teach summer school for elementary students who needed it to be promoted to the next grade.
Cherokee County replaced foreign language teachers with videotapes. Many Greenville County schools cut out courses
including art, drama, foreign languages, honors physics and chemistry, accounting and creative writing, and
more than 200 teaching positions were eliminated.
In one Lexington school district, class sizes increased by two students, and foreign languages in kindergarten and first grade
were cut. Richland and Cherokee counties allowed slick advertisements for banks, restaurants, and even dental
care on their walls to raise money.
And the state's 2001 teacher of the year saw her position of curriculum specialist eliminated.
South Dakota
The Elm Valley School District auctioned off an elementary school for $49,000 through eBay. Other schools
solicited volunteer coaches for varsity teams while eliminating art, music, and other extracurricular activities.
Tennessee
School systems across the state were forced to shut down preschool classrooms or find local money to make up the
difference. Montgomery County schools laid off 30 bus drivers. A Nashville elementary school principal frustrated with
the aging condition of 49 windows at her school smashed them herself in hopes of getting replacements. Rhea
County teachers, administrators, and parents pleaded with the local board of education to rehire two school
nurses laid off last school year.
Texas
Some history and health books used by schools across the state are 14 years old, but purchase of replacements
in these and other subjects has been postponed.
Schools throughout the state will lose funding designed to outfit libraries and classrooms with computers and other
high-tech equipment. The Dallas suburb of Carrollton-Farmers Branch canceled training programs designed to
certify teachers as "highly qualified," as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The Northside School District eliminated 188 teaching positions, and cut back on reading and math specialists and
physical education teachers in elementary schools.
Other school districts across the San Antonio area eliminated hundreds of teaching and non-teaching positions -- 278 in the
North East Side, 115 in the City of San Antonio, and 50 in Edgewood.
The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District is charging students up to $150 to join sports teams. And Arlingtonarea elementary schools are selling soft drinks and candy after school to purchase science materials, library books, copier
paper, and other supplies.
Utah
The state now has the largest class sizes in the nation, ranks 50th in per-pupil spending, and is facing up to
100,000 new students over the next 10 years. The Utah Arts Council also had to trim its artists-in-residence program
in Utah schools, and state funding was reduced for bringing ballet, symphony, and other performing groups to the schools.
Weber schools put 10th grade competency testing and some written tests on hold.
Virginia
The state cut funding that helped pay for school health care. Chesapeake postponed construction of a new high
school, despite the fact that its high schools currently have up to 66 portable classrooms each, and Fairfax County delayed
expansion of an all-day kindergarten program. And in just one day, supporters of Rappahannock County schools bought
up 1,000 copies of a nude calendar featuring their local male residents to pay for a rubberized running track for
the local high school.
Washington
Many school districts across the state are now charging tuition in the thousands of dollars per year for previously free allday kindergarten. Eight Edmonds elementary schools and one care center laid off 193 teachers and other school staff, and
two Head Start programs east of the city were closed. The Ridgefield and Washougal school districts scaled back summer
school this past year.
West Virginia
Three popular and rigorous summer programs held on college campuses for students and purchases of computers and other
technology equipment across the state were slashed.
Wisconsin
Twenty-three schools were shut down statewide this year, and some of the empty buildings leased out to
increase revenue. School districts around the state are facing larger class sizes and increasing student fees as well as the
termination of some extracurricular activities.
Some students are being forced to take buses to other schools or transfer to new buses, leaving many students in
rural areas with a two-hour round trip commute. Many districts eliminated social workers, guidance counselors,
and special help programs, such as those that help struggling readers, and others cut music, art, and foreign
language programs.
Specific local examples include:
More than half the computers in Madison are at least six years old, with aid from the state to upgrade no longer
available.
The universal summer school program in Milwaukee was eliminated.
The South Milwaukee School District plans fee increases for student activities that range from 22 percent to 100
percent, the Kettle Moraine School District has doubled its high school parking fees for students to $200, and
both the Germantown and Waukesha school districts plan to raise their fees for driver's education ($395 per student in the
latter).
Students in the Ashwaubenon School District are seeing temperatures in most buildings set two degrees colder during the
winter months and are being faced with new fees for parking and participation in sports programs.
Elmbrook School District dropped languages such as French and German for grades 4-6, and St. Francis dropped its
Japanese and Spanish programs -- considered gems among elementary school programs.
Marinette schools laid off 52 teachers and 76 support staff and closed two schools, while Appleton eliminated the positions
of 40 retiring teachers, causing average class sizes to increase from 25 to 27.
In La Crescent, 16 teaching positions were eliminated, student activity fees have nearly doubled, and technology and
custodial staff were cut.
At Hartford Union High School, educators have been pinching pennies by raising student fees; eliminating the drivers
education program, furniture, and computer purchases; restricting the number of pages students can print; and cutting
textbook purchases by almost half as well as funds for teacher professional development.