'They’re cutting everything but the kids': On budget reductions and school conditions
by thenotebook on Aug 16 2013 Posted in Commentary
by Erin Rooney
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| It didn't take a hurricane to wipe out Philly Public Schools Just Corporate Education Reform |
Residents of Philadelphia are counting down the days until the city’s public schools open. We are faced with insufficient funds and abundant worry about the School District’s ability to open safe and functioning schools. In the face of a massive budget crisis, the District has slashed numerous positions, programs, and resources. These reductions raise serious concerns.
Of course, this budget crisis and its consequences have been in progress for a few years. Schools have been working with reductions in staffing, programming, and funding since the start of the 2011-2012 school year, the same year I began data collection in two neighborhood schools as part of a dissertation study on teachers’ working conditions. Though I did not intend to research the impacts of budget reductions at the local school level, this reality inevitably surfaced in conversations with teachers about their work.
Below I share a few of the many lessons, gleaned from speaking with teachers, that are important to consider as we enter the school year with our city’s schools drastically underfunded.
School facilities: “It’s very unclean and dilapidated, and I feel like it should not be a school.”
It’s no secret that some of Philadelphia’s public school buildings are dated and in disrepair. Even the nicest school buildings suffer when there are reduced maintenance services. Teachers bemoaned the deteriorating conditions of their school buildings as maintenance crews were cut and the cleanliness of the school buildings declined over the course of the school year.
The overall impact a school building has on teachers and students cannot be overstated. In my study, the reduced maintenance services shaped teachers’ daily experiences. One teacher said, “When I walk in the back doors its smells, it’s dirty, it’s disgusting.” Certainly, other issues will take precedence as the city works to open schools on time; however, we have to think through school facilities as