The Impact of Budget Cuts on Arizona School

Editor's note: In this column, sophomore Jason Gomez from Empire High School in Arizona gives us an inside look at the impact that major budget cuts will have in his district next year.

In tough economic times, cuts are being made everywhere, including schools. 

For years, my school district — Vail Unified School District — used an override budget. The override budget paid for physical education as well as fine arts classes, including art, drama and photography. And it also kept class sizes small. 

But in November, that budget was in jeopardy, and Proposition 404 appeared on the ballot. If the proposition had passed, the override budget would have been extended, and taxes would have increased by 51 cents for every hundred dollars of assessed property value.

The whole district and all the schools were begging for the community to “Vote for 404!”  When it finally came to Election Day, sadly, it did not pass.

The day right after Election Day, it was obvious in my school that no one was happy. All of the negative predictions were going to come true. No one wanted budget cuts, but they became necessary. 

We lost a major part of our budget. Next school year, class sizes will be bigger, fewer classes will be offered, teachers will lose their jobs, classes will be cut, and everyone will have to work more. 

Teachers next year will have to work with a larger class size. This year's average class size is 24 to 29 students, and next year's average class size will be approximately 32 to 35 students. Students are going to have to work harder to make sure that they are able to learn everything. And teachers are going to have a crowded room and will have to try to make sure that everyone’s needs are met.

Mr. Derek Langley, a geometry teacher at Empire High School, teaches full classes all day, and next year, a whole section of Geometry will be cut. Now Langley will have to teach all of the students with one less class period. He reports, “It is just going to make everything harder. I really feel bad for the students because there are going to be so many students.”

How does this cut impact the technology at Empire High School, a school that does not use textbooks, but laptops?

Empire already had to change its laptops. For years, Empire used Apple’s MacBooks for students. But at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, the school issued netbooks to students because of budget cuts. The school became half Macbook and half netbook.

Mrs. DeAun Nieto, a member of the technology staff at Empire, says, “After first getting the netbooks, we realized that it was more money to pay for repairs then actually buying a full set of different laptops. Also, many of the students did not like the new netbooks. Then once hearing about the budget cuts we had to pick some sort of laptops and spend the least amount of money.”

The technology department started to explore its options. Nieto would prefer to completely go to MacBooks, but they're too expensive.

Then the department looked into iPads. But iPads do not have flash, and many teachers use flash with their content.

The third option the technology staff looked at was new netbooks or going into HP products. 

“All we want to do is choose the best option, without using the most money, but as of right now, nothing is decided," Nieto says. "We need to think of something because the next school year is coming up.”

An average school week consists of three days with all classes, and the two other days have half of the classes, but the periods are 35 minutes longer. They are also known as “block days.” Next year, block periods will be eliminated, and all classes are going to be 55 minutes long. 

Mr. Matt Donaldson, the principal at Empire High School, extremely dislikes the budget cuts.  Donaldson says, “We just want the best for the students and the staff.  Due to the cuts, we had to cut four full teaching positions.”

Empire High School will also be overcrowded.  Donaldson says, “Empire is currently 100 students over the school limit, and next year we will have 60 more students.”

The Vail Unified School District is gaining many new students, and the district does not have enough space or money for them.

I truly believe that the school and the district has my best interest at heart. They do not want me, or my fellow peers, to fail. All they want is the best. I know that they are doing all they can, to the best of their ability, to make sure that we all can succeed. 

Right now, all I can do is wait and see what is in store.

About the author: Jason Gomez is a sophomore at Empire High School who enjoys learning Spanish.