#school-funding-and-viability

#school-funding-and-viability

"I think this is a worthwhile investment in the future so that we are protecting the workforce and people can live with the dignity they deserve" when they retire, said state Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Queens Democrat.

Keep state as close as possible to where it's actually used. Lift it when multiple components need it or you need to coordinate behavior between components.

The district promised to spend its money on 'neighborhood schools.' Now, the district is preparing to close five elementary schools, displace one and break neighborhoods apart through rezoning.

With an $850 million budget for 33,000 students, OUSD has the highest per-pupil costs of any large district in the county, Castro said. But district leaders' habit of making financial plans and then abandoning them imperils OUSD's future.

Mamdani stated that the City Council's budget strategy effectively ensures this structural deficit will continue indefinitely, impacting vital city services and failing to solve deep financial problems.

What makes the program tricky is that it blurs the party lines on school choice. It's not a traditional voucher. But opposition to any school choice policy is deeply ingrained for many Democrats. If governors opt in to the program, tax dollars will go toward private school tuition for children in their states, something many Democrats are uncomfortable with.

Over the past few weeks leading up to the teachers strike, Superintendent Maria Su repeatedly told the press and labor negotiators that dipping into the district's over $400 million reserves was, simply, "not an option." But projected spending shows that the district will significantly spend its reserves to pay for its labor agreements, potentially depleting its "restricted funding" by 2028.

The Palo Alto Unified School District is in the middle of at least 11 different lawsuits, including cases that allege unchecked bullying, racist attacks, injured students, inadequate special education and retaliation by district leadership.

This is the worst crisis OUSD has ever faced. Period. We don't even know what's possible yet. We never did the work to see what are our options. These are big questions. And I don't have any of the answers. And I have issue with that.

Whenever I made my initial rounds at a school, a quick peek at its technological resources was often a reliable predictor of its ability to meet students' broad needs. The differences in the quality and volume of computing labs at a school like Lincoln Park High School on Chicago's wealthy north side, where the local population is 75% white, versus Raby High School, located in economically distressed East Garfield Park which is 83% Black, were stark.

On a chilly day before Christmas, Teresa Rivas helped a tween boy pick out a new winter coat. "Get the bigger one, the one with the waterproof layer, mijo," she said, before helping him pull it onto his string-bean frame. Rivas provides guidance counseling at Owen Goodnight Middle School in San Marcos, Texas. She talks with students about their goals and helps if they're struggling in class. She's also a trained navigator placed there by a nonprofit called Communities in Schools.

Teachers have almost no authority over student behaviors or academic grading, and are given little, if any, respect from administrators, parents or even students. Instead, students have all the authority but no responsibility for their success. Students do (or don't do) whatever they wish, while empty-handed teachers are left to take the blame. Teachers no longer have the ultimate tool of flunking students.