FIRST PERSON | Tim Potts of Democracy Rising Pa. said during a call-in on PCN about the state budget that the cuts being made were "penny wise, pound foolish." Many residents of Pennsylvania agree with that statement, including me . The biggest Pennsylvania state budget cut is in regard to public education and higher education, with a total of $863 million being cut from major educational programs, according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center. The budget cuts in education will not only affect my children in public school but me as well, as I attend community college.
Pocono Mountain School District, the school where my children attend, has made plans to terminate teachers, recommend furloughs and demote teachers to part-time status. There has also been some speculation about closing one of the six elementary schools in the district.
The state budget cuts will have an incredible impact on teachers, parents, and students. If a school closes, those students moved will add to an already growing number of students in the other five schools. The cuts in teachers will mean more students per teacher. A lack of teachers means more work for the teachers remaining, a loss of one-on-one time with students, and the students needing extra help being left behind.
Students will suffer the most because of the cuts being made to their education. It shouldn't be surprising that many parents are considering alternative schooling choices like homeschooling, Montessori education and even un-schooling practices after seeing the way public schools are affected by budget cuts. I personally wonder how my children will thrive in an environment where the student population keeps growing; the good teacher population keeps dwindling; and programs like the arts, special education, and social studies are being cut from the curriculum.
Currently, I am enrolled in a community college to work on a degree that I've been meaning to get for years. The state budget cuts will affect whether I'll be able to finish getting my degree and attending the school in the next few years. Community colleges have taken a 10 percent cut, or $23.6 million. Because of these cuts, many grant programs like the Pa. State Grant will lose funding, causing many students to be ineligible to receive help in pursuing a higher education. Many students, myself included, wouldn't be able to attend college without grants.
Many programs other than education have taken a hit from Pennsylvania's budget cuts. This includes health care, public welfare and housing services, with the majority of cuts being in education. The snowball effect of the cuts will lead more people into needing more help from the other services being cut in funding. The cuts may be penny wise, but in the long run they are pound foolish.
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