Comments on: No more magic tricks: meeting Thursday on Oakland school cuts

By: harlemmoon

harlemmoon — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:07:21 +0000

San Jose officials closed an $83 million budget shortfall. Surely, Hal the Magician can come up with a creative way to find $500,000. C’mon, Hal, what do ya say. One more trick.

By: Oakland Teacher

Oakland Teacher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:50:26 +0000

For many schools, music and art classes are already gone. Remember that with site based budgeting, schools decide how to spend their money on a site by site basis. Not all schools can afford those classes.

Oftentimes, schools must make the hard choice between things like social workers, paying for psychologist time, school security officers, smaller class sizes in grades beyond K-3, intervention teachers, reading coaches and art/music or other elective programs. In elementary schools, a strong, active parent presence helps to ensure those programs stay in place if they are valued over the other needs. That is not to say they are more valuable; it is a shame that schools ever have to choose!

By: seenitbefore

seenitbefore — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:17:47 +0000

All I can say is… I’m glad that art and music classes are not on the short list of classes to be eliminated….. at least for now.

By: harlemmoon

harlemmoon — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:28:51 +0000

Magic tricks! Is that what he was doing all this time? Sheesh, I actually thought he was doing finance and budgeting.
Well, as we shouldn’t expect him to pull any more rabbits out of his, uh, hat, perhaps he can now get down to the real business of making the tough and necessary cuts in all the appropriate OUSD, uh, quarters.