About a month ago, our principal (at my Omaha Public School) called us to a meeting where he informed us that because of the "financial crisis" there were budget cuts for the school, and this would affect all of us to some degree, but we would get through it. He is after all, a very gifted leader, well-skilled in managing limited budgets due to previous experience. (At least that's what he tried to convince us of over the next few minutes.)
My immediate thought, of course, was... what does the "economy" have to do with school budgets? My understanding has been that the money used for schools was from taxes; not investments. Surely we haven't taken a big hit to our property taxes in Omaha, have we? In fact, the economy in Omaha is pretty much the same as it has been for as long as I've been living here, with the obvious exception of retirement investments.
Since that announcement, we've been getting word about multiple positions in the building being cut. Many teachers will be forced out of the building or into different grade levels or positions. I have already been informed that my position is one of those being cut.
So... maybe someone else can explain the whole thing to me instead. As far as we've been told, we've somehow lost lots of funding instead of new money being passed out.
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Now I wish we would have talked about this last night. Did you ask him how the school was losing money?
I am with you, this makes no sense whatsoever.
Yes, property values are going down. However, I have not heard of anyone who had a reduction in their property taxes because of the economy.
I guess I am not sure where someone would even find out what the budget for a particular school was from year to year. It would be interesting to see how much money the district received last year and compare that with what they are projecting this year. Do you think that they have just re-allocated their funds, or is it that everyone is behind on paying their taxes because of the economy?
Was this an official announcement that your position is being cut? Do they give you a classroom because of seniority, do they transfer you to a different school, or do you need to look for another job?
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