[Student Reporters] 'Education Cuts in the “Sunshine State'

Kim, Tae-Hu / <10th, F.W. Buchholz High School>

Among the 50 states in America Florida is ranked last in the nation in terms of spending per pupil compared to the state's wealth. Last year Florida's per pupil spending was 15% below the national average at $7759 per student. Recent budget cuts have made this situation even worse.

At Buchholz High School in Alachua County Florida teachers and administrators have had to cut back on spending and cut entire budgets in order to survive under new expenditures. One teacher remarked that it was now impossible to even buy new toilet paper.

The reason behind the cuts were because of the recent downturns in the economy which led to less tax money for the state government. In response the state of Florida decided to cut education funds with less money being sent to schools. However while most students and teachers seem to understand the reason disagree with the steps the State has taken.

"Right now our money is not being distributed accordingly."

Other students seemed to share similar views. Jennifer Duncanson a sophomore states that "The more money that is taken away from our high schools the more activities we are missing out on. We are only in high school once and due to the budget cuts we aren't able to fully fulfill our high school experience."

Teachers especially seemed to have strong opinions on the recent cuts. The sociology/psychology teacher at Buchholz Ms. Kirsten Flamand argues that the state should cut everything before it starts to cut on eduction explaining that one cannot "go back and fix a bad education."

Dr. Fagerberg currently the only Biology teacher in the Advanced Placement curriculum stated that budget cuts "limits creative experiences" for high school students. She too agrees that funds were unfairly allocated - even among the amount given to schools.

"Subjects [such as] science needs a lot of funding and should be a priority over issues such as school buses. Funding cuts should not be across-the-board."

For her subject Dr. Fagerberg requires funding for in-class lab sessions required by the AP curriculum. However due to the funding cuts labs have been cut back reduced or replaced with cheaper alternatives. All of the orders she put in for the second semester have been cancelled and only recently did the school allow an order to come through necessary for her subject.

"Funding cuts restricts the experiences you can give to students" she explains.