Education Cuts in Kansas and Missouri

These are tough times for everyone, including those of us in education. For myself, living on the salary of a first-year public school teacher can be a very challenging thing. I make enough to get by, but just barely. My wife only recently found a part-time job, which will help, but only slightly. We have already cut a few things out of our own personal budget, which was not really that hard to do, but now we will likely cut our health insurance coverage because it is just costs too much. Indeed, the road ahead is sometimes too much to think about, as the economy of education funding is not looking good.

The KC Star has put out this article on the cuts that will likely take place in education in both Kansas and Missouri (the image above comes from the same article). Missouri has been able to avoid making cuts so far, but will no doubt be making them in this upcoming legislative session. Kansas, on the other hand, has made several cuts to their budget, and will be making more as their budget deficits aren't getting any smaller. I know my school district has already announced they will be making budget cuts, although what and who will be cut out has not been announced.

While the cuts are understandable (and from a budgeting policy standpoint, somewhat necessary), they are truly unfortunate. It is not just my own job that is on the line, but the jobs of numerous other teachers and school staff. In the greater scheme of things, the quality of education we will be giving our children will only be hindered by increasing classroom sizes and decreasing lack of resources to school services.

Now is the point in this blog post where I would go off on my socialist rant about the need to increase taxes on the wealthy and cut military and prison budgets to help out health care, education, and other social services. But I won't; not right now anyways. All I want to do is show what 2010 has in store for myself, and the education system in the state of Kansas. I will promise to continue to look at this issue as is develops, and keep readers of this blog (if there are any) informed of the situation both with myself, and here in Kansas.

In addition, I will continue to work as hard as I can to be the best teacher I can be, and continue my professional development requirements so that I can better ensure a renewal of my contract next year (or at the very least, make myself more marketable to other school districts if my contract isn't renewed).Beyond that , I will pray and hope. It isn't just my job, or the jobs of other teachers on the line, but the quality of education so many children in Kansas need.

Professional Development and Blogging

As a first year special education teacher, updating and maintaining on a regular basis is not going to be an easy task. I cannot promise that I will be able to write something every day, but I hope to give relevant postings as much as possible.

One way to help post regularly is to have a good source of websites to go to for relevant information. But having good access to resources is not only important to me as a blogger. It is also important as a professional teacher who wants to continue to grow. I am finding more often than not in this job that it is too easy to slip into lazy routines and outdated methods of teaching. This is not to say there is anything wrong with "old school" methods to teaching. One of the most common phrases in teacher college is that "you don't have to reinvent the wheel".

But since society changes, students change, and thus, teachers need to change (transitive property in practical usage). Many teachers feel that there are way too many professional development activities they must go through. I understand the massive amount of time that PD takes up, but I tend to take a contrarian viewpoint in my profession. I believe a good teacher is always one that is looking for new ideas and ways to reach students. This is not only true of the education profession, but in any profession. In addition, because we are in the business of education, it only makes sense that our education is always ongoing. Teacher education never ends.

One good source I just found is a list of the "50 Best Blogs for Special Education Teachers", put out by OnlineUniversity.com. I have visited a few of these sites before, and look forward to perusing through the other sites.