What educational choices do we want for our children?

What educational choices do we want for the children of our community?  Last week I shared in regard to fundamental rights provided by the Wyoming Constitution with regard to education and the impact of the Wyoming Legislature’s choice to leave out the external cost adjustment component of the Wyoming school funding model since 2010 to our students’ education.

This week I want to focus on reductions that have taken place since that time in HSCSD #1. Complete program eliminations include: the family consumer science (home economics) program that taught students lifelong skills about home management, child development, fiscal responsibility, sewing, and cooking.  The business education program eliminated was for students looking to move toward careers in banking, or as accountants.  The alternative school program helped students that may be struggling with discipline and possible expulsion, credit recovery, or other options (graduation rate during that period held near or above 90 percent as compared to 78 percent based on spring 2016).  In RWE, the technology special was eliminated.  It is important to realize that this limits keyboarding and other technology skills for elementary students.  The new state Wyoming assessment known as WY-TOPP, which begins this spring, will call on elementary students to have keyboarding skills.  The automotive and woodworking programs that have been a part of public education for so long, now struggle to find quality candidates, and most colleges have eliminated the programs training teachers in this area.  Our students will be working with mentors from the community to provide instruction in the trades, but the overall program is now gone.  Computer science was an elective offering a year ago taught by a certified teacher, but now is delivered digitally only.

Student support positions have also been eliminated.  Our high school special education students formerly had instruction from a teacher that helped them achieve employment in the community as part of their education.  This position was known as the community job coach, and that position was eliminated. The dropout prevention specialist position was an advocate for students in trouble with law enforcement, and was the liaison between the school and the community agencies, but no longer exists.  All three instructional facilitator positions have been eliminated, as well as the elementary reading coach, the RWE/TMS reading specialist, and the TMS/HS math interventionist positions all geared to help struggling students.  

Administrative and clerical positions have been eliminated, as well as professional staff development opportunities.  The food service director position, the federal funds coordinator, two secretarial positions, and the curriculum director positions were eliminated. Professional development and staff trainings have been limited to only federal funding directed only for such activities.

Sports and activities have also been trimmed or eliminated.  The indoor track program was eliminated, as well as student meals on away activity trips.  Bare minimum coaching numbers create difficult supervision at different game sites.  The overnight trips necessary to compete in Wyoming activities have been reduced and will now be fundraised to supplement necessary funding.

To close, the joy in being an educator is seeing well-rounded, young adults that graduate enter the world with the tools and passion to accomplish their dreams.  As parents, most want the same or better opportunities than we experienced ourselves for our children.  As a parent, ask yourself if the eliminated programs listed were available when you were in school?  The reductions are not complaints, but merely facts about the reduced spending power in HSCSD #1.  In my estimation with further reductions as a state, we will be flirting with not fulfilling our Wyoming Constitutional obligation to Article 7-1 for our children.