Pursuant to the lively discussion going on in the last post on the possible closing of the Easton Public Library by the EASD, below are articles on the debate as to the necessity of funding an accreditation department. Most schools maintain accreditation without creating a separate department under a director, and this department costs over $160,000/year. Why is this considered priority spending over keeping the library? And what about all the money that gets spent on the sports programs--I like sports in schools and think they're important, but are they more important to a school district and its community than their public library?
And is it possible, as one reader suggested, that this is all a ploy to scare us into another tax hike that wouldn't be necessary if the EASD's budget was better spent?
Here is the article from the Express Times:
Express Times Article by Colin McEvoy on EASD Accreditation Spending Debate
Here is an article from the Morning Call:
Morning Call Article by Christopher Baxter on EASD Proposal to Pull Funding from Library
What do you think? Post a comment here!
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4 comments:
With all due respect, the "salary" numbers that you posted from the Express-Times are nowhere near the total amount spent for the AFG process. Teachers are pulled out of the classroom for meetings and professional development MULTIPLE time per year, requiring substitute teachers to take their place... Our children having substitute teachers regularly! The printing demands of the AFG department are astronomical. The business manager was quoted at the last budget meeting that the total cost of AFG is between 500 and 600 thousand dollars! The "director" gets paid a director's salary with no real certifications to back it up. This is time and money NOT WELL SPENT. The AFG process has turned into a horrible burden psychologically and financially on the EASD.
Kudos to Anonymous!
What I would like to know is why AFG was pulled from the "list" of possible cuts before the list was presented to the Board. There are plenty of members of the Board of Education who do not support AFG the way it is handled in Easton. No districts pay someone to be in charge of this process, why does EASD? Especially during this time of economic downturn!!
Well said. Here's some Morning Call blog posts that are misplaced under a roofing repair article. Seems that more than the 3 of us feel this way about the AFG process and the way it is handled in Easton.
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/the-morning-call/TPVI8RFUS770HH0KS
Thanks for the corrections on the numbers--I was adding the $83K for the director's salary, plus the $59K set aside for teachers putting in extra hours for the accreditation process that were mentioned in the article. Hidden costs, such as substitute teaching costs, are important to bring forward. $600K is 3/5 that they are proposing pulling from the library.
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