By Sydra Adams

As all the citizens of Jefferson County are going through this economic crisis, the schools are going through the pain of budget cuts and job cuts.

According to the Jeffco Public Schools website, “More than 13,000 responses were submitted to an online budget survey, which was completed on Tuesday, Feb. 11.” The State legislators are currently discussing the amount of money, classes, class sizes and teachers that will or will not be cut. Based on the state legislators’ decisions, the Board of Education will vote on the different cuts.
The decrease of finances and jobs are causing problems that should be brought to the students’ and teachers’ attention. The classes’ that will be impacted the most by the budget cuts are music and art. The state legislators are making these decisions. Principal Griff Wirth said, “I think there needs to be more public awareness to help funding of schools. I also think legislators make decisions on cutting funds without hands-on information.”
Wirth stated, “I don’t like the fact that kids are tied into the politics; children and students can lose their education because of the state legislators. Out of my 15 years of being a principal, I have never had state legislators come in and ask about the state of education, and this is where the action happens. I would like them to come and see it for themselves.”
The education and extracurricular activities are very important to the students and have a huge impact on their education on the farm. Choir teacher Janine Burns stated, “Classes that are usually affected first by budget cuts are as mentioned above—class offerings, new teachers, and unique classes are the first to go. After a school has gone through these cuts—the electives, art, music, and foreign language are the next to be affected.”
Students, teachers, and community members district wide took a survey to state their opinions on what we would like to keep as far as classes, research-based strategies, community priorities and other standards that make Jeffco a strong and high-achieving county. Based on these people’s opinions the state legislators will come to conclusions for the district budgets.
Burns states, “Students most often see results of a budget cut in terms of larger class size, reduced subject offerings, and reduced number of hours a class is offered. However, budget cuts can affect things like a toilet paper budget, cafeteria offerings, cleaning supplies for the building, and custodians to clean and run the building. Educating the public about the benefits of well-funded schools is the most important way to help stop the cuts.”
The district and schools can only hope for the best and look towards a great next year. “I am hoping when the state makes their decisions they are taking into consideration the needs that need to be met for the 85,000 students in this district,” stated librarian Debbie Livingston states.