Public Education May Be Dead

This is an incredibly painful post for me to write. I was told this afternoon that my school (a long-standing alternative program) will need to cut a 50% allocation in our English Department for next year. Our population numbers have not changed, the need for graduation credits in English has not changed, the type of students my alternative program serves has not changed (at least not for the better). My district simply cannot afford to offer our students the same sort of alternative education any longer.

Although I am not the instructor with the least amount of seniority, it feels like a huge blow to me. Although it is not my position this year, next year it may be. For now, I may lose a colleague dear to me. Our students may lose the intellectual expertise of an amazing professional. As public education formulas and state revenue caps continue to strangle our districts, our department offerings will change and become more regimented and standardized. Special programming that our students need to succeed will be reduced. Our current system of best practice will alter to focus only on teaching the basics. Our already-marginalized students may not be prepared for a future with multiple possibilities. Our district will no longer have an “academic” alternative program. The message to our children is that they don’t deserve alternatives, quality, or best practice.

When a district begins to cut allocation in core curricular areas, it may be time to just eliminate public education altogether. Perhaps that is what the men in charge have wanted all along.