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Schools will do more with less

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Staff

Neil Pedersen

Although the goals and major strategies of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools will remain the same this school year, the environment in which we will educate children will be different. The district will be coping with reduced funding along with a number of other significant changes.

Due to a change in the eligibility date for entering kindergarten students, kindergarten membership will drop off this year. This will translate into a very modest net increase in total student enrollment across the district. In addition, the General Assembly is allocating fewer teachers to school districts due to a shortage of revenues.

Consequently, we will welcome only a few new teachers to our district, and we will have approximately the same number of students, but in fewer classrooms. No new schools will open this year and plans for moving forward with the construction of our next elementary school in the Northside neighborhood are on hold. Unless we see many students transferring from private to public schools due to the economy, this will be one year when overcrowding does not demand our attention.

The downside is that many classes may be approximately two students larger, on the average, this year in grades 4-12. Although that may not sound like a significant increase, teachers and students will be impacted. For grades four and five for example, classes will average 28 students with a maximum of 31. Most middle school core teachers will teach five instead of four sections, thereby leaving less time for planning, preparation, meetings and parent conferences. Course offerings are being reduced in our middle and high schools because we no longer have a sufficient allocation to staff low-enrollment classes. Some elementary music and art teachers will teach more sections, and world language instruction will not be offered to kindergarteners.

Other reductions will be noticeable. Approximately $650,000 is being cut from our central office budget, and the state may be cutting even more. This results in fewer administrative personnel and resources to allocate to schools. Professional development will be scaled back dramatically.

Another casualty of the recession is the elimination of salary increases for staff members. In addition, state bonuses, which have been a part of North Carolina’s student accountability plan, will not be distributed to teachers in schools that met the standards last year.

Despite these reductions in resources, our expectations for enhancing the educational attainment of our students remain high. Federal standards for student achievement will continue to be raised. Our district’s strategic plan will continue to be implemented, which includes annual benchmarks for increasing student achievement. Disparities continue to exist among student populations, and we are committed to all of our students achieving rigorous academic standards.

This year will not be characterized by new programs and increased services for our students. Instead, we will focus on improving the quality of the instruction that occurs every day in our classrooms and supporting teachers in the sharing of their expertise with colleagues. There will be no backing off of the standards and expectations for which we hold ourselves accountable. We must do more with less.
Neil Pedersen is superintendent of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

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