Show Me the Money!

Sometimes opposites really do attract.  Take, for instance, my best friend Jessica.  We both may seem like similar people, but there is one key difference that splits us right down the middle; our career choices.  I love working with children, but Jessica doesn't seem to appreciate kids quite as much.  Rather, she chose to obtain a different university degree, and now has a promising career at BDO.  She's an accountant, and whenever she even mentions her work place, I feel a headache approaching.  So, you can imagine my thoughts when I learned we were going to be discussing the finance aspect of education in our professional teacher course.

It's not the math part of finance that gives me a headache, as I actually really enjoy math and find it kind of fun.  Rather, it's all the factors that weigh into every decision that has to be made.  Truth is, being in charge of the financial aspect of a school division must be a rather strenuous job.  Funds for education never seem to be enough to cover all the costs, so decisions are constantly being made on what to cut and what alterations to make, in order to balance the budget.  Many of the decisions made are usually met by opposition, which is frustrating, because there is nothing that people actually want to cut from the budget.  No one wants to see teachers get fired, extremely large class sizes, or Arts programs being cut, but it all comes down to the money.

One of our assignments in class was to act as a member of a school division who had to cut over 1 million dollars from the budget.  Every aspect of the division was included in this budget, including buses, staff, support staff, cafeteria, librarians, etc.  This was a very challenging process, as everyone had different opinions about what was more important in school, and what needed to remain.  No one's opinion was wrong, however if we listened to everyone, we would only have been able to shave a few hundred dollars off the budget.

This lesson was very valuable for all of us prospective teachers, for our resources, salary, and job are affected by the finance aspect of education constantly.  It is easy for us to request computers for our classroom, new books, and learning carpets, but we have to realize how tight the budget is.  We can do our job to help save on smaller things, such as creating our own learning carpets out of a piece of leftover carpet from our renovations.  It was good to be reminded that just because a school sends in a proposal for more money or a new building, does not mean they are going to recieve it.  There is only so much money to be shared across the province, so many times schools are chosen over others, leaving them having to do the best with the resources they have for the time being.  Any one of us could end up teaching in a school that is facing this exact situation, so it is good to be prepared for it.

Throughout our class discussion, one point was brought up that I was rather intrigued by.  This was the idea of carrying forward extra funds if a surplus was available, in order to save up for big projects down the road.  I believe that it is good to try to save money in some areas, with instruction being an exception.  The children in our school system today should be our priority, and our job as educators is to provide them with the best education we are able.  If this means hiring a few more teachers to create smaller classes, or just getting the best resources for them, we owe it to our students to do so. 

Learning about finance was beneficial for me as a teacher, as it helped gain an understanding of where all the money goes in Education.  Working for the school division in this area is not a career I would enjoy having, so kudos to all you like my friend Jessica, who enjoy working with budgets and numbers.  I recognize all the hardwork you have to do, and after just one class of cutting budgets, I am so glad I just have to worry about teaching the children.