Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Nashville public schools facing $1 million shortfall; vulnerable children here face very bleak future

Metro Nashville public schools face a $1 million shortfall in just the ongoing budget year because of dropping sales tax revenue from the deepening national recession.

The ripple effect will be wide and deep. And the city's children will suffer the most for the lack of leadership in elected adults.

The dropping revenue will mean cuts this school year in teachers and programs for Metro students. All that money wasted on keeping the Predators in Nashville could sure now be used to keep schools going on the basics.

And it means less funding for the next school year despite demands for student achievement improvements under No Child Left Behind.

And while the state of Tennessee will be fully running Metro schools soon, it will be delivering less money here because it faces at least a $600 million deficit for the current budget year. So the governor and General Assembly will be making cuts in revenue delivered to school districts. Taxes will not rise.

The end result will be a school district -- already woefully out of whack in educating all children fairly and adequately -- will only get worse.

To read more, go to: http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=63608

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