“Get It As Right As They Can” – Here’s How

Submitted today by a stakeholder, in response to JCPS Chief Business Officer Tom Hudson’s statement to principals on Wednesday, “My expectation is that all of February and March will be devoted to budget issues,” he said. “We want to get it as right as we can.”

“Dear JCPS,

If JCPS wants to “Get it as right as they can”, they need to START listening to the individual SBDM (School Board Decision Making) Councils & Principals at each school. SBDM councils at each school are responsible for budgeting, school policies, selection of textbooks, hiring a principal & security for each school and many other important decisions regarding how that individual school is operated. These decisions are filed and approved by the JCPS school board. JCPS needs to start listening to the Principal’s & SBDM councils, THEY know what is best for their students & facility. Cutting teacher positions or cutting ANY of the Section 6 funding is NOT acceptable, nor is increasing class sizes in High Schools to the state max of 31 students per teacher in classrooms. The Jefferson County Teachers contract states that teachers can have a maximum of 150 students per day. My calculations indicate that each teacher could only have 4.8 classes per day, whereas most High Schools have 7 classes per day. I know the Section 6 funding helps our school hire additional teachers & security to teach & protect our children. I encourage all parents to contact your school board representative, tell them to NOT support ANY cuts to the budget that would decrease funding to our schools. If JCPS wants to “Get it as right as they can” they NEED to start listening to those closest to our children. The teachers, principals & most importantly the PARENTS! The tax paying PARENTS funding their child’s education need to speak up NOW and help JCPS “Get it as right as they can.””

Stay alert: The school board is expected to be asked to approve the district’s funding formula proposal on Jan. 26.