Kindergarten, Budget Cuts, and LAUSD OH MY!
I started looking at the local public elementary schools last year when my daughter was three years old. I thought I was giving myself more than enough time to find the perfect school for her. But here I am a year later and I am loosing my mind looking at kindergartens. All I am doing, is looking at the four local public LAUSD(Los Angeles Unified School District) schools and one charter school, but it’s mind boggling. Each school has it’s own strong suits and weaknesses. Yet none of that really seems to matter, because with the imminent budget cuts nobody even knows what their school will look like next year, for sure. So what looks fabulous this year could be terrible next year. Will the class size go up, will they have enough kids to keep certain programs going, will they have the same teachers, who knows??
My first choice is a dual language immersion school, that would be amazing for my daughter, if it were to stay just as it is now. But if the budget cuts, increases class size or lays off teachers, it could be a totally different kettle of fish. Beside the fact that I have no idea if the program will even be in existence next year, and if it does survive the budget cuts, what will it look like? Will the existing trained dual language teachers be let go and teachers who just happen to speak Spanish replace them?? It makes me nervous.
Another of the schools, I was favoring, has great parent involvement and has created amazing art and enrichment programs at their school, but they only have 50% enrollment. They say they aren’t going to get closed down, that the enrollment is building. Meanwhile a local charter school is jockeying to take over their campus. Who knows what LAUSD has planned for any of them. It’s all a total craps shoot. In fact, I’d probably have better odds in Vegas.
The last thing I want is to start my daughter at one school and then have to move her mid stream. After two years of touring and open houses I thought I would have a pretty clear vision of what was available and which school would be best for her. But really, I know almost as little now as I did going in, possibly less.
I can only hope that the School District starts making their decisions known before I have to make any definitive decisions, myself. One friend, not too helpfully, suggested home schooling, to which I replied “The idea is to get her a GOOD education” So LAUSD if you’re reading this could you please get it in gear and figure out what you’re doing with the schools. It’s only my daughter’s education that hangs in the balance.
This is an original blog for Los Angeles Moms Blog
If Elise wasn't spending all her time on school tours she would also be blogging at http://www.elisesramblings.blogspot.com
