Persuasive Essay On Budget Cuts

Governor Walker and his supporters claim that, rather than hurting Wisconsin’s school system, the budget cuts actually help by making schools be more careful and efficient with their use of money, and they say that spending more money on education will not actually improve it. For example, when budget cuts in Colorado forced some schools to rethink their spending, they switched to several more efficient teaching practices, the most original of which being a four day school week (Schouten 1). The four day school week allowed some districts to save up to $65,000 a year in transportation costs, such as the Maccray School District in Minnesota (Coleman, Walker & Lawrence 5). These newer teaching practices not only saved money on buses and other

Supporters of budget cuts for Wisconsin expect that their will be similar results if Wisconsin schools employ a similar strategy. Also, budget cuts have been shown to cause schools to reduce spending in areas outside of teaching practices, such as more fuel efficient bus routes and reducing paper usage by utilizing technology in the classroom (Coleman, Walker & Lawrence 4). The increased fuel efficiency and reduced paper usage not only save money, but are better for the environment as well. Furthermore, reducing paper use leads to the modernization of schools, and integrates technology as a more efficient and effective alternative to using massive amounts of paper. In addition, in an article for the magazine USA Today, Charles Murray, who has a Ph. D. in political science, asserts the increased government funding “does not have any credible evidence for a positive effect” on education. He claims that most of the government spending on education is wasted, and spending less would make the school systems more efficient without decreasing quality of education (Murray 2). Supporters of budget cuts believe that spending less money on schools will encourage them to use the little money they have more effectively, leading to less money wasted and smarter, more efficient

According to NBC news, the price of textbooks is rising three times faster than inflation and, consequently, has increased by 1,041% since 1977 (Popken 1). Students are required to buy certain textbooks for courses, some of which can cost as much as much as $400 (Perry 1; Popken 2). In fact, in four years of college, a student taking five classes can easily spend as much as $10,000 on textbooks alone. (Perry 2). Also, to save money, many schools are closing or shrinking their libraries, reducing student access to books and technology (Newell et al. 1). The combination of rapidly increasing textbook prices and loss of access to free resources at their schools is making students pay thousands of dollars in extra fees that they may not be able to afford. Despite scholarships and financial aid, many students still struggle to pay for school, and their grades and education suffer as a result of limited access to resources that, in the past, have been provided by the schools. Also, the budget cuts to Wisconsin schools have led to increased college tuition. In the past decade, public universities continue to raise tuition, raising it by 8.3% in 2011 alone (Kiener 2). Over the next four years,