Schools on a shoestring: Specialized programs cut to the core

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-shoestring1108aug11,0,6000838.story


Erika Hobbs | Sentinel Staff Writer
August 11, 2008

Students across Central Florida will learn a brutal lesson in economics when the new school year starts next week.

For years, school leaders juggled their budgets to prevent the state's chronic money woes from creeping into the classroom. But they're out of options now and scaling back popular programs for gifted students and troubled kids.

Drastic state budget cuts are threatening Orange County's esteemed Advanced Placement program, which serves bright, college-bound students. Officials throughout Florida's 67 districts are scrambling to make do with two-thirds of what they had planned -- by cutting teachers and classes or by charging students to use the expensive textbooks.

"Frankly, it's a big hit," said Bill Gordon, principal of Winter Park High School, which stands to lose as much as $500,000 in AP funding.

Orange, Volusia and others also are trimming special programs such as AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), which gives struggling students a chance to go to college. An alternative program called CEP (Community Education Partners), which helped youngsters in Orange recover credits and graduate on time, already is gone.

Core classes such as math, reading and science have not been touched. Most districts have retained music and arts classes, as well. But chipping away at the supplemental classes, officials say, is the first indication that budget cuts are eroding Florida's public education.

"Kids will not have the same quality of education," said Sam Momary, principal of Hagerty High in Oviedo.

Yet he, like other administrators, says that few good options are available as they try to ease the impact of budget cuts. Orange officials, for example, angered hundreds of parents and students when they changed schedules so that middle schools will start earlier and high schools later to save on busing costs. But that wasn't enough to make up for the $94 million that has been lost in state funding.


College-track classes could become pay-to-play

Students fear that without AP classes, they won't get into top-tier schools. Parents worry that without special programs, their at-risk children will founder in the system.

Boone High School junior Megan Ellis said getting into Florida State University is so important that she would do anything to pay the hundreds of dollars her textbooks and tests would cost to keep her competitive edge.

"I get so much out of those classes," she said. "I'd rather pay than have them cut completely."

Because AP classes help college freshmen skip courses, a dearth of AP offerings in high school could mean students could pay more in tuition later on, said Alvin Wang, dean of the Burnett Honors College at the University of Central Florida. High-school students also may not be as prepared for college-level work, he added.

Or they just might be bored.

"I'd be so upset not to have that opportunity," said Megan, who so relishes the challenge that she has scheduled three of the intense courses this year.


At-risk students could lose important help

But kids who struggle in a traditional setting have far more to lose, said Beth Wonson, a member of the board of the directors at the volunteer-based National Alternative Education Association. Without the proper support, she said, students will end up needing more services or drop out of high school.

"The long-term ramifications are huge," she said.

Tim White of Orlando agrees. Without the Community Education Partners program, his son might have fallen through the cracks, White said.

CEP, a national program, was a two-campus operation in Orange County that cost the district $12 million a year. It served as many as 1,300 middle- and high-school students with academic and behavioral problems. Most of its students were too old for their grade levels and needed help making up credits or improving FCAT scores.

White said CEP pulled his son, Austin, out of his shell and put him on the right academic track for his freshman year this fall.

"I loved everything about it," White said. " . . . It was a controlled environment -- you couldn't go down the hallway without someone knowing."

School officials across the area say they're determined to protect students from the budget fallout. Winter Park's Gordon, for example, said he so far has managed to keep this year's AP program intact -- it is next year that worries him.

Evelyn Chandler, director of Orange's school-choice program, said the district is developing a program to absorb CEP's students.

But that's little comfort to parents such as White.

"If something works," he said, "don't mess with it."




Alia Malik of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Erika Hobbs can be reached at ehobbs@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6226.