Why+are+High+School+Electives+being+cut+at+such+an+alarming+rate?

Why are High School Electives being cut at such an alarming rate? What outside factors could be forcing these schools to close these programs? [] This article by Grace Chen entitled Decreasing Public High School Elective Programs Chen tells the reader why electives are being cut and what its effects are upon the students. Her reasons are, that each school district is different some get more money to participate in electives while others get less. According to Chen’s research “About 46 percent of public spending on elementary and secondary schools is derived from local government budgets. The size of the local tax base is one reason for the large disparity in spending.” Also the increased testing demands put on schools by no child left behind have forced high schools to focus more on the core subjects. These issues are forcing schools to cut back on high school electives. [] This article talks about how elective programs are being pushed aside due to lack of funding and a general belief that these programs are not important. The author TJ Nelson says that by cutting these programs we are limiting the potential growth of our students. Some stats that Nelson puts in his article are; Florida governor, Jeb Bush, reduced his state’s arts funding from $28 million to $5.9 million. He also states that the city of New York has cut 233 teachers from positions such as athletics, as well as in the arts and in the music departments. [] This website gives information on the amount of money that each state spends on any given student. Also this site [] gives the average data on the average student expenditure in the whole country. The first website also shows how much each teacher gets paid within each state compared to how much is spent on each student giving coloration between the two. [] This is an article on why schools should not cut elective classes. It says that cutting these elective classes will not make students more likely to do better on standardized tests because to some students classes such as music and shop are “ sunbreaks in an otherwise bleak day”. Bob Balmer who wrote the article says that the pressure that No Child Left Behind has put on schools has forced administrators to look at their students as just test takers and not individuals with certain strengths and weaknesses. [] This article entitled Parents Speak Out Against School Cuts by Michael Alison Chandler talks about how the parents in the Fairfax County school system are speaking out against the recent cuts in their school district. The district is also considering increasing class sizes in preschools classes from 8 to 10. This article shows how parents are also worried about the recent cutbacks and how these cutbacks in science, music and sports affects their children’s futures.