Budget cuts force MCCSC teachers out

With the recent budget cuts schools are facing, the Monroe County Community School Corporation has begun to rely more on volunteers.

“We’ve always had volunteers, but other people stepped up this year,” MCCSC Superintendent John T. Coopman said. “It has been ongoing since the second or third week of school.”

Volunteers work with small groups of kids by reading to them, while others use the copy machines and do “some of the leg work that we would have asked others to do in the past,” Coopman said.

Due to the budget cuts, Coopman said there has been an increase in class sizes and a decrease in the number of elective classes that are offered.

“There is more for employees to do,” he said. “Because of the reduction of programming, students are taking classes that they wouldn’t have previously taken in the past. Employees have to pick up the pieces, and if we can have volunteers in places like the classroom and library, then we will welcome those
opportunities.”

However, Coopman recognizes that the use of volunteers does come with its drawbacks. He said  recently schools have had problems with volunteers not showing up.

“They have good intentions, but people’s lives change,” he said. “It is a nice opportunity, but some can’t follow through on it.”

Freshman Sarah Isaacson, who graduated from Bloomington High School North, said she has noticed an increase in volunteers particularly in sports since funding for them has decreased and students now have to pay to participate in certain
extracurricular activities.

Isaacson, an education major in the Teaching All Learners program, said she is worried about the future of education.

“I’m terrified,” Isaacson said. “I know the need for special education is still there. I know I won’t get a job if I was just elementary education.”

In the school system’s current state, Coopman said the effects of the budget cuts will extend to college graduates in the education field.

“Jobs won’t be out there for education students. How unfortunate that is because there are a lot of quality kids, and I feel very badly for those kids, particularly the juniors and seniors who have made the commitment,” Coopman said. “If things don’t turn around, there is a bleak future for education, and why declare that as a major? It is a negative effect for the classroom in the future.”

Sophomore Mackenzie Beisser, an education major, said she believes the future of education will eventually straighten back up.

“I always wanted to help kids,” she said. “I feel it is more about that than worrying about the government things that are going on. I don’t think you should cut jobs of teaching assistants because they are needed.”

Coopman said his school district is fortunate to have a large student base from IU for opportunities such as internships and student teaching.

“This is a blessing for our school district that other school districts don’t enjoy,” he said.

On the ballot during the Nov. 2 election, Monroe County voters will be able to vote in a referendum on school funding. Coopman said he encourages University students to go to the polls and vote yes on the referendum.

“Their vote matters as much as anyone else,” he said.