NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The New Smyrna Beach High School’s football team was in the headlines for its undefeated streak in the regular season. Cudas Pride is exploding, but there’s an underlying problem that isn’t being acknowledged.
Along with the recent presidential election, the Volusia County School Board Referendum was a local issue that failed, with 50.22% against it and 49.78% in favor of it. This, if passed, would result in a millage tax of about $6 for property owners a month. But that’s about as far as public knowledge went for this referendum and anyone else was likely misinformed. The truth of the matter is, because this failed the school board has to cut back spending.
If you want to get immediately involved, a petition for a revote has been started by New Smyrna Beach High School Alumni, Stephen Gold. Here is the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/volusia-county-florida-recall-or-revote-the-vote-on-the-volusia-county-school-board-referendum
We need help. Even if you aren’t a parent of a high school student, this affects "every" student. Even if you aren’t a parent at all, this affects everyone. We are people ready to jump into the workforce who will be denied all chances to sense passion for something and a craving to become something bigger than ourselves. Don’t take that away from us, please.
Since 2007 Volusia County Schools have already reduced spending by $80 million. The future of local education would have a shortfall equivalent to about 500 teachers. Besides this, any program outside of core education, doesn’t stand a chance.
Any art classes like 2-D art, ceramics, and photography? Gone. My beloved drama program? Gone. Our champion marching band and Showdolls? Gone. Our football team with their undefeated regular season? This could be their last year.
Any sport, after school activity or Advanced Placement class? Gone, gone and gone.
Basically, all incentives that provide students with reason and purpose to get an education and explore what they want to do with their lives would be erased from our school systems.
I may be a straight-A student myself, but without theatre, which is my life, AP classes that I can take advantage of now and save money later in college, and teachers that make a difference in my life every day, I don’t have a good enough reason to go to school.
Imagine the drop-out rates of those struggling in school but keep good grades because it means the difference between being in band or on the soccer team.
Our school has already felt cutbacks hit with teachers being let go, our teaching academy eliminated, and many programs, like drama, fundraise themselves to keep going.
This is a very serious issue that will result in more extreme cutbacks next year if something isn’t done. The problem is that before the vote, the public was extremely misinformed.
This referendum wasn’t on absentee or sample ballots and there were many pamphlets that gave voters a tainted view of it making them think that they’d be doing the right thing by voting against it.
I can’t imagine a school without sports, clubs, or my life without theatre. I think it’s tragic that students, most of us who can’t vote, trusted the public to be informed about our education but it didn’t happen.
If adults can’t start investing in education, they might as well stop investing in the future. We represent students with promising futures that are being ignored and our hard work rejected. We represent students coming from bad homes with little support, but have chosen a better life for ourselves, or at least tried to.
We are the students of teachers that have families to support and dreams to fulfill but aren’t being paid enough to do so. We are the future but unless the public steps up, we’re nothing.