In the Averill Park Central School District, budget cuts are being made that will be affecting everyone. The school board said that our sports programs are at risk of being effected by these cuts. The board also claims that teaching positions are at risk as well. The school board says they are exploring all of the possible areas to reduce spending including athletics. In Averill Park over 600 students participate in at least one or more of the sports programs. If the athletic programs get cut there will be many students left with out an extra curricular activity. For some children this would mean the elimination of much of their physical activity. With out this physical activity some students are at risk of becoming over weight. This is a problem facing all Americans.


With the Averill Park community struggling with their budget problems, layoffs are another primary concern. Included within the proposed 2011-12 school year budget there is the potential for 60 layoffs. This issue will affect teachers and support staff that is at risk of job loss, students, and parents. This may affect teachers by putting them out of jobs. In some cases with this job loss there may be no way to provide for their families. I think our school board should hold multiple fund raisers to help for the cause of these budget catastrophes. If we put forth enough effort we can pull ourselves out of this hole. To help raise money for our athletic clubs we should start booster clubs for needed items like equipment or gear. It has also been mentioned that by lowering temperature in the rooms we could save money. The school board says that in New York State the law requires the temperature at a minimum of 66 degrees F. the district states that we have lowered our temperature from 71 degrees F to 70 degrees F saving around 14,000 dollars per year. In my opinion we should lower the temperature to 67 degrees F to make our saving even greater.



With all this my opposing view states that our school taxes are too high. I believe the state government should be looking at other areas to reduce spending and restore the funding to our school districts. This will leave more room to be able to spend with more freedom. I think that the government needs to give more money to public school districts, with out the money the Averill Park Central School District will take a huge hit from there budget and have to dig them selves out. The government also always talks about lowering taxes; I personally think its time for them stop talking and show more action towards their statements of lowering and cutting taxes hurting schools.

The message I am trying to send to our school district is that we should organize funds raisers for the budget problems. Instead of accepting defeat to the problems we are facing. If we give up now jobs will be lost and families will be facing extremely hard times. We shouldn’t go out with out a fight save our teachers, save our athletics, save our school district!