Comments about ‘Jordan School District says it will lay off 500 employees’

I see the split is going well for both districts with all the extra administrative costs.

How much is Steven Dunham making? I say we let some business professionals spend a couple months in charge of the district and see how much "fat" they can trim out of the organizations.

I see the JSD had 20 months to put together a plan to deal with budget shortfalls, to deal with leadership issues after the Canyons District was formed. They chose, though, to use that time to whine and stomp like little kids. If the people in the JSD want their children to have a quality education, they need to pay for it like every other school district in the state. They already get equalization funds and Canyons District is paying a huge share of their debt load. Cry me a river.

arent class sizes large enough?

Whats it up to now? Something like 25 kids in each class. way to many.

If they are saving 30 million, can I get some of my property taxes back?

How much should he be making. He is making the salary set by the school board who is elected by the patrons of the district.

Conversely, how much is your child's education worth to you? How much of the burden are you willing to assume? Isn't that the conservative way?

All school districts in bad shape. In talking to teachers I found they have a major concern regarding the number of children who can not speak English. In most cases there may be a hired interpreter. I have heard this from hospitals as well as other state agencies. I was told by teachers today (Thurs) that children that speak or understand English receive less attention than children that are not able to read and speak English. Being a sanctuary state the problem will only grow with our lack of attention to the illegal immigrant growth. Who will pay for this, our children or our increase in taxes, or do we keep decreasing teachers as the number of children from illegal immigrants grow. Our legislators are asleep to the problem. Our children will suffer, more than they are now. Close our borders. Don't encourage there coming to Utah with all the benefits we give them. Lets take care of American CITIZENS.

That's right, that's the answer, let's raise a generation of poorly educated kids so the bureaucrats can keep the lining in their pockets... Are they for real? They couldn't possibly do something worse for the long-term growth of our nation. (children are the future and all that) I have an idea, instead of taxpayers paying the unemployment for 500 people, why don't we just keep paying taxes on the school system, and the powers that be can eat their own money for a while. I don't even have kids and this absolutely infuriates me.

Let it falter. I don't support public education funded by a forced and unconstitutional property tax. Now if you want to fund education with say consumption taxation of luxury goods, junk food, movies, etc. non essentials of life ( healthy food, property, etc) that is fine with me.

If every child is important then it should be a state wide school district. just like there should just be one law enforcement and fire department for the whole SL county. And to @Anonymous, since you live in district that was paid for by the west side to educate your kids and now you are out, don't you fell guilty for stealing....

Parents who care have also sent their children to private schools. More control, higher standards, less government intervention.

Utah has finally reached the point of the rest of the country. Welcome to the 21st century. Public education will continue to provide for the needs of the masses. For those who care, be prepared to pay.

I applaud JSD for making these unfortunate cuts and not simply asking for more money from property taxes. The tax rate is so difficult with the declining income we could see many lose homes even after the rest of the country stabilizes. Utah always seems to be delayed when it comes to national trends.

Cutting roughly 25 administrators is going to help a great deal more than cutting teachers. I know it will be tough, but things had to give. I would also take a serious look at sports. For the time being, don't schedule events more than 20 miles away. I was glad to see my HS compete in Texas, but shuttered at the wasted money.

The best outcome to laying off 500 is that they can be choosy. After retirement attrition, let go the ones who are no longer effective. Every school knows a few teachers who don't carry their weight. Every pupil knows it too. Take this opportunity to make the District better by keeping the top educators.

It is time to do more than trim. We need to do a whole-house clearing of public education. The District model is out-dated and wasteful. What we need is to give each school more autonomy. Let the school boards matter. Get rid of all the districts and just have one upper level of management. We could save millions AND have the communities more involved in their schools.

Something is wrong with that Jordan school District. Good thing im Canyon now.

Pile 'em deep and teach 'em cheap. Are they going to have double-decker desks so they can fit them in the classroom?

Does anyone else see that out of all the cuts to the district they missed
Administration Cuts amounting to 1 million while they cut programs 11 million?

Administration Salaries for the School Board members?

Why don't they cut funding for sports?
Why don't they have a unified bus system?
Why don't they view their org chart and eliminate management position that supervises one or two people?

I also see a lot of people complain about the JSD. Wasn't you people the same ones that voted this board into place?

When the ELECTION comes up, I would suggest to study these board members closely (some of them has been on the board since the day Utah became a state).

We pay too much for administration and teachers are underpaid. In the end there will still be lots of admin folks with jobs in the Jordan school District. To better educate children we should:
Eliminate the Federal Department of Education
Eliminate the state Department of Education
Manage Education at the District Level
Unfortunately there is so much fat in education and whenever someone wants to cut it everyone screams about the impact on Little Johnnie. Problem is the bureaucrats at every level and the politicians cow towing to them. The problem is not the teachers or their salaries.

Interesting--Nobody is saying how this will affect your kids.

I'm surprised that amid all these comments no one seems to really understand that 500 people are going to lose their jobs. And in this economy, they will probably not find employment. I am just sick about it, and wish everyone would be more sympathetic to the very people we entrust our children to each day! And I wish the Jorden District haters would quit relishing in our pain and at least feel some empathy for all that it is losing.