Alachua County Public Schools are looking at $16 million in cuts under the proposed state budget, and School Board Member Gunnar Paulson says that may affect the quality of education overall.
“You can only cut so long, and after so much money it’s going to start having an effect on what’s happening to the product that’s being offered to the children,” he says.
Paulson says a local tax will help fund extracurricular programs, like art and music, but they may not be able to bring back all the teachers in the district next year in order to make up for the cuts. He says the district has seen more than $3 billion worth of cuts in the past 3 years which makes it difficult to function. The state overall will see a $1 billion drop in spending for education under the budget which will be voted on Friday.