I agree with BAFFLED why isn’t every employee in the County taking a pay cut if teachers and staff have to so should County employees.

I believe the larger problem is that there are 35 comments on stray cats and only five on this issue.Does anyone out there care about the issue if so lets hear from you.

I do agree with you Mr. Osbourne.  Ibelieve some teaching assistants are necessary but not all of them.  There are some that are just taking up space.

The school consumes more than 80% (probably 90%) of the county monies.
Teaching assistants are needed due to the large number of students that need special services.
I agree we spend way to much on technology and people to fix it.  When we do not have the basic materials and people to teach do we really need tech stuff?
Between pay cuts, increased health insurance and the ever rising cost of living; it is going to be tough to retain good teachers or find replacements when and if we can afford to rehire.

How about getting of some unnecessary teaching assistants.  Not all are unnecessary but there are some that are and we all know it.  Also - get rid of useless network/computer technicians.  They are paid way too much to sit on their butts until a problem comes along.

Why is the school bearing so much of the weight for the current budget.  Why are they being asked to take a pay decrease.  Why isn’t this across the board for all county employees???  At some point or students will have to compete with other counties, states and countries for jobs. There is a lot more to school than SOL’s.  There needs to be retention of information, and a workable student to staff ratio.  There are too many factors to get into here.  I guess I just wonder who else in the county is making such severe sacrifices and taking pay decreases and increases in heath benefits just to have a job.

How about we set up donations like we did for Haiti.  We could set up a cell phone number so you can text “save Powhatan schools” and automatically put the $10 donation on your phone bill.
How about “adopt a school” program similar to the way roads are cleaned.  People could donate their time, money or items to teach students in their homes so we do not have to pay teachers or building expenses.
We could cut any program that is not directly related to the SOL’s.  Eliminate sports, vocational, arts, languages, clubs, weekend activities, after school programs.  We could offer buy outs for the people on the high end of the pay scales and replace them with lower paid people.  We could eliminate county vehicles that are provided to workers.  We could have a four day work week which would save on transportation and heating of buildings.  The schools could eliminate field trips, professional trips, etc. 
No one wants any of this to happen, and no one wants additional taxes. hmmmmmmmm