It must be noted that I started documenting these education shutdowns at the beginning of 2014, in that year I posted the reports biannually (every six months). In 2015 education cutbacks ramped up and I posted quarterly (every three months). For the past seven months of 2016 there have been so many education cutbacks that I’ve posted a report every month!
Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): A phrase created by me to describe a phenomenon taking place across the United States, affecting both privately and publicly funded schools, from Kindergarten all the way through University levels.
New data shows the less money you owe for college education the more likely you will default on your student loan debt. Several studies by U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, U.S. Department of Education and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, show that the majority of defaults on student loans happen with people who never finish school and who borrow the least amount of money. Graduate level graduates, with massive student loan debts, make up the smallest percentage of defaults and tend to have the highest rate of employment.
Incomplete list of publicly announced education related layoffs & school shutdowns, July 2016:
Alabama: In Birmingham ten elementary after school programs on the chopping block due to crashing enrollment. In January school administrators contracted the after school programs through Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and Boys & Girls Club, in an effort to save money. Now those contracts are being reviewed.
Alaska: A former Birchwood Christian School teacher sentenced to 15 years after having sexual contact with a 15 years old student.
Arizona: The LDS (Mormon) Church being sued by Navajo who were forced into a Mormon education program from 1947 to the 1990s. The plaintiffs accuse the christians of physically and sexually assaulting them. The Lamanite (Mormon word for Native Americans) Student Placement Program (aka Indian Student Placement Program) took Navajo children from their parents in Arizona and placed them with Mormon familes in Utah.
California: La Cañada Unified School District laid off 16 ‘special needs’ employees, due to declining enrollment of ‘special needs’ students.
Idaho: In Nampa, after decades The Book Exchange shutdown due to the owners being forced to sell the property. Reports say that in August the owners will offer any remaining books in inventory for free to the public. School District 321, based in ‘Mormonsville’ Rexburg, has declared a teacher shortage emergency and is now hiring anybody who wants to teach, regardless of certification, starting pay $30-thousand (which is damn good for rural Idaho)! District 91, based in Idaho Falls, want taxpayers to shell out at least $90-million USD to massively upgrade two old high schools. Another taxpayer burdening suggestion is combining them into a ‘mega’ school. None of the news reports I read indicated there was a problem with student population, one report indicated that taxpayers are getting pissed about being forced to pay more year after year: “We don’t seem to have good participation going out to the schools……….It would be nice to see a broader slice of the community, what their feelings are on our options. I don’t feel comfortable making the decision with just the community input we have so far.”-Bryan Zollinger, District 91 Clerk
Illinois: A sure sign of a Failed State; Southern Illinois University letting go 17 people and 155 vacant jobs will not be filled, due to SIU receiving only 41% of promised state taxpayer funding. School District 112 will shutdown for schools and redraw boundaries for the remaining schools. Administrators actually told local news media that crashing student enrollment is making it easier to shutdown schools: “We are going down in enrollment, which makes this do-able. It makes it easier to make this work.”-Kristin Swanson, assistant superintendent for student services
Indiana: The largest school district in the city of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Public Schools, admits that so many students have left that there is no reason to keep many schools open. As an example, John Marshall Community High School is built to handle 1,650 students, but last school year had a grand total of only 694. Many schools have only one quarter of the students needed to justify operating expenses! Factcheck.org reports that “Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that the Republican vice presidential nominee, Gov. Mike Pence, ‘slashed education funding in Indiana.’ But Pence claimed he made ‘record investments in education.’ Clinton is wrong, and Pence is misleading.
The education budget under Pence would be a ‘record’ in nominal dollars, but in inflation-adjusted dollars, it’s not. However, the numbers don’t show education funding has been ‘slashed’ either: The budgets he has signed increased education funding, even in inflation-adjusted dollars.” In other words, bot the Republicans and Democrats are lying through their teeth!
Michigan: Holland Public Schools blames crashing enrollment for laying off nine teachers. The school district will start the next school year with at least 137 less students.
New Hampshire: The American Police Motorcycle Museum forced to shutdown due to arguing with the owners of a next door crematorium. The owner of the museum says he found human ashes on museum property: “We would see explosions of ash coming out of the chimney, sometimes 50 feet into the air, and then it would cover our motorcycles and our cars.”-Douglas Frederick
New Jersey: School bus contractor First Student issued a shutdown WARN for their Cologne ops, 65 jobs gone by mid-August. School bus contractor Jordan Transportation issued a shutdown WARN for its Parsippany operations, 81 jobs gone by the end of August. Community Development Institute Head Start issued a shutdown WARN, 237 people in Newark jobless by the end of August!
New York: Long Island NYC, Child Development Center of the Hamptons in Wainscott shutdown due to lack of student enrollment.
North Carolina: Community Development Institute Head Start issued a shutdown WARN, 109 people across several cities jobless by the end of August! Elizabeth City State University eliminating seven jobs by mid-August due to their shrinking budget.
Pennsylvania: An employee at god’s Bishop Carroll Catholic High School is charged with sexually assaulting an international exchange student. After 120 years Cambria-Rowe Business College suddenly shutdown due to the U.S. Department of Education refusing to recognize their accreditation.
Bethlehem based National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) discovered that the majority of college students who work at unpaid internships are more likely not to find a paying job, because employers do not consider unpaid internships as preparation for real jobs! NACE also discovered that where you live determines whether you find a job after graduation: “Graduates in the Far West (46.8 percent) and Southwest (50.2 percent) were least likely to be employed either full- or part time.”
Tennessee: A school bus driver who pled guilty to raping a 15 years old student will serve no prison time. His original four year prison term was changed to ten years probation (probably because Hamilton County can’t afford to put more people in prison).
Texas: Once again state education administrators rejected an attempt by Idaho based Athlos Academy to establish a charter school. Athlos is controlled by an Idaho real estate group. The main reason why Texas continues to reject Athlos is the outrageous claims of being able to enroll more than 3-thousand students within four years! In the latest Athlos application for state approval only 15 families indicated an intent to enroll: “It’s striking to me that the letters of support have mostly come from legislators. To think that we are willing to risk the academic lives of almost 1,000 children in North Texas is not a risk that I’m willing to take.”-Erika Beltran, Texas Board of Education
Virginia: After surviving The Great depression and numerous recessions, god powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Lutheran Memorial School in Richmond: “It is with deep regret that the LMS Foundation Board announces that the school does not have the funds to open for the 2016-17 school year.”-official statement
Washington DC: The Boston Globe reports that the U.S. “Department of Education report found numerous problems, including incomplete training and conflict-of-interest policies.” with Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
U.S. Department of Education halting student grants/loans for MedTech College due to “valuing profits over the students they serve”, in other words lying about how many of their graduates can find jobs.
Your local high school pushing your kids to take college level AP courses? Think twice: “When comparing students of similar race, gender, standardized test scores, and socioeconomic background, most of the papers find that high school course-taking makes no more than a two percent difference in the final college grade, even when high school courses include Advanced Placement.“–Brookings Institution
Dumbing Down the United States, June 2016: “MORALE IS REALLY LOW.” “THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE.”