When school faculty hear the phrase “budget cuts,” they think of reduced class sizes, course offerings, extracurricular activities and staff. All of these consequences can have negative impacts on the quality of education provided to students, as important resources are spread thin among large schools. 

Budget cuts also disproportionately affect low-income areas, as these schools tend to rely more on government funding for their educational systems and programs. And with the disproportionate effects on these areas, the discrepancy between education received in the two areas. 

Wilsonville could feel these budget cuts in similar ways as have been described. Extracurriculars at our school are something we take pride in, and those might be the first to bear the effects of the proposed budget cuts. 

Extracurriculars are very important to the mental and emotional health of high school students. They serve as outlets for teenager’s passions outside of the classroom, and can be vital to their success. 

Reduced funding for these programs could be detrimental to the students who rely on them to occupy and enrich their outside of school and the house time. You never know how valuable a program is to each student, and therefore we can say that taking these away would have very negative impacts.

As far as this potential reality looks for our school, the great extracurriculars that we offer could definitely be affected, but in addition, teacher’s benefits could be limited, program variety could be reduced, and mentorship opportunities could decrease.

Overall, district budget cuts are definitely something we do not want to have to deal with, but if we are not able to prevent them, we can try to adjust to the different consequences of the cuts.