By Adrian Doan
The Tower
Grosse Pointe South HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
News Analysis
The science department is struggling to find funding for its core classes in a thinly stretched budget, as the administration looks for permanent solutions.
The budget of the science department remains unchanged from last year; however, according to Principal Moussa Hamka, the administration must work with teachers to increase funding or find outside help to make up for the additional cost of new science electives.
“Science has been very innovative over the last couple years,” Hamka said. “They have added new courses to meet the growing needs of students.”
The electives that lead to the cuts have been at South for a few years, but this is the first year that the department has found itself so far over budget, according to Hamka.
“Initial startup costs are covered through the curriculum department when pilots are approved,” Hamka said. “But as those courses transition out of the pilot series, the initial cost runs out, so the buildings pick up the ongoing cost and maintenance of the courses.”
All of the electives are now dependent on the science department, and with their cost combined with that of other electives and core classes, the department’s projected expenses exceeded their budget, according to Hamka.
“There is a district committee called the EPLC (Education Programs Leadership Council), which reviews the curriculum and there is a process by which members vote,” Hamka said. “One of the things we always talk about is sustainability, and every time we have developed new courses I have looked at our budget and have forecasted the costs.”
Predicting the potential costs can be challenging, Hamka said.
“If students are taking organic chemistry, astronomy or forensics, they are not taking another course,” Hamka said. “If you just accumulate the number of forensic science, the number of organic chemistry and the number of astronomy classes, you’ll see in a given year between 10 and 15 classes, and that’s 10 or 15 classes of another content area that aren’t needed.”
Because of the new electives, biology teacher Shelly Rothenbuhler was forced to cut out dissections.
“The addition of all these nice electives that we have is a very good thing and I want to support, but that takes a toll on the finances,” Rothenbuhler said. “Dissections are one of the higher priced items, so we had to cut them out.”
The problem has lead teachers such as Rothenbuhler to look for outside sources, such as Mothers’ Club for funding, in an effort to ensure students can have an experience all their classes can offer.
“I have indicated to the Biology teachers if we can’t get funds to do dissections, I will work with them to find the funds elsewhere,” Hamka said. “But I would like to look at a more long-term solution and that might mean increasing the science budget as we move on.”
Increasing the science department’s budget would be no simple task as money may have to be taken from another program or department. The administration is hesitant to start a situation that pits departments and classes against each other for funding, according to Hamka.
“One of the things I’ve tried really hard to do is to not make it us vs . them,” Hamka said. “To not make it a core vs. a non-core. I do not want to pin one program against another.
Hamka worries, if this happens, programs such as the choir or school musical could be pitted against core classes for funding.
“I would look at the choir. I would look at our orchestra. I would look at The Tower. I would look at so many other things that are not classified as electives but really enhance the experience here at South,” Hamka said. “I don’t look at it as an elective vs. a core. I look at it as they are both fueling student interest and they are both fueling student passions.”
In hope of preventing interdepartmental conflict, the administration is looking into other ways to save money that could go towards the science department. This may come in the form of increasing the self-sufficiency of revenue generating programs.
“We try to get programs that do generate revenue to be as self-sufficient as possible. Now that’s a goal, we realize we can’t cut our funding completely from them,” Hamka said. “But again if they are able to raise money through ticket sales, or subscription or other means, then we do ask that they come as close to cost neutral as possible.”
Besides looking at ways to save, it is also important to look at how spending for classes changes each year. Classes can have costs that do not recur every year, Hamka added.
“I think what we do is look to allocate funds based on need, and certainly those needs shift based on the moment and also based on particular needs for that year,” Hamka said.
Stephen Kim, who teaches chemistry and the new elective forensics, supported the idea that the costs will reduce as the classes continue.
“I think when you start off with these new classes, you are going to need the new supplies for them,” Kim said. “The first year is always going to have a bigger budget for sure, and after that, you already have those supplies, so it doesn’t really have a huge hit on the budget the following years.”
Of course, there is always the option for the administration to cut out classes, and cutting out the new electives would certainly reduce the expenses. However, Hamka said the administration views this as a last resort.
The electives have been popular among students, and despite being a primary cause of the trouble, the electives are still a worthwhile addition to the South curriculum, according to Hamka.
“I think it all goes back to student needs,” Hamka said. “If students weren’t signing up for these classes we wouldn’t have them. I think very few people would argue with these electives being amazing additions.”
Kim sees the interest of students in these electives first hand, as a teacher of both core and elective science classes he can see how the class sizes compare.
“In both my forensics classes, I have around 25 kids and in my chemistry classes I have anywhere from 26 to 30, so they are actually very similar,” Kim said.
For Hamka, one of the main incentives to keep these electives is innovation and adapting to changing needs.
“We are trying to keep our learning relevant in the 21st century,” Hamka said. “We have the makerspace. We have 3D printers. We have these new innovative electives and a whole bunch of new technology. It’s important to expose our kids to this.”