Laurel Landrum, a full-time Spanish teacher at Community High School, starts off every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a first block Spanish 3 class, lecturing and leading activities. Although it may appear to be an ordinary world language class, it is in many ways a reminder of the combined Spanish 2 and 3 class Landrum taught last year.

Due to the education budget cuts in 2011, the Spanish department had to be creative, as there were only four sections to teach the entire program at Community. What they came up with was the split Spanish 2-3 course that Laurel describes as a failed experiment.

“I kind of underestimated the distance in knowledge between the lower-level [Spanish] 2 kids and the higher-level [Spanish] 3 kids, so it was difficult to keep everybody doing the same thing and challenged at the same time,” said Landrum.

Last year, Landrum’s Spanish 2-3 classes were often hectic, and she had to send groups to the computer lab to complete work so she could better teach the other half of the class. For some, this separation may have been fine, but for others it was quite troublesome.

Isabel Todoroff, a sophomore at Community, found these circumstances were tough. “It was just harder to learn, and I didn’t like that we had to be separated,” said Todoroff. Landrum also noted that she had nobody to help monitor the students in the computer lab, which meant less support for those who needed it.

Although there are no split-level classes this year, budget cuts are still evident in the form of increasing class sizes, fewer classroom materials, and even little to no transportation options, but they are also noticeable in the overall feel of classes. Landrum acknowledges that she is giving out less daily homework, and focusing more on preparation. Due to these changes, assessments and projects become even more important for her classes than they were before.

There is now an educational budget of $14.3 billion for K-12 schools, a figure down almost $1 billion from last year. Landrum explains that in order to gain money for the education budget, Michigan has to tie funding to student achievement and teacher performance. Now, 20 percent of her evaluation is linked to how her students do in class. The next year, 30 percent of her evaluation will be based off these results.

“It’s just data, everyone wants data, and I don’t think that there is a ton of consideration as to how the data is being collected and what measures are being used,” said Landrum.

Although she has the summer off, Landrum has no time for a social life during the school year. Five extra kids can add an hour of work to a day according to Laurel, and that’s not all.

Recently, teachers have been publicly scrutinized. Landrum finds that, in general, students have become far more critical towards what they’re learning, and she often has to defend herself. In some cases it’s to students, sometimes to friends, or even to family members.

Many teachers have taken action against unfair treatment or lack thereof; most notably the teachers of the Chicago public school district. When asked about their cause, Landrum explained that such a large group had to strike before anyone else could.

“I’m a strong believer in public education, and that a good education should be free to everyone, “ said Landrum. “I don’t think it’s free and equal now, but I think the more that it gets cut, it’s going to be free and bad for everybody, instead of trying to raise the bar and make it free and good for everybody.”

Along with lack of funding, state alignment of education has also arisen as a debatable topic. Landrum believes there are pros and cons to this strategy. She agrees that a state-wide educational system would mean less work for teachers and administrators, but she also believes it would require trust. Will her colleagues have the same views on assessments and testing? Landrum highly doubts they would.

One big issue with the budget cuts is benefits for teachers. Landrum initially had great insurance and went to several doctors and offices for free, but that was switched out with subpar options. In addition, Landrum now has to pick between several pension options, none of which she understands.

Teachers are learning to adapt to an ever-changing budget, and Landrum has experienced these changes first-hand. She has persevered, and continues to single-handedly run the entire Spanish program at Community High School, but she simply states that the budget is broken.

Most importantly, Laurel is grateful she is even employed. “I’m happy to have a job, and I do feel like my job is more secure than a lot of people’s jobs… despite the fact that I am sick of being vilified,” said Landrum.

At least for now, Laurel Landrum is mentoring her students, with several limitations, to the best of her ability