With significant cuts made to the Charleston School District budget last week amounting to a total of $450,000, Eastern education students may have to alter their plans for student teaching.

On Feb. 17, the Charleston School District made cuts to its budget that included technology funding, textbook funding and salary freezes.

Similar discussions are occurring within school districts across the state, which has some education majors thinking about their futures.

“I’ve been trying to make myself more marketable by becoming a dual certification student and taking extra classes,” said Tisha Thompson, a junior special education major.

However, not all students are as concerned as others.

Megan Holzhauer is a junior special education major as well, but she has been told that the job outlook within special education is great. More students are being diagnosed with learning disabilities every year. The school districts are required to pay for the services each of these students need, said Jim Kestner, chair of student teaching.

“[The budget cuts are] definitely things that have crossed my mind, but it specifically doesn’t concern me because I am a special education major and they need more of us,” Holzhauer said. “But, it’s still scary to think about.”

In order to pull ahead in the teaching job market, Kestner said he recommends students to take interview and resume coaching classes.

“It’s important to work hard at finding jobs; it is essential to find the areas where there are jobs open,” Kestner said. “A job will not just fall into your lap.”

The job market will still remain competitive, Kestner said, no matter how a student prepares for life after his or her education.

“I do think the job market will be a lot tighter because many schools are having to reduce the size of their staff or keep their staff at the same number,” Kestner said. “You won’t see many schools adding staff; however, people will retire and the schools will need teachers.”

Despite the budget cuts, Eastern student teachers will not be affected because schools do not pay for student teachers, Kestner said.

Every education major’s last semester is spent student teaching within a school district in the state. Teachers volunteer their classrooms for student observation and students eventually teach in front of their class.

“Student teaching is the most important work they will do in college,” Kestner said.

Though Thompson has not started her student teaching semester, she is not worried the budget cut will impact her when she starts student teaching.

“I don’t think the cuts of technology would hurt a student teacher, if anything working in tough times and with less resources can help prepare a student more than hinder their experience,” Thompson said.

The quality of the student teaching experience is determined by the relationships of the people, while technology is a great addition, there is more to the experience than that, Kestner said.

“[The experience of the student teacher] will depend on the financial situation of the school,” Kestner said. “In reality, the quality of the teaching experience comes down to the people in the classroom, I don’t think it is dictated by the technology and the resources.”

Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7943 or kzyskowski@eiu.edu.