Big financial decisions are being made for the next school year that could strip certain programs from Duval County Public Schools.
DCPS tells us they are dealing with a serious budget squeeze, to the tune of $62.1 million dollars after receiving significantly less money than they say they needed from the state. Now, they're trying to come up with ways to make sure their students get the same education while spending less money.
Not everyone is thrilled at the ideas.
Part of their plan to save money involves changes to music, arts, and PE classes. Those teachers from smaller schools in Duval County may end up having to teach at their small school and a larger school in the county.
"I don't think they should make a cut at any of the schools," said second-grader Will Dodrill.
Will plays in the after school xylophone club at his school.
"It was a big shock, we were surprised we hadn't heard about it earlier," said Celeste Dodrill, Will's mother.
Celeste says she fears her son's teacher may not be able to continue with the after school program if she has to split her time between schools.
Teachers have also voiced their concern to DCPS at school board meetings.
"Teachers need to be able to have that rapport with their students," said Shaun Bennett, a music teacher at Ortega Elementary School.
Bennett says to the school board that if he's split between schools, his after-school Steel Band program may disappear.
"If I'm having to be shuffled around between two different schools, I can't develop the program," Bennett said.
Tracy Pierce with DCPS says these changes aren't about cutting music, arts and PE, but expanding it to more students.
"Right now, smaller school students are getting that resource more often than larger schools," Pierce said.
Pierce says spreading out the teachers to different schools will help ease their budget gap and gives all students in the county equal time with those teachers.
"All students will still have arts, music, and PE every week, that's a win - win - win situation," Pierce said.
Pierce also says they are not using these changes as a means to fire teachers.
"To my knowledge, there are no arts teachers or music teachers as a result of any of the changes that we're making," Pierce said.
As far as the possibility of losing school programs, Pierce says that's something the board will have to consider.
"The board is going to have a number of workshops and conversations about this," Pierce said.