Funding Cuts: Wizarding Teachers Forced to Buy Spell Components for Class
“If we want to give students a quality education in modern wizarding, we need spell components.”
Funding for public wizard schools has been slashed once again in the Sovereign State of Elkshold and local wizard teachers are now facing a shortage of supplies for their classes. Their only solution thus far has been to purchase the necessary spell components with money out of their own pocket. “I don’t know what else we can do,” says veteran wizarding teacher Olgrave Windsmire. “If we want to give students a quality education in modern wizarding, we need spell components.” While others are suggesting a more theoretical approach to the subject material that won’t require the components, Windsmire doesn’t view that as an option. “If students want to learn the arcana and the history of magic, they can read that in a book. These classes should be hands-on and give students a safe environment to practice real world spellcasting.” For full disclosure, Windsmire was a vendor of spell components for the school system in addition to being a teacher.
The leading proponent for the aforementioned theoretical approach to magic education, Leos Procfield, points out that funding may have been cut to the public wizard schools for a reason. “We have to face the possibility that the Crown and Council of Advisors have been cutting funding to the wizarding programs for a reason,” Procfield tells The Dungeon Tribune. “They obviously don’t believe that public school students should be using precious resources learning to actually cast spells when they could learn about how they would cast spells, if they could, for a fraction of the cost. This is still more than enough training to be able to work for a privately trained wizard.” For full disclosure, Procfield owns a very expensive private school that does provide training in spellcasting.
Most teachers in the Elkshold Public Wizard School System are focused, for the time being, on getting the spell components needed for class. “I’ve been begging, borrowing, and stealing,” says local instructor Rigmist. “I mean literally. The thieves’ guilds have all volunteered to be on the lookout for loot that could help. For a bunch of thieves, they are surprisingly community oriented.” Amongst the main efforts of Rigmist and her fellow teachers, is a supply drive asking for donations from those in the community. “So far the drive has been a success,” notes Rigmist. “Turns out most people are glad to give for a cause that helps their community. If only there was a formal organization that we could elect to be responsible for those efforts.”