Even though the drama associated with the state budget process is now behind us, it’s never too early to start focusing on New York’s financial concerns, particularly when you talk about programs and services that may be on the outside looking in when it comes to the state’s spending plan for next year.

While there is still much uncertainty about the budget process in the future, it is clear that funding for the state’s nearly 12 dozen teacher centers has been eliminated in an attempt by the governor and the Legislature to ease New York’s fiscal woes.

In this day and age of asking people to do more with less, educators across the state facing an increased workload will have to deal with that challenge at a time when a significant reduction in the hours of operation or the outright elimination of some teacher centers is expected to take place.

As major professional development resources, teacher centers provide the type of continuing education that gives teachers, teacher aides, administrators and other school staff members help in enhancing the education experience for their students. A variety of opportunities in the form of lectures, hands-on learning and online courses present enthusiastic educators the tools they need to improve what they do each day in the classroom.

New York’s 130 teacher centers, which are organized in seven regional networks, represent the largest professional learning community in the state. Working closely with the nearly 700 public school districts and more than 1,000 non-public and charter schools in 62 counties allows teacher centers to create, develop and deliver professional development to more than 300,000 educators each year.

The incredible opportunities presented in one way or another at teacher centers have led to tremendous growth in professional learning while at the same time identifying effective methods of collaborating with other partners in the education field to give teachers the support that they need.

The directors of these teacher centers are now faced with major headaches in terms of trying to keep the doors open despite the lack of state funding. While we all know what happens in Albany these days could be substituted for the storyline of a daytime soap opera and there’s a chance that changes in the line-by-line budgetary forecast could occur, the thought process for those who work at and support teacher centers has to remain focused on the bottom line, which, as I alluded to earlier, does not exist.

To eliminate resources that are dedicated for teachers to use to become better at their job is very concerning and upsetting to me, especially because the teacher centers throughout the state, including here in Western New York, are heavily utilized. To essentially tell educators that the need for them to be continuous learners is no longer important is truly disheartening to me, and I’m not a teacher and I don’t have any children.

Teachers need to develop their skills on a regular basis. If teacher centers are eliminated or their hours of operation are significantly reduced because of a lack of funding, there will be very few opportunities for educators to identify unique courses and programs that will help them to learn outside the classroom. The need for improving teacher effectiveness, better understanding academic content and getting up to speed on the latest technical advances that can help improve how lessons are taught to our children is great, but teacher centers that currently provide those opportunities are facing dire straits. Some teacher centers have already shut down because their funding has run out, and the hopeful mindset that if the money doesn’t come from the state then it will come from somewhere else can probably be correctly identified as wishful thinking at best.

While I speak often in this space about the great economic challenges that New York taxpayers have faced in recent years — the nation’s financial crisis and associated recession and the state’s yearly budget deficits top the list — we need to continue to try to minimize the impact it has on our children and their education.

Each and every child should get a quality education. Investing in education has never been so important, which is why funding for teacher centers is crucial in the process of providing students with quality instruction that helps result in higher student achievement.

(Opinions are those of the author.)