FIXING OUR SCHOOLS FOR DUMMIES - II

SECURE and CONSISTENT FUNDING

If indeed our schools and the students who are in attendance are this country's greatest natural resource then it is time to put our money where our mouth is. There seems to be money for sports stadiums, mass transit, first time home buyers, cash for clunkers and a host of other seemingly vital items and programs. Education needs to be at the top of this list. The financial experts need to decide how education will be consistently funded. Be it sales, property, income or whatever tax this tax must be fair, equitable and appropriate. At the same time services now being provided in the school setting that are non educational must be reconsidered and if these programs do not support the educational process then they are expendable.

Presently the school district where I reside, Cabrillo Unified School District, needs more money because like other districts it is getting less from the state. Supposedly, every teacher hired after 1999 (last hired, first fired) has been given a pink slip. To keep these teachers employed we will be voting on a parcel tax. The tax will be for a couple of hundred dollars assessed on every property owner for three to four year period of time. To pass, the measure must be approved by 66% of those voting. It may not sound like much money; but there is a rub.

I spoke with a dink couple recently (dual income no kids) and they purchased a house for $1,200,000. Yes, this is a lot of money; but not that unusual in San Mateo County, California. This couple currently pays $12,000 a year in property taxes! Our sales tax is now at 9.25% in San Mateo County and the vehicle licensing fees have increased this year from .65% to 1.15% of the vehicle's purchase price. This couple's feeling is that enough is enough. They and many other Californians want to know how all the collected tax money is being spent? What is the state doing with its money? Considering the economic climate I doubt very seriously that this parcel tax measure will pass.

As California approaches another gubernatorial election we already have candidates spouting off about their alleged success in the business world and how they will translate that success into running the state. On occasion this same spiel is offered as the definitive answer to improve our schools. Unfortunately what these candidates fail to realize is that schools do not produce a product. Schools teach, train and prepare individuals for life in an ever changing world. There is no tangible product. There is a process.

Rather than re-invent the wheel it would seem that each state could set up study groups to find school districts that are both financially solvent and academically successful. Discover what their best practices are and what they do right. Learn from both their mistakes and successes. Examine and report on every aspect of what these successful school districts are doing and replicate where possible. I am not advocating a one size fits all approach; but the sharing of information so that schools that need to change have a model by which to follow. At the same time school districts must think outside the box. Every aspect of what they do should be re-examined in the context of could it be done better and at less cost.

The absurd cycle of cutting services and jobs and at the same time raising taxes must be stopped. Our childrens education has to be viewed as just as vital to a community as a new foot ball stadium ... even more important.

Next Post: Teacher Recruitment and Retention

FIXING OUR SCHOOLS FOR DUMMIES -I

Much, maybe too much, has been written about what is wrong with our educational system. Blame has been placed on: schools, teachers, students, parents, administrators and numerous other aspects of this country's educational system. Unfortunately far too little has been offered in the form of real, practical and achievable solutions to these complex problems. Having taught for almost 40 years and having witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly I feel I am somewhat qualified to offer some observations and possible solutions. Let me stress that I am not a traveling educational expert with a pre-packaged power point presentation offering the quick fix. I was a classroom teacher in a suburban junior high school. I taught language arts to a culturally and ethnically diverse middle class population in the once golden state of California. Currently California's education system, much like the rest of the state's institutions have lost their golden shine and are in fact now quite tarnished.

Before making some observations and offering some solutions to the state's educational difficulties it seems identification of the existing problems is necessary. Hopefully I will avoid the usual process of "ready, fire aim" in my attempt to problem solve. Based purely on past experiences and first hand observations I would list California's, if not most states, problems as follows:

1. secure and consistent funding
2. teacher recruitment and retention
3. reality based curriculum
4. emphasis on subject content
5. return to student tracking
6. return to safe & secure schools
7. dangerous, disruptive & disobedient students
8. over emphasis on testing

Now I would imagine that a list of educational problems would vary depending on whether one is a parent, student, teacher, administrator or elected official. However; one needs a starting point and my list of eight problems is where I will start.

As a preface to this exercise it is noteworthy to recognize that this country's educational system is truly remarkable. The goal is to provide a free public education to all children from kindergarten through twelfth grade and in some states even into community college. This commitment is crucial to the well being of our country. Unfortunately public education has not kept up with the times. It is symbolic that in this post industrial age most of America's schools still follow the even older agrarian calendar. Our children are no longer needed to help out on the family farm; yet schools still close up shop during the summer months. It is important then to recognize that this country's educational system is entrenched in tradition and past practices yet will occasionally embrace programs and strategies of little merit or value in misguided attempts to appear to be cutting edge. I think that if this country's educational decision makers adopt the simple philosophy that the business of education is education there may be hope.

I had originally planned to make this blog entry a single posting. However; once I got started I soon realized that it would be better to start with an introduction and then discuss each of the eight problems in separate postings. As I have already stated my list of eight problems is my list and the observations and possible solutions are also mine. Obviously, anyone reading this Blog may differ not only with the problems but also the proposed solutions. Regardless of whether or not you agree with me I think we can all agree that the situation with our public educational system is not only bad; but more importantly getting worse. We are running out of time and our children are the losers.

Next Post: SECURE AND CONSISTENT FUNDING

The Great Races !

Which schools won the recent big education races? Yes, there were two races: the Obama Race To The Top and California's Race To The Bottom. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia are semi finalists in the Obama race and one hundred eighty-one schools in California earned the distinction of being the state's worst performing schools. And much like existing education practices both extremes of the performance spectrum will be rewarded.

The semi finalists in the Obama race apparently jumped through the hoops and drank the Federal Department of Education's Kool Aide by revising their curricula, staff evaluations and testing to appease the Feds. Looking at the list of 16 semi finalists it is apparent that this lemming like rush for Federal bucks was most successful east of the Mississippi. Only the western state of Colorado is in the winner's circle. How the District of Columbia got included with the final fifteen states is remarkable. Obama's daughters do not attend DC's public schools as well as many of the school age children of members of congress who reside in DC. The public schools of Prince George's and Montgomery counties are the schools of refuge for these politicians.

In California the 181 worst performing schools will be required to make some staff and/or administrative changes or face closure; but these schools are also eligible for between $50K and $2 million dollars for the next three years to foster improvement. Kind of like the NFL draft in that the team with the worst record gets the first draft choice; but in this case the big bucks. Of course forgotten in all this racing about are the vast majority of schools in the country where students, teachers and parents work hard to see that kids learn and succeed; but rarely win any races or get additional funding.

Equally never mentioned and probably ignored is that fact that California's classrooms have far too many feral children in all grades who would be served better through additional remedial and compensatory parental attention or through the courts and the California Youth Authority. California's classrooms are not only the day care option for too many parents; but have become a placement option for delinquents and a vast array of children with serious social, behavioral, educational and psychological disorders.

The business of education is supposed to be education. Too much time and financial resources are now spent on non educational services like transportation, food services, health , and a vast array of social programs that the schools are ill equipped to provide. Having spent considerable time discussing what is wrong with our schools I will soon offer some concrete, posssibly socially acceptable and even practical solutions and suggestions to the mess in which we now find ourselves. Are we there yet?