Did anyone catch the show on WCNY this evening "Making the Grade" about the state of education in New York? If not, it will be repeated Sunday, February 12, 12:30 pm. The panel included Commissioner Mills, Regent Botar, Mr. Lowengard (former Utica and now Syracuse Supt.) and the Buffalo Supt. It was the same old song ... the funding formula is wrong, we need more money, we need more programs, blah blah blah ... and a million excuses why the job of education has become so 'difficult.'
The most telling point during the entire program came in response to a caller. The gentleman related that he was a teacher who had taught in several very poor countries including Ghana, that children in those places could learn without any of the funding and luxuries we have here, and that we were spending more than enough on education. The response from the panelists: ignore the statement and talk about how more money is needed. If you didn't pay close attention you would think that the caller had asked for increased spending. They apparently never learned listening skills.
We have heard for many many years that our schools have not made the grade, and have seen one failed initiative following another. Regents competency tests, Regents Action Plan, the Compact for Learning, Shared Decisionmaking, "Higher Standards" . . . the list goes on and on. Schools consume more tax dollars and a greater percentage of total tax dollars than ever, and the results seem only to get worse. Why should the public believe anything that any of these so-called experts say when their track record has been so poor?
Technorati Tags: Education
2 comments:
Any time "educators" discuss more money "for students" they mean more money for salaries. Unions in the private sector are facing givebacks because of the cost of health care, but the teachers unions balk at being unified under one health plan that offers the same benefits and saves the district in Buffalo .
Teachers get 55% of the money in the Rome budget. Then there's administrators and staff. Then there's exploding benefit costs. If kids can't get desks or books one year, you can bet it's because the cost of living increase demanded by the union jumped more than the state was willing to fund that year. I'd love a line item budget to vote on. One that told me the minimum, average and highest teacher pay in the district.
I caught some of the replay. It was pretty funny how the educrats kept talking about the aid formula, now that NYC is getting more state money. I think the state should only give a district money if they agree to keep per student costs below $10,000.
Post a Comment