Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

[flintlock]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

Item #5 is the key to success. I'm not a big believer that kids need more hours at school, or that they need to be cramming in Kindergarten. A teacher that can be fired is a motivated teacher.

[SteveG]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

1. Kids in school from 7:30-5:00p every day.
2. Kids in school for 1 hour on Saturdays.
3. Kids in school for 1 month in summers.
4. Complete school discretion on curriculum, which is 100% college prep starting in Kindergarten (no state- or local-mandated BS)
5. The ability to hire/fire any school personnel at any time, for any reason.

I suspect there are at least three others:

6. Classes can be composed of students that have similar knowlege levels, they don't have to have the complete bell curve of "slowest" to "fastest" students. (ie there aren't two students holding the other 18 back).

7. Teachers have the right to discipline students and the school can expel students without having to fight the parent's lawyers.

8. Classes aren't held back by the school mainstreaming highly learning disabled students as is required by law in the public schools.

A combination of the "Lake Woebegone Affect" (all the children are above average), ivory tower approaches to education, touchy fealy discipline and too much parental input with real involvement (each parent has their own agenda for education but won't sit with their kid while they do their homework) has destroyed an education system that was the pride of the world.

BTW, back on the original topic, I'm not hearing about any board of education staff losing their jobs or any school administrative types getting large salary cuts or pink slips.

[BK]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

The States mentioned in the newspaper Article are Illinois, california,and New York. I would be surprised if any Full-time Professional Teachers are making $35,000 in Salary. I think entry level in New York State is $45,000 -$50,000.

I would describe Illinois, California, and New York as very pro-Union States - as a result Teacher are well paid - perhaps overly paid. This is Why the wheels are coming off the Budgets of California, Illinois, and New York now. IF wages and benefits weren't out of control - if public employees contributed to their Health Care plan at rate comparable to Private sector employees, if Public employees had been forced into 401K Plans - these States budgets would be in much better shape.
The fact is you need a lot of Teachers to run a Public School system - LOTS of Teachers. So, you can't go crazy with over Paying them or too Many benefits because the system will break down.

[reggie]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

I'd like to see someone, far better versed than I in Gov't accounting, interrogate California's Consolidated Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and explain why states are not tapping into their fund balances in order to meet annualized budget shortfalls.

California's Jun, 30 2009 CAFR can be found at:
http://www.sco.ca.gov/ard_state_cafr.html

To get a full picture, one must inspect the Gov't Wide Financial Statements, including governmental and business-type activites (starting at page 27), and the Fund Financial Statements (starting at page 33)

[shiny!]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

I suspect there are at least three others:

6. Classes can be composed of students that have similar knowlege levels, they don't have to have the complete bell curve of "slowest" to "fastest" students. (ie there aren't two students holding the other 18 back).

7. Teachers have the right to discipline students and the school can expel students without having to fight the parent's lawyers.

8. Classes aren't held back by the school mainstreaming highly learning disabled students as is required by law in the public schools.

A combination of the "Lake Woebegone Affect" (all the children are above average), ivory tower approaches to education, touchy fealy discipline and too much parental input with real involvement (each parent has their own agenda for education but won't sit with their kid while they do their homework) has destroyed an education system that was the pride of the world.

BTW, back on the original topic, I'm not hearing about any board of education staff losing their jobs or any school administrative types getting large salary cuts or pink slips.

You nailed it. + Bazillion

[charliebrown]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

8. Ohhh sacralidge, lets cut the football team. In my high school there were 5 coaches, a field, transportation, insurance etc. etc. I'm sure 1M a year was spent on this program.

9. Stop the building. New schools are going up all the time. Old schools are being torn down.
Why can't a building last 50 - 100 years? The new buildings are palaces. 100M or more, and of course there are 1 million laws and regulations with the building of the school. Scores of state/local agencies getting their cut of the new project.

10. Kids need LOVE. I'm not talking about sappy love, I'm talking about sacrifice. Parents and teachers who care and put in the time. In so many cases the parents don't give a rat, unless a bad report card comes home, and then its the teachers fault, and the teachers don't give a rat either for many reasons. Kids radar are very tuned into who cares about me and who does not.
The Pygmallion effect is very powerful.


The private sector, which supports the public sector, is falling behind. J6P is not getting COLA's, pensions, reduced health insurance premiums etc. J6P is going to get taxed out his home, by the schools.

[BK]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

PARENTS - that CARE and are involved are the Solution to Education. The Unions have convinced a generation of America that their Unionized Teachers are the magic sauce to Children that achieve in School. IT's really amazing how well High Performing School districts Correlate with High Income Communities.

When DID Americans lose their minds and Start to believe that you can Pay someone to CARE for your child as Well as you will Care for them......its impossible to motivate a stranger to care about your child like a Parent or Grand Parent cares.

Parents have surrendered their Power to Unionized Teachers - the result is crippling Property Taxes. In Many Towns in the United States the School System IS THE LARGEST BUSINESS in the Community - sucking the life and the cash out of the local Business Community.

[charliebrown]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

You are correct. I have a special needs child. For a while I was paying for care for him, so I could go to school and work. This was a good person she went on an on about how she loved him and what a special child he was. But guess what? another opportunity came along and she moved on. After that I really realized that the only person who really cares for your child is you.

I quit school to have more time to help. My dream of a new career was sacrificed. I am not sorry that I did.

[Ghent12]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

4. Complete school discretion on curriculum, which is 100% college prep starting in Kindergarten (no state- or local-mandated BS)

This point is hard to read. Do you mean that schools should have 100% college prep starting in Kindergarten?

If that is the case, I cannot possibly disagree more.

[btattoo]

Re: Other shoe about to drop (finally)? state budget cuts and state government jobs...

Starting pay, with a masters, for teachers in my part of Cali is 41k-ish. Starting pay, in my opinion, isn't the problem. Teachers who've been at it for 30 years earn like double that and are in a lot of cases (certainly not all) half as good as fresh teachers.

Another poster mentioned that teachers can't really love their students the same way parents can love their children. I'm a teacher, and I believe that statement to be true. That's why I un-school my children.