Gee, things look rosy in Cleveland -- $100 million dollar shortfall for education, with the school district looking to cut 1,400 teacher jobs, cut football, baseball, summer school, etc. http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/06/04/cleveland.schools.ap/index.html Wait just a cotton picking minute! "The education president" is in charge! He'll ride to the rescue any day now! Or were "No Child Left Behind" and "Education President" thing just cheesy campaign slogans, with no intent of backing it up by improving education? For those who say the tax cuts we've been doling out to the rich help us all out, this is what it gets you. Cuts in sevices -- services everyone uses. (uh, unless you're rich.) (Yeah, someone's gonna say the school dsitrict wasted money, but an audtior came up with like $500,000 in dubious spending. not quite $100 miliion) Oh yeah, and the other day someone leaked a Dubya planning memo that showed they planned on having the country "tighten its belt" AFTER the elections. I.e., Dubya's guy were planning on something like a 5% cut in education spending, along with equivalent cuts in other services. Gotta love the man for his consitency, if nothing else -- help big business and the rich, screw the poor and the working man, none of that annoying flip-flopping. Uh, unless you count "No Child Left Behind". -- Steve
Why would you twist this into a bush beating statement when the entire article is about the lack of money from within the school district!!?? Did you even read the article?? We in Kansas are doing the same thing however they just all of a sudden found 63 mill just liing around.......... The no child left behind program has nothing to do with school districs having the lack of money/tax base..........
My wife has been an elementary school teacher for over 25 years, and since the "No Child Left Behind Act" was pushed through by Bush, she has had to spend much more time developing and administering needless tests. This has taken significant time away from actually teaching her students. Also, school administrators aren't stupid: they now require teachers to teach to the test with much less regard to the aptitude of the particular class. On many evenings now, I have one frustrated teacher on my hands---a teacher who often times has been requested by former students to teach their own children. Most people of both parties in Montana are against this nonsensical federal intrusion; it constitutes one of the finest examples of big brother dictating local politics and policies. Guys like Limbaugh would be screaming bloody murder if a Democratic president had pushed this through. Dan
As actually being one of the "left behind" children (I was still in school when bush was elected and started screwing with our educational system), I don't care for bush at all and will not vote for him this election.
Bush allocated more money to schools then any president in recent history. If you want to blame someone blame the corrupt school districts that are waisting money hand over fist. Also, I'm glad the government stepped in and is actually requiring teachers to actually teach, God forbid.
Hey All, Its a shame to read that article about the Cleveland School District. Had my parents stayed in the city of Cleveland I would have been a graduate from the Class of 1983. But in 1974 my parents along with hundreds of others decided to move from the city to the suburbs because of a court ordered bussing. This order was an attempt to intigrate children from all areas of the city. This plan lasted over 20 years and drained the district of millions upon millions of dollars. The system has never recovered!!! I have heard that back in the 1950s the Cleveland City School District was rated one of the best districts in the country. I try to stay out of politics but I have heard that the way the State of Ohio is funding its school systems has been found to be Unconstitutional.ou: If anyone out there can explain this in fifty words or less I would appreciate an explination. I guess what is a real bother to me is how quick a city is to move and build new stadiums for professional sports franchises but continually puts education on the back burner. This is truly sad Take Care
Mike Prybill, I don't know if you have children or not who are still in grades K thru 12 but I can tell you that state mandated testing in the school systems has serious drawbacks. I am not saying that its wrong but I am saying that from my experiences I don't like it. Example: My 11 yr old son is an extremely intelligent young boy. His teachers know that he will pass the State of Ohio proficiency Tests therefore the teachers tend to forget about him and spend more time with the other students who they know are going to have trouble passing. I don't blame the teachers. They have been told that if a certain amount of students don't pass the proficiency tests then there school district will not receive state $$$$. Now.... isn't' this teaching to the lowest common denominator??? To me this seems a tad on the backwards sideo No: Take Care
I am 100% behind Dan's (Wagonboss) statements. As a middle school principal (and a person who voted for Bush), I can tell you I do not believe NCLB has done anything but create unnecessary criticism and stress the public school system here in Maine. The last time I checked my school law, public education is a state responsibility as provided in state constitution keeping control where it should be local, not with the federal government. The only reason NCLB is a concern is due to the fact states have accepted federal money to help pay for education. If you used the money, you are now required to comply with the NCLB mandates. There may be places in the country where NCLB was necessary. I would suggest again, this is a state level responsibility to straighten out, not a one-size-fits-all approach such as NCLB. Local money needed for schools would not be as much of an issue if all the mandates in state and federal laws were sufficiently funded and not dumped back on the property taxpayers. I don't know who I will vote for but it will have to be for someone that can straighten this mess out. My solution would be send the federal money back, and reduce the burden on local property taxes that support schools by increasing the sales tax and dedicating the increase to education. There cant be anything more important to our democracy that a strong public education. Do you think this people understood the importance? Thomas Jefferson: If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. John Quincy Adams: To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. It prolongs life itself and enlarges the sphere of existence. Mortimer J. Adler: the democratic promise of equal educational opportunity, half fulfilled, is worse than a promise broken. It is an ideal betrayed. And a bumper sticker I like: If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
It's "trickle down economics". If the federal government cuts money to the states (they have) then, local government comes up short. I saw a report that more money is being spent on each child in Iraq, for education, then on each child in this country. :Smarty:
You are fortunate that your son is bright, however what if he was one the student(s) that you refer to. Should the teachers focus on just the smarter students which would cause the slower students to lose interest and check out? Maybe there is a better way such as better student segregation so the teachers could teach all of the students at the same level, but until that day happens thank God above that your child doesnt have to struggle to learn like so many do.
I can tell you that I was in the top 2% of my class on every state/federal mandated test, from the very first test to the last test, I'll also tell you that I was a high school drop out (and then went on to be in the top 1% of my hsed class, passing a years worth of tests in 6 weeks).
I'm not saying standardized testing is the perfect solution, but the lack of teaching children get is proof that someone needs to be held accountable, hence the testing. The US government spends more money on education per student then any other nation on the planet, and yet our kids are not learning anything. They are in fact getting dumber every year. How is it that European nations can spend less and produce smarter children? Before you all bitch about Bush, and the NCLB which was passed by both Republicans AND Democrats, maybe you should check to see how much your school district's superintendent pulls down yearly. I'd be willing to bet it's six figures. It's this type of waste, plus the fact that many teachers feel it more important to force their political agenda on kids instead of actually teach them, is why we are becoming a nation of dummies
The main problem with No Child Left Behind is that its an unfunded mandate. Great idea, and sounds good (especially during elections), but basically it said "Now you have to do more, our way, and we're not going to help you." Some districts certainly could manage their funds better, but if they didn't before the mandate, why would we think they would after? We need a better solution to managing schools, as well as leaving no child behind. Separate issues. As for unconstitutional funding in Ohio, I forget what that is about. I do remember, however, that the district in Avon Lake (Ohio) was concerned over changes in school funding, because of how the money would be distributed. Most of the money collected from industry stayed in the city, and they didn't want that to change because it would hurt their district - which is quite good.
Public school teachers have been being screwed since I was in high school many years ago. We had a 5 school walkout and march to city hall to protest when they tried to cut already low salarys and fire everyone that didnt accept the cuts. Dallas Texas in 93
Everyone complaining about NCLB get down here to New Orleans. THE WORST schools in our country for many years,and probably still is,but over the last three years has made strides towards improvements. We used to have like 70% substitute teachers full time,and those people are getting accredited to full time teachers.Test scores are climbing,graduation rates are climbing,violence is on the decline (on campus anyway) dropout rates are falling. I admit,this is not a perfect system,but it has been helping. Now the school board is trying to fire the Superintendant Joe Amato because he revealed the school board has been stealing tons of money from the school system, and he is requiring the parents to actually get involved.Oh yeah,these same parents ARE on the school board,and they DO steal the money,and then complain there is no money for the schools.Then they got mad because he actually expected them to BE ACCOUNTABLE for their actions and children. Gotta love New Orleans politics.
Jim, I have had quite a few people tell me that I am "fortunate" to have bright children. Yes... children... I have two boys ages 11 and 8. Now I do consider myself lucky and fortunate that both of my boys are healthy. BUT... I do not consider myself fortunate because they are "bright". I am sorry but that is no accident!! My wife and I sit and spend a great deal of time with them doing there homework along with extra studies. The resolution to this problem is not and will never be $$$$. The resolution is to make LAZY PARENTS get off of there butts and spend time with there children. More and more we as Americans want to blame others or blame the system for our or our childrens failures. Just as I tell others out there.... my car isn't running into the 8s at over 150 mph by accident. This takes hours upon hours of dedicated work. Eventhough I spend hours upon hours with my car I know my first priorities are my children!! GS1, Thanks for dedicating your life to teaching our children. Take Care
I didn't read all that was said above. But enough. Schools are a local issue. Keep them local, and keep the feds out of it. Nobody's got a federal kid. They're all local kids. God help us if the feds start mandating what the children learn. I think the USA is much better and more diverse than that. State and county rights should be protected so the localities can prescribe what they want to do at the local taxpayer level. In other words, liberals in CA shouldn't be messing with the conservative views in Alabama when it comes to education. There's far too much of that happening already.
No politician in their right mind would not back NCLB. It sounds like the cure to all our educational problems. I've am a high school math teacher ( for 17 years). The problem is not simple, and there is no "one size fits all" remedy. However, if you want to dramatically increase student achiement, LOWER CLASS SIZES! Twenty students per teacher should be the maximum. Over 25 and students can easily fall through the cracks. We may not rate highly compared to other nations, but we do education differently in this country. We attempt to inspire all children, and we test all children. We send more students to college and graduate schools. We do amazing things with special needs students. I am sick of politicians trying to make hay at the expense of hard working teachers. No other job requires so much education,preparation and hard work for low pay and little respect. Don't start on the "but they get summers off" baloney. If teacher didn't have that time to recharge, the burnout rate would be even higher than it is. Thanks for letting me vent. My license plate is F=MA.
If anyone went to my school and seen how "messed up" my teachers were, then you would understand why the government is taking over. Go overseas to Europe and look at how the education system is so much better than here. I was over in Germany in 1992 and their education system puts ours to shame just by the level of intelligence the school kids possessed. To show an example of my teachers, when my english teacher got a headache he would tell you to keep quiet while he put a rubberband around his head and turned the lights off in the classroom.
