There is More Than Enough Education Money
There is plenty of money in education to pay great wages to great teachers – but that money is currently being squandered in non-educational programs.
The cafeteria has its food vendors who will fight, the combined sports industry has its equipment vendors and special interest supporters, the music industry, the transportation industry, the library industry…the list of non-classroom rice-bowl holders appears endless.
"Music focuses the mind for education," "Children study better when they are nutritionally prepared," "Sports build self-esteem and …"Art…" – you have heard the explanations given for the continued and increased funding of non-education hangers-on.
Of course, there is truth to all of it. It just isn’t education. You could posit an argument that plastic surgery would increase the ability of some students to learn…or a siesta!
The education industry has accepted every ancillary argument that has been posited, and thereby bloated "education" into a gargantuan mess where scarce funds and even-scarcer minutes are drained from the core education curriculum.
"Education" has accepted greater and greater responsibility in order to increase the size of its bureaucracy, with which comes greater managerial responsibility, larger staffs and more money. The losers have been the students, the parents, the taxpayers, and the educational health of the nation.
In a rational world, sports would be private enterprise like Pop Warner, Little League baseball, etc. No high school campus would not have a separate football stadium to be used only a few nights a year – sports of all types would not even be part of the education world.
More than 550 school sites in San Diego County has a separate school library, even when there are 85 large public libraries spotted around the County, and we live in an electronic age where almost everything is available on-line.
After a family pats little Johnny on the rear early in the morning and sends him out the door, the government picks Johnny up, takes him to school, feeds him breakfast, gives him music to sing, a play to rehearse, a full exercise regimen, a hot lunch, a shower, and a few minutes of what used to be called education. After everything, they will bring him home!
There is plenty of money! We generate almost $270,000 for 180 days of instruction PER CLASSROOM, and that does not include the cost of the buildings, gyms, and stadiums which are built by bond issues!
Absent the cost of all of the "extras," a competent teacher could easily be paid $150,000 for their 180 days of work! Perhaps a salary that high would lure back the brightest and the best to education.
Teacher pay is important! Have you ever heard of a teacher strike taking place over lack of classroom discipline, or lack of parental involvement, or lack of instructional material?
No! Every strike is over teacher pay! We may have to pay some existing incompetent teachers for a few years while merit pay identifies not just the best, but the worst among the teacher corps. With the loss of tenure and the establishment of merit pay, combined with a well-paid and valued teacher staff, and concentrating only on classroom instruction of actual academic material, we could once again become an educated society.
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The cafeteria has its food vendors who will fight, the combined sports industry has its equipment vendors and special interest supporters, the music industry, the transportation industry, the library industry…the list of non-classroom rice-bowl holders appears endless.
"Music focuses the mind for education," "Children study better when they are nutritionally prepared," "Sports build self-esteem and …"Art…" – you have heard the explanations given for the continued and increased funding of non-education hangers-on.
Of course, there is truth to all of it. It just isn’t education. You could posit an argument that plastic surgery would increase the ability of some students to learn…or a siesta!
The education industry has accepted every ancillary argument that has been posited, and thereby bloated "education" into a gargantuan mess where scarce funds and even-scarcer minutes are drained from the core education curriculum.
"Education" has accepted greater and greater responsibility in order to increase the size of its bureaucracy, with which comes greater managerial responsibility, larger staffs and more money. The losers have been the students, the parents, the taxpayers, and the educational health of the nation.
In a rational world, sports would be private enterprise like Pop Warner, Little League baseball, etc. No high school campus would not have a separate football stadium to be used only a few nights a year – sports of all types would not even be part of the education world.
More than 550 school sites in San Diego County has a separate school library, even when there are 85 large public libraries spotted around the County, and we live in an electronic age where almost everything is available on-line.
After a family pats little Johnny on the rear early in the morning and sends him out the door, the government picks Johnny up, takes him to school, feeds him breakfast, gives him music to sing, a play to rehearse, a full exercise regimen, a hot lunch, a shower, and a few minutes of what used to be called education. After everything, they will bring him home!
There is plenty of money! We generate almost $270,000 for 180 days of instruction PER CLASSROOM, and that does not include the cost of the buildings, gyms, and stadiums which are built by bond issues!
Absent the cost of all of the "extras," a competent teacher could easily be paid $150,000 for their 180 days of work! Perhaps a salary that high would lure back the brightest and the best to education.
Teacher pay is important! Have you ever heard of a teacher strike taking place over lack of classroom discipline, or lack of parental involvement, or lack of instructional material?
No! Every strike is over teacher pay! We may have to pay some existing incompetent teachers for a few years while merit pay identifies not just the best, but the worst among the teacher corps. With the loss of tenure and the establishment of merit pay, combined with a well-paid and valued teacher staff, and concentrating only on classroom instruction of actual academic material, we could once again become an educated society.
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posted by Kimo | 9:22 PM
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