Unpleasant answers about education
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By Christina Nuckols
Last week, state senators voted in favor of a study to determine whether they are adequately funding public schools in Virginia.
The sponsor, Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw, knows the answer. “We’re not even coming close,” he said in a phone interview.
Sorry, I should have issued a spoiler alert. Not that you’re likely to read that study anytime soon. A similar proposal died in the House of Delegates. Saslaw is hoping to persuade House Speaker Bill Howell to save his study from the same fate, but it won’t be easy.
Most legislators, like Saslaw, know they are cheating public education.
Nuckols is editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
February 10, 2013 - 7:39 AM
Although not about funding, there was a decent article in the NY Times about one school that got turned around without resorting to a State take-over, closing the school, turning it into a charter school, getting rid of teachers, etc.
Instead, it’s about fixing the problems with problem schools rather than giving up on them. Of course, some would rather get rid of public schools because PROFIT.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/the-secret-to-fixing-bad-schools.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
WHAT would it really take to give students a first-rate education? Some argue that our schools are irremediably broken and that charter schools offer the only solution. The striking achievement of Union City, N.J. — bringing poor, mostly immigrant kids into the educational mainstream — argues for reinventing the public schools we have….
Scott..interesting article. It looks/sounds like the school may have been underperforming for a generation before this great transformation was complete. Should a school system/state wait that long?
Second, it looks as if the school system was allowed to compose its own cirriculum. They may have a case where the home team is keeping score on progress and passing/failing.
What happened at Union City could be true, rampant improvement or a lipstick on a pig exercise in building self esteem.
Here are some facts from the Virginia DOE Superintendent’s Report.
Per pupil spending in VA…2002 = $7,836……..2011 = $10,793, up 38%
State spending on education…2002 = $3.054 billion….2011 = $4.091 billion, up 34%
State Spending per pupil…2002 = $2,663….2011 = $3,375, up 27%
Pretty nice increases for an 9 year period.