Article 57. Putting Public School Funding in the Classroom
In case you haven’t been keeping up the job market the best manufacturing jobs those paying middle class salaries are being lost to global competition. This leaves future public school graduates with mostly low paying service jobs if they don‘t go on to higher education. The time is over when an automotive worker’s son can follow in his father’s trade and expect to retire. This means massive innovative change is needed with emphasis on cradle to grave education.
All education should start with babies in the “Parents as Teachers Program” progress through kindergarten and into the public schools and beyond. The worldwide competition for jobs can best be defeated in the classrooms of our public schools. The recently enacted “No Child Left behind Program” holds public schools, more correctly teachers, responsible for the educational progress of their students. The corollary to this is that no bright child should be held back allowing them to skip grades until they are challenged. This is a great start the only problem is that there is only limited funding for this program.
When we look at how public schools are spending their budgets we get an entirely different view. In most public schools only about 60% or less of the budget goes to those things that directly impact the classroom. The rest goes to support activities such as libraries, Counselors, transportation, school nurse, and big chunk to administrative salaries. I believe that the primary problem is that school boards have been duped into thinking that by hiring the “best” that means paying larger salaries for Superintendents and Principles they will have better schools. But in fact only the best teachers low class sizes and classroom facilities have real impact on the education of students. Governor Blunt of Missouri has what I think is a valid solution to insure funding goes to the classroom.
By JOE ROBERTSON from the Kansas City Star
“Governor Matt Blunt wants Missourians to force their local school districts to spend at least 65% of their operating budgets on classroom instruction.”
“If Missouri had met the 65%, Blunt said, $272 million in school funding would have been diverted to the classroom from nonclassroom spending.” “Missouri, according to the latest available figures — from the 2002-2003 school year — spent 60.97% of operating funds for instruction, ranking 29th in the nation. Kansas, at 59.20 percent for instruction, was 44th. Nationally, the figure was 61.34 percent.”
“The proposal — called “the 65 percent solution” — originated with a Washington-based organization called First Class Education and led by Overstock.com President Patrick Byrne. Similar legislation has been proposed or enacted in 17 states…”.
“But educators noted that, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the category of support services outside the classroom includes crucial student services such as librarians, school nurses and transportation.”
(Note that they failed to mention administrative pay which is significant.)
“Districts also have different needs, said Grandview Superintendent John Martin, and communities look to their school boards for the kind of oversight Blunt wants to exert from the state. ‘Once more, the state and politicians are out to run the local schools over their boards,’ Martin said.”
The Key points for school districts is that they should pay enough to attract and keep the best teachers, class sizes should never average more than 25 students and they should have the best science labs and other classroom facilities. Class sizes averaging less than 25 students is the most important determiner of success and the most often violated. A specified “class size averaging less than 25 students” should be a state requirement rather than just a percentage of the budget, which does not focus on the real problem. Administrative pay is always a secondary priority because it has the least impact on the education of students.
The public seldom hears about class size because they simply don’t known how important it is. In the first two years of grade school when students are learning to read the class size should not be more than 20 because of the individual attention needed for each student. In Junior high and high school classes that exceed 35 are difficult to keep disciplined and provide little learning for students who are not motivated. You can forget about “No Child Left Behind” for classes over 35. School boards think they have done their job when they have balanced their budgets even with class sizes up to 40 students. The main problem is in funding the extra teachers and classrooms.
Now let’s talk about how you can increase the number of teachers reducing class sizes and get more than 65% funding for the classroom. Since administrators have the least impact and command the highest salaries why do we continue to pay them when lower paid people will do just as well? Why do we even need a Superintendent when you can hire as many as five teachers on his salary? You can do without a Superintendent if you have the Principles from the schools manage the district using a rotating chairmanship and do just as well. The bottom line is to put funding in the classroom where the rubber meets the road and not waste it on high paid administrators.
