Funding education excellence is a long way off in Georgia and getting farther away
Ernest sent me a link to this Education Week story about weighted student funding. He asked, “What if funding was differentiated based on need and really allowed for the dollars to follow the students? It seems several school districts are already trying this.”
Georgia does use a weighting system in its funding formula. Under Georgia’s system, weights are reflected as a percentage of the base. While the “average student” gets an allocation of 1.0, an English learner might get an allocation of 1.2.
But the state has never analyzed its weighting in a framework of academic achievement. Is the extra money allotted for students with special needs sufficient to assure academic success? Are we allotting enough to educate children from poor households to a standard of some sort?
The Governor’s Education Finance Task Force created by Sonny Perdue in 2004 was supposed to develop a cost model that would provide the true price of “an excellent education.” The task force held more than 75 public meetings and discussions with 105 school systems. Yet, it did not make any recommendations on how much it would cost to educate Georgia students to the standard of excellence sought by Perdue.
The reason was that excellence costs more than anyone in Georgia is willing to spend.
In fact, the successor to the Perdue task force is the new Nathan Deal task force, which accepted from the start that excellence may be an unrealistic goal. The current task force led by lawmakers Fran Millar from the Senate and Brooks Coleman from the House is the sixth such assemblage to take a stab at fixing school funding.
At one of its first meetings last year, the task force heard from outgoing House Budget Office director John Brown, who said, “We are not going to come up with a formula that reaches for excellence. We are not putting an orchestra in every school. We are going to create a formula so that every school system has enough money to get the basic job done.”
But we don’t actually know what it costs to get the basic job done for the average Georgia student, never mind the student who brings special needs to the equation.
In theory, the state funding formula, which was adopted in 1985, sends enough money to communities so that they can — with a small local tax supplement — provide an adequate basic education to students. In reality, the state formula is outdated, grossly underestimating the cost of textbooks, facilities maintenance and student transportation. It doesn’t address technology needs at all. To attract teachers, virtually all systems augment the state wage.
Historically, the state had paid about 60 to 55 percent percent of real costs of education while local communities paid 40 percent. Today, the state is only footing 38 percent of the education tab in Georgia. (It’s important to note that one percentage point represents well over a hundred million dollars.)
According to Ed Week, other districts have embraced more realistic weighted funding formulas, including Boston:
Under Boston’s system, a low-income English-language learner in 6th grade—student A in this example—would generate fewer funding dollars than a 4th grader with autism, or student B.
But reallocating resources through weighted student funding meant that about 45,000 students were in schools that ended up making smaller cuts or even gaining in funding, despite the overall budget shortfall. Other schools in Boston experienced real decreases in funding or saw their budgets remain the same this school year, based on enrollment and the makeup of their student bodies.
In moving to a “weighted student-funding formula,” Boston joins other districts, such as Baltimore, Denver, Rochester, N.Y., and New York City, that believe this method better serves student needs and creates more transparency and fairness in district finances. And in a time of tight budgets, some also say this funding method creates a process where cuts can be managed around an individual school’s needs, instead of coming by decree from the central office.
“The benefit is you have a single way of allocating resources across the district regardless of the type of school you’re in,” said John McDonough, Boston’s chief financial officer. That leads to a significantly more rational way of responding to budget concerns, he said.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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198 comments Add your comment
Mikey D.
July 25th, 2012
2:06 pm
@Jane W
You are still ignoring Maureen’s question… Where is your evidence that vouchers affect more positive outcomes for disadvantaged students than traditional public schools? Do you have any data to back up your claims? Any study results? Please post links…
Jane W.
July 25th, 2012
2:39 pm
Sorry Ron, but I have a 12-month rather than a 9-month job and couldn’t get immediately back to you.
Indeed, it was ruled that “Mickey Mouse” and “Adolf Hitler” (two actual signatures turning up multiple times on those recall petitions you cite) had to be accepted as “possible” Wisconsin residents.
That aside, to the rest of us it was telling that a pulp mountain of petition paper and much loud hoopla by unions—ended in a whimper. Gov. Scott Walker increased his victory margin by 50 percent over that in the 2010 election.
ref: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70429.html
And to add insult to injury—now that union membership is no longer mandatory teachers are apparently opting out of the local National Education Association affiliate in droves.
ref: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/127806733.html
Ron F.
July 25th, 2012
2:40 pm
@Jane W: “But somehow those petition signers turned out NOT to be actual Wisconsin voters, eh Ron?”
I respectfully, politely, calmly ask that you not add my name to a post addressed to another person on this blog. I have not posted on this thread and likely will not as I’m back at school early, for no pay whatsoever, trying to get ready for the coming school year. I have addressed you as respectfully as possible, and have always tried to carefully choose words in my few debates with you so as not to encourage your rancor. Please give the same respect in return.
MiltonMan
July 25th, 2012
3:10 pm
Libs answer to everything: just spend (aka Throw) money at the problem & it some point it will go away.
APS spends 12k on students; North Fulton less than half that.
North Fulton schools >>>>>>>> APS schools
Google "NEA" and "donations"
July 25th, 2012
3:10 pm
@ Fran Millar:
Please excuse our host Maureen for her disingenuous suggestion that reform might imperil(!) the existing traditional public school structure. That’s obviously a red herring—and anyway laughable to inner-city parents who’d be ONLY TOO HAPPY to see failing education bureaucracies sink into oblivion.
I wouldn’t weep if the Atlanta City, Fulton and Dekalb school boards decamped to Kazakhstan. Would you?
As for Maureen continually citing tuition figures for the most elite of private schools—rather than those of Catholic schools nationwide getting the job done for far less than taxpayers now spend per student in comparable public schools …
yuzeyurbrane
July 25th, 2012
3:13 pm
Fran Millar, your last post states not everyone should be educated to go to college. No one would disagree but the devil is in the details. Don’t you think that a meritocracy requires that everyone be educated to their maximum ability regardless of their origins? Or do you believe in some sort of Social Darwinism where only the children of the wealthy (the fittest) get that opportunity? What is your alternative to improving the public schools? Support your position with facts, not ideological rhetoric. Do you think children of the wealthy who do not perform well in their private schools should be denied entry to colleges and universities? Or is money always an exception? Why?
Prof
July 25th, 2012
3:18 pm
@ Jane W. You say above that you have a 12-month job, yet just today alone you’ve posted 5 times during work-hours: 10:52 am, 11:55 am, 12:23 pm, 12:32 pm, and 2:30 pm. Tsk, tsk.
red herring
July 25th, 2012
3:26 pm
Enter your comments here
CCMST
July 25th, 2012
3:26 pm
Well, @prof – a recent survey done by Salary.com showed Americans admitted to wasting an average of 2 hours of their employers time per day. http://www.libgig.com/node/1011 Jane W. is just doing her part.
And, naysayers, the “lib” in the URL does not stand for “liberal” – it’s for “library.”
Fran Millar
July 25th, 2012
3:30 pm
Yuzeyurbrane, why don’t you read HB400(Bridge bill) and HB186 to see what options we are giving young people. It has nothing to do with wealth. It is college and/or career ready. Sounds like you have a class warfare problem based on your comments. These bills (now law) are fact not ideological rhetoric.
red herring
July 25th, 2012
3:34 pm
re: previous post/computer glitch. it’s time to realize that education can not continue to consume more and more of the state budget. education administrations have become too large and certainly too expensive. reduce the size of administration and it’s costs and you may be able to return sanity to the cost of education. we have rebuilt vast numbers of schools over the past 10 years with splost money but it’s never enough. renovating old schools is a thing of the past—we must buy more land and build new buildings. go back to the recommendations made by group hired to cut spending by dekalb (not that they followed them—it was just a means to say “we tried our best”) —when that group stated what needed to be cut and where –it was never seriously considered. too much fat in the education system—cut half the fat and even then there will be more than needed—our schools should be looking at ways to better educate not ways to spend more and ask for more. same old song and dance every year–we need more, more,more… many taxpayers have lost sympathy.
Mary Elizabeth
July 25th, 2012
3:41 pm
Please note that the website given by SmartKFunding, at 1:59 pm is led by Georgia’s Chamber of Commerce. See the words, below, from that website, stated under “More” within “Initiatives”:
“The Smarter Funding, Better Outcomes initiative is led by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest business advocacy organization, which represents a diverse range of industries on key policy issues at the state and federal level to ensure Georgia remains economically competitive. . .
The Chamber is committed to improving educational outcomes for Georgia students in order to provide employers with the qualified workforce they need now and in the future. . .
Funding for Smarter Funding, Better Outcomes is provided through a grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Georgia Chamber Foundation, a 501(c)(3) affiliate of the Chamber that works to educate key stakeholders and the public on policies consistent with the Chamber’s guiding mission.”
===============================================
Readers should, also, be aware that Georgia’s Chamber of Commerce supported HR 1162 in the last legislative session, which provided the amendment to Georgia’s Constitution to be voted on in November, which will give the state of Georgia the right to establish public charter schools beyond the jurisdiction of local school districts. See the link below:
http://www.gachamber.com/supportshr1162/
=========================================
And, from that link, given immediately above, please read the following excerpt, below, in which ALEC is mentioned:
“The Chamber has designated HR 1162 as a scorecard issue for 2012.
Inadequate Education System is Harming Georgia’s Economy
Georgia ranks near the bottom of the nation in standardized test scores and high school graduation rates, and far below the national average in college completion and other measures. . .
Georgia spends a total of $11,498 per student per year – more than the national average – to achieve these subpar results, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. That’s a poor return on investment. [NOTE: ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council. Also, note that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a member of ALEC.]
Charter Schools Provide Georgia Students with Quality Options
Charter schools are public schools that typically produce better results for students – and for less funding than traditional public schools. . .”
=============================================
The website provided by SmartKFunding at 1:59 pm appears to be a site with a political agenda for a certain type of educational reform, to me. Why not reform traditional public education, from within? That is my question. However, traditional public education cannot make substantive reform from within, if funds to traditional public education are cut by state legislators. Think about it.
Maureen Downey
July 25th, 2012
3:43 pm
@Google, As a Catholic school graduate, I like Catholic schools. However, I don’t think they work miracles. The research on private schools suggest that students in Catholic schools, particularly those run by Jesuits, outperform other private schools even while controlling for SES.
And Catholic high schools are cheaper, $8,182 per year on average nationwide. (Note that tuition on the premier Catholic high schools, such as Marist in Atlanta, is often double that amount. Marist School lists its tuition this year as $16,300. http://www.marist.com/admissions/tuition)
Enrollment remains primarily white, 74.2 percent. However, these schools serve mostly Catholics; only 15.4 percent of the 312,732 students in Catholic schools are not Catholics. I think the homogeneity of the student population and the shared religious values play a role.
http://www.ncea.org/news/annualdatareport.asp#tuition
Maureen
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
July 25th, 2012
3:51 pm
@Jane W “Indeed, it was ruled that “Mickey Mouse” and “Adolf Hitler” (two actual signatures turning up multiple times on those recall petitions you cite) had to be accepted as “possible” Wisconsin residents.”
First of all, I am not Ron. So please address me by my screen name when you are responding to a question I sent. Secondly, you suggest that NONE of the signatures on the recall petition were legit, and then can only come up with TWO… let me repeat that…TWO illegitimate signatures out nearly 1 million?
I would hardly call that “proof” of anything.
@CCMST “a recent survey done by Salary.com showed Americans admitted to wasting an average of 2 hours of their employers time per day.”
I thought about that the other day when I was traveling with someone who was on vacation who kept playing word games with their office mates (who were not on vacation). They sent updates ALL DAY LONG, and it did not matter when they were sent, replies came back within minutes. So just how hard were those office mates working at those private sector jobs?
But it is we teachers who get accused of being lazy. Know how much time I ‘waste’ when I am working? NOT A MINUTE. In fact, I end up giving my employer about two hours of MY time (unpaid) every day.
I understand the temptation of folks to try and simply the issues facing public education, but the fact is, the problems are COMPLEX – so no easy solution is going to “fix things.” Do private schools REALLY do a better job of educating our youth? Not overall, according to studies that control for things like SES. Do Charters REALLY do a better job of educating out youth? Not overall, according to studies that control for things like SES. Some Charters are great. Some private schools are great. Some traditional public schools are great. And ALL three systems also have their share of failures.
So then, why the big push for Charter and vouchers? Money in someone’s pockets.
Jane W.
July 25th, 2012
3:54 pm
@Poof: I’m self-employed. As a public sector employee(?) you may be familiar with the old saw “Those that can, DO … and the rest teach.”
That is of course quite wrongfully applied to many thousands of teachers who put in a decent day’s work in classrooms nationwide—without calling undo attention to themselves or theatrically bemoaning their imagined “plight”.
shirley
July 25th, 2012
3:57 pm
Maureen,
Thanks for keeping the faith and pushing all of us to understand the education issues facing Georgia children, their families, teachers and school districts. It does cost money and for a few years now Georgia has reduced per pupil funding for k to 12 public education, if I recall correctly. We can fund water, bridges, roads, transit and all manner of improvements but without making reforms that serve to drastically improve the education of Georgia’s children we will fail to sustain and grow our economy. It’s hard to imagine this isn’t a common goal, across the aisle, across political parties, across race, ethnicity and economic status and widely accepted by political, business and civic leaders of every generation. Keep pushing us.
William Casey
July 25th, 2012
4:02 pm
“… and those who know nothing about teaching complain about teachers.” (quote is an original)
Jane W.
July 25th, 2012
4:14 pm
Ron F: I’m deeply sorry if I disturbed your taxpayer-funded and health-insurance-covered leisure time contemplation of coming (autumn) work schedules.
Whatever was I thinking?
Mary Elizabeth
July 25th, 2012
4:16 pm
The bottom line element of this issue is whether business (the private sector) or government (the public sector) will control education. That translates, to me, to mean whether profit or public service will control education.
This out-of-balance, imo, “small government” ideology by Republicans has been decades in the making. Now, we are all experiencing the culmination of it. As a retired educator, I am advocating for public service over profit in education. Vote the Democratic ticket this November.
CCMST
July 25th, 2012
4:18 pm
@William – And that “old saw” was actually not at all about public K12 teachers, but about failed musicians, actors, writers, and artists who taught instead of (or until) they could live off their craft.
@I love teaching…a few years back, a women’s magazine I used to subscribe to ran article about “homing from work” – it gave tips on how to take care of personal business on company time. The crazy thing about it was that even if I had wanted to, I could apply any of the so-called tips to my day as a teacher. Funny.
I haven’t always been a teacher – I was in the military, and worked in the private sector for a Fortune 500 company as well as a family-owned business – I also have lots of friends who work in a wide variety of careers and companies. All situations have pros and cons – my advice is that if you don’t like your situation, no matter what it is, you may want to make a change. However, I’ll pull out another “old saw” – the grass is always greener on the other side. Like the guy who said, “Before I was married, I had 6 theories about raising kids – now I have six kids and no theories,” teaching looks like an easy gig from the outside – and good teachers may make it look even more so. Coming in from a non-ed background, I had a lot of ideas – the reality is that it is an enormously complex issue, there is no one solution, the blame game doesn’t work, and just because you sat in a classroom doesn’t mean you are qualified to run one.
CCMST
July 25th, 2012
4:23 pm
Aristotle and Einstein had something a little different to say:
Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.
Aristotle
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
Albert Einstein
dbow
July 25th, 2012
4:48 pm
Back in Florida there was a principal that came into a school that was rated F every year since the ratings began. Pahokee High school has turned out more pro football players than any other school in the country. Unfortunately, these athletes can’t read or do math or much of anything else. This principal came in and cleaned house. Fired the football coaches and moved all the throphies and even the trophy cases to the back of the school where no one could see them. She declared that the school would no longer be known as a footbal school and she changed the culture of the school in one fell swoop. The community was outraged and called for her firing. The school board didn’t cave in(this time) and within a year she had that school up to a D. Seven years as a perrennial F rated school and in one year she brought them up. Since then the school has been a C school. Pahokee is one of the poorest, most crime ridden cities in America where almost 100% of the student population is on free/reduced lunch. By changing the focus of the school, she made the students better. She made the community better. It’s still a terrible place to live, but it goes to show you that with a little courage and the willingness to accept change, improving our schools is possible.
The best part of the story is that the principal did it without the help of the Federal govt or Bill Gates or any other outside interference. I’m not a fan of hers for other reasons, but she has to be given her props for having the guts to change the culture of an entire community.
If she can do it there, we can do it here. All we need are some real leaders willing to buck the trend of falling over themselves for the allmighty Federal dollar and really lead.
skipper
July 25th, 2012
4:50 pm
Maureen,
Nobody wants to give up, but the incompetant buffons running places like APS, Hancock County, Albany, and other similar places will never see success, despite any programs, money, or whatever. I ain’t writing folks off (or am I,) but as long as folks (black, white, or green) concentrated in these areas have kids when they are kids, care more about getting on the welfare wagon (ask teachers from this area) and have no home training that TRULY (not superficially) pushes an education, they are what they are. Albany, as many have confirmed, has gone to h$ll in a hand-basket. I know you have to try, but there is not anybody out there that truly pays attention that can say any of these places will be any better ten years from now. Cuss me, but check back in ten years! What we are doing “ain’t workin’” folks! Money is not the answer!!!! These places either start the entire system over (laws and all) or we get on blogs like Maureen’s and argue ten years from now facing a situation worse than it is now!
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
4:56 pm
@ Fran Millar
what has the legislature being doing to cut its own fat? you have long been quick to look at us, but charity -and fiscal responsibility-begin at home. what has the golden dome crowd done to make itself lean and mean?
you are in a unique position to know just how little educators in Georgia actually make. I’m curious sir if you and your colleagues have been working under frozen wages for the better part of a decade.
we have.
how has the legislature furloughed itself? please sir, provide specifics.
I was -emphasis, was-employed at GPC until the ousted management spent it into oblivion. like 281 other fellows, I lost my job due to massive fiscal mismanagement. had any cuts be made to the massively bloated middle management Dr. Tricoli grew so aggressively, it is very likely far, far, far fewer than 282 people would have been let go. but GPC chose to do what state government does best – sacrifice worker bees to protect the top.
is short, avoid making hard and lasting decisions in favor of politically expedient quick fixes.
by calling on pay cuts for educators you are doing the exact same thing – again. as I mentioned earlier, you KNOW what we make. you know just how far these cuts won’t go, and the problems they WON’T fix.
lead by example-clean up your own house first, then come looking towards us.
while my points are harsh, and my opinions sharp, truth is we are not the enemy. Georgia’s educators are citizens and taxpayers too. we see the same problems you do, and more often than not have similar ideas on how to fix them. how about instead of lecturing at us – try talking to us?
not the Tricolis, the Halls, ect of the world – us. the people actually doing the work.
Bernie
July 25th, 2012
5:00 pm
Excellence in Education and Georgia is an OXYMORON!
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
5:01 pm
@ skipper
money is so not the answer at this point. its changing the culture of spending, nepotism, and cronyism
which has run education into the ground
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
5:05 pm
@ dbow
anyone in Georgia who tries to de-emphasis football won’t last a semester.
Solutions
July 25th, 2012
5:12 pm
More money going to education just means more money going to teachers. They are being fully compensated now, some of us think they are overcompensated. I urge pay cuts for all public employees until this economic crisis has passed.
BehindEnemyLines
July 25th, 2012
5:22 pm
re: “Why are the teachers who have to implement these “reforms” and mandates never consulted about how they will play out in the real world? ”
Because they represent a large portion of the most overpaid & underperforming employees to ever rip off an honest working taxpayer at gunpoint. It’s hard to imagine any group less deserving of trust with a decision of any importance, and impossible to imagine one less deserving of trust involving my money.
That’s why.
Mary Elizabeth
July 25th, 2012
6:11 pm
A program on PBS-TV, in the last few days, presented research done by a group (I didn’t catch the name of the research group because I only saw the broadcast for a few minutes.) which determined, with great accuracy, which high school students will end up dropping out of school. Those particular students are best identified while they are still in middle school, the research group concluded. The results were obvious but very accurate, said the presenter.
There are three possible indicators of which students will end up being high school drop-outs – any one of which will accurately predict those students who will, subsequently, drop out of high school. Below are the indicators.
The student:
(1) Has failed either an English or mathematics class in middle school.
(2) Has received a failing grade in behavior in any of his/her academic subjects in middle school.
(3) Has attended school less than 80% of the time while in middle school.
A principal, in an interview on this PBS broadcast, spoke enthusiastically regarding the validity of the study, based on her personal experience as a middle school principal who had used the data provided to her so that she was able alter the lives of those particular students.
===================================================
Why cannot public schools be “reformed,” from within, to target these particular students to provide them with special tutorial help in their English and/or mathematics classes while they are in middle school, or to provide them with special individual and/or group counseling regarding interpersonal dynamics to help with their behavior, or to establish mentors for them who will encourage their daily attendance at school?
Committing to such an in-house program in traditional public schools would raise test scores, cut back significantly on high school drop-outs, and produce a higher calibre of student who will graduate from high school, and who will elect either to attend college or to seek employment within the business community immediately after high school?
Why are public charter schools needed to accomplish this kind of improvement, in which this kind of problem can be diagnosed accurately, and effective solutions can prescribed to solve the significant drop-out problem that is so prevalent throughout the nation? Solving this problem would need expertise in the teaching/counseling staff within traditional public schools, as well as sufficient funding for these specific areas of need in these targeted students.
This is one plan for accomplishing school reform within traditional public schools. Reform can happen within traditional public schools if there is school and community commitment to make it happen, and if political ideology does not resist its happening from within.
Mary Elizabeth
July 25th, 2012
6:20 pm
Correction: My third paragraph from the end of my 6:11 pm post should have ended with a period, and not with a question mark. That particular sentence/paragraph was a statement, not a question.
Courtney
July 25th, 2012
6:30 pm
Charter Schools are never going to work. That is a fact. Now lets move on to helping our children get a good education and helping Georgia train its future workers.
Ron F.
July 25th, 2012
6:34 pm
@Jane W. “Ron F: I’m deeply sorry if I disturbed your taxpayer-funded and health-insurance-covered leisure time contemplation of coming (autumn) work schedules.”
Yet again, you are wrong. I am paid for 190 days per year. That amount is divided by 12 and paid each month. So, to be factual, any days I work beyond that are days I choose to do so without pay. It would be like you working on a Saturday and receiving no extra pay. This is common in many jobs where salary is a set amount regardless of hours worked. And I pay quite a bit of money each month, as I am sure you do, to make sure I have health benefits. That comes out of every check every month, so there is no “free” time. I’ve worked the hours and days, plus some, to earn it.
dbow
July 25th, 2012
6:37 pm
All sports should be reduced in stature and any kid that wants to participate should be academically qualified. It’s not happening in the middle schools.
yuzeyurbrane
July 25th, 2012
6:38 pm
Fran Millar, I appreciate your non-response to my questions. You are indeed skilled at a politician’s craft. Give an answer to something other than the question posed and accuse, as in your class warfare accusation. What a good diversion. I will read the bills to which you refer but would still like a responsive response to my questions. It would help if you would post a website or link to the legislation in question.
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
6:39 pm
@ Ron
let it go.
“Jane” is at best a nutcase, most likely a bored 14 year old trying to his/her ya yas
Ron F.
July 25th, 2012
6:49 pm
Mary Elizabeth: the main reason schools can’t be reformed from within lies in the approach we have taken to education for decades. The top-down model, where decisions regarding curricula and programs are made by administrators,etc. at the district level, is the root of the problem. I’ve had superintendents and principals who did their best to take a bottom-up approach, and have seen much greater success with groups of kids with specific needs. We’ve places far too much power and control in the hands of those who see big picture approaches that often don’t work for all kids affected. One of the reasons charter schools are becoming so popular is because of the failures of systems like APS where the top-down model is corrupt and fraught with waste. One can hardly blame people for demanding a totally different model considering the issues in many of the metropolitan Atlanta systems. The effects that current reform movements will have on successful districts is acceptable collateral damage to many who would like to dismantle public education.
The other issue, and you have eloquently addressed both by the way, is that society in general wants a quick cure for the problems. Some, like the dysfunctional boards in Atlanta and Dekalb, could be solved quickly if the legislature was interested in actually doing something to improve public education. It’s quicker, and in many people’s eyes, easier to just abandon the whole system and start something new. The fact that we have no way to know how that will work, and current data suggests it won’t, doesn’t matter. It will only be after several years and a lot of wasted money that we’ll learn what we had was far more fixable than the mess we’ll be in then.
Ron F.
July 25th, 2012
7:05 pm
@skipper and bootney: Sadly, far too few schools or districts will ever see the forest for the trees, so to speak. They’ll never realize that true reform is possible, and cheap, if you take each individual school and make some tough choices to change it. We can rewrite the entire design of schools in this country, turn them all into charters or private schools, and worship at the feet of Bill Gates until we’re blue in the face, and nothing will be 100% effective unless it reforms school by school, community by community, based on need. We’ve allowed and even encouraged far too much decision-making power in layer upon layer of management and are about to give a LOT of control to an appointed commission at the state level that will likely very seriously impact school structure across the state. Politics and the smell of money are the motivators, and no reform model will work in that environment, I’m afraid.
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
7:18 pm
@ Ron
for the most part, sadly, I agree. education has become so completely politicized by all sides (including ours, frankly) it has become unable to function. the democrats want this, republicans that, race firsters something else, the list is endless.
education nationwide no longer exists to teach. it exists to sustain itself.
if you’re old enough, you might remember Ike warned of the military-industrial complex. later, the villain was “big oil”. seems to me both are amateurs compared to big education.
Jane W.
July 25th, 2012
7:22 pm
@Ron F (cc: Blabney Farnsworth):
So as a public school teacher in an average school district you work 180-190 days per year (9 months) while receiving health care coverage for the full 365 days. The total cost of your State Health Benefit Plan is 75% paid for by the taxpayers, and the monthly premium for you (family coverage) is only around $200 if you’re non-smokers. Correct?
And that health coverage is guaranteed renewable after retirement at similarly subsidized rates throughout your lifetime and that of your spouse.
Wonder if any private sector workers can hope to match those heath benefits?
ref: http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/state-workers-teachers-to-866540.html
SEE
July 25th, 2012
7:24 pm
My boys do not plan on going to a party school…so I’m not worried about UGA’s first-year requirements.
Ron F.
July 25th, 2012
7:24 pm
“if you’re old enough, you might remember Ike warned of the military-industrial complex. later, the villain was “big oil”. seems to me both are amateurs compared to big education.”
Not quite that old, but I’ve heard the quote many times. Considering the current climate, I’d have to agree with you. And even with state budget cuts, there’s still a lot of money to be made and plenty lining up for a shot at it.
SEE
July 25th, 2012
7:24 pm
oops, wrong blog!
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
7:25 pm
@ Maureen
two questions:
1-could you invite Fran to join us in a moderated blog hall meeting? he has much to say about us, perhaps he might be willing to say it to us. some of us are his direct constituents after all. and all of us are potentially affected by his proposals.
2-does the AJC have any records which -if any- of our state/local politicians have accepted donations from anyone with a fiscal axe to grind (book & software publishers, computer vendors, office furniture vendors, ect) in supplying education?
as an aside, I’m very curious if anyone pushing for privatization has received monies or in kind support from companies/individuals who would benefit from privatization?
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
7:33 pm
@ Jane
why don’t you speak ill of my mother while you’re acting like a third grader?
you should consider posting in a green font – it would suit you.
but to your “point” I can’t speak for HS, but my healthcare contribution was well over $400 per month.
I also did well more than 9 months, closer to 11. the difference made up via my leave.
and health care is available for spouses under certain circumstances. its not a slam dunk, sorry.
after reading your posts, seems at the end of the day your main issue is you made a bad career choice and ended up for a company which doesn’t value its workers.
or had the buying power of the entire state of Georgia. volume discounts is a concept you ought to be able to understand. if not, I’m sure one of our posters is an Econ instructor and can walk you thru it.
Ron F.
July 25th, 2012
7:37 pm
“the monthly premium for you (family coverage) is only around $200 if you’re non-smokers. Correct?”
Some years ago it was $200 or so a month. More like $350 now (employee plus children- employee, spouse, and children is higher). And there are companies out there that pay 50% or more of employee insurance costs as an employment benefit. The benefits are offered as incentives and are common in this country. As a self-employed person, you bear the total cost, and I’m sure it’s high. Check the healthcare offered to senators and representatives at the nation level and you’ll see what “free” healthcare looks like. They have a sweetheart deal you or I could never get as middle-class Americans. As I’ve posted to you I’m sure, you’re more than encouraged to come try out the job. The benefits are nice, but it’s a lot harder work than many think. I doubt I could be self-employed and succeed (I’m not business-savvy enough), and I love what I do as a teacher.
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
7:40 pm
oh, “Jane”
since you seem so distressed to not have the great and glorious bennies of the mythical teachers unions in Georgia,
GAE happily accepts associate members. sign up today! go getcha some!
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
7:41 pm
@ Ron,
I’d have loved me some $200 a month for family.
come to think of it, I had that about 15 or so years ago.
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
7:43 pm
one would think a business person would understand the concept of perks to attract workers.
but if they don’t understand the concept of bulk buying power and the leverage that gives ….
bootney farnsworth
July 25th, 2012
7:46 pm
@ Ron,
do you think “Jane” needs a hug?