Georgia: Putting all our eggs and hopes in charter school basket
The battle in Georgia to win passage of a controversial charter school amendment turned out to be costly, divisive and polarizing.
Many might also argue it was unnecessary, given that charter schools were never in jeopardy and more continue to open every year in Georgia.
The state Board of Education already had the ability to approve them, and local school boards, despite the characterization that most were hostile toward charters, authorized nine out of 10 of the existing 108 charter schools now operating in Georgia.
It’s a futile exercise now to question the rationale for the amendment, which, in its most practical application, accords the state Legislature the power to appoint a commission that can approve and fund charter schools over the objections of local boards of education.
The benign question put before voters — “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?”— earned a “Yes” from an impressive 58.5 percent of Georgians.
So, now is the time to consider the impact of the passage of the amendment on education as a whole in Georgia.
And that impact is likely to be consequential to the 1.6 million Georgia children who attend public schools in Georgia.
Because now the Legislature will be convinced that it’s done its part for education by giving students more choice.
Lawmakers can relax and let choice work its magic. If students don’t do well, it will be blamed on their parents failing to make the right choice.
In elevating choice to their top legislative priority, lawmaker shirked what ought to be their main concern: Ensuring that existing public schools in Georgia remain viable and have sufficient resources to educate students to increasingly higher standards.
Instead, they have consistently disinvested in public schools while touting marketplace solutions.
Choice is not a substitute for adequate funding, talented teachers and strong leaders.
And more choices don’t necessarily mean better choices.
In the last 10 years, a period when school enrollment rose, austerity cuts and other reductions decimated state education funding by $5.7 billion. Two-thirds of Georgia’s 180 school districts have been forced to cut back on school days.
In four districts around the state, students now attend classes less than 150 days, even though the standard is 180 days. Class sizes have soared, with parents lamenting 37 kids in middle and high school classes.
A Georgia Budget and Policy Institute study noted that while enrollment jumped, teacher contracts in Georgia fell by 8,500 since 2008-2009.
The first education act by the 2013 General Assembly will be reconstituting the Charter School Commission that was in place before the state Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional and an infringement on local control last year. And that will ensure a few more charter schools approved every year.
Charter schools are publicly funded schools that are privately operated and earn freedom from some state regulations in exchange for contractual pledges to not only meet standards set by the state, but eventually exceed them.
If charter schools fail to meet their contractual goals, they’re supposed to shut down. An examination of national data shows that doesn’t always happen, as parents often argue in favor of the school remaining open despite disappointing academics — a scenario that unfolds in many school closings. (Hundreds of DeKalb County parents fought closings there, even when the targeted schools had years of low achievement.)
As with every school model, charter schools show varying degrees of success and failure. An evaluation earlier this year by the state Department of Education found that charter schools in Georgia were less successful than traditional schools in meeting federally mandated, adequate yearly progress measures and had graduation rates in line with the state average.
No one who looks at the performance of charter schools in those states where there are many more of them could argue that they have been a transformative agent.
Without question, charter schools should be part of a mix of innovations and reforms. Unfortunately, in Georgia, charter schools have become the only reform. As one rural legislator commented to me about his House colleagues, “We’ve put all our eggs in the charter school basket.”
And all their hopes and energies.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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246 comments Add your comment
Hillbilly D
November 21st, 2012
1:09 pm
My guess is 10 years from now, we’ll still be having “what’s wrong with the schools” discussions.
living in an outdated ed system
November 21st, 2012
1:18 pm
Unfortunately, the Democratic Party in Georgia has completely lost the ideological superiority on education reform. And that mindset HAS got to change. I, for one, have an idea on how to solve that problem, and you may hear about it in 2013.
Instead of being the party of negativism and complaining when it comes to public education, democrats need to get back to conceiving of the innovative ideas. This CAN happen, but the Democrats in Georgia have to reinvent their platform. EVERY state senator announced last week by the Democratic Party for leadership roles OPPOSED the charter amendment. That is not going to help them at all. In many respects, the Democrats in Georgia are making the same mistakes that the Republican party made on the national level. They are not seeing the trendlines and adapting to the demographic characteristics of our time. More public options for our children is not only necessary, but essential, given the systemic issues in public education today. You continue to whine and complain that it’s the funding that is the problem. It is not. When you realize it’s not the amount invested, but how the $ are invested, then perhaps traditional schools will have a chance at improving. I could go on and on about all of the problems with traditional public schools, but on this blog, it would be a waste of energy.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 21st, 2012
1:20 pm
Maude
So you’re saying that a state chartered school student leaves the chartered school after 3 months and then goes to a traditional school. This is what you are concerned about?
OK. Children come and go all the time for various reasons. I suppose your hypothetical example is one of them. That is why there are 2 FTE Count Days. One in October and another one in the Spring.
Dennis
November 21st, 2012
1:24 pm
No intelligent person can see the way this whole affair has gone down and deny that Deal has sold out his own state’s public educational system, nor is it an accident, nor is it intended to improve public education in this state.
John Konop
November 21st, 2012
1:34 pm
DIO,
…….John Konop,
I’m putting you in charge of fixing traditional public schools. Let’s do it. What’s the plan? We can’t sit here and blog about our ideas forever and not actually do anything about it.
Make it happen John!!…………
Do you agree with the plan or not? And if not why?
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
1:42 pm
“Do you agree with the plan or not? And if not why?”
No, John Konop, I don’t agree with your plan.
How will you deal with student’s who are absent or tardy??
How will you deal with students who are discipline problems and are disrupting the classroom?
How will you deal with students who have not mastered the material, yet are socially promoted, so the next year they are hopelessly behind and either get nothing out of the class, or else the teacher has to ignore the other students’ needs and “catch up” the one?
How will you deal with the vast amount of money spent on SPED students, with no sign that they are getting a significantly better education?
These are very BASIC issues. Until you solve them, all your high and mighty feel-good ideas mean nothing.
Dennis
November 21st, 2012
1:50 pm
@Moutain Man: “How will you deal with students who have not mastered the material, yet are socially promoted, so the next year they are hopelessly behind and either get nothing out of the class, or else the teacher has to ignore the other students’ needs and “catch up” the one?
How many years would you hold a student back?
Beverly Fraud
November 21st, 2012
1:55 pm
I’m not sure why people won’t embrace an attempt to convince an asteroid to sacrifice itself by descending upon the educational monolith in Georgia.
After all isn’t that far more realistic than expecting Georgia’s educrats and politicians to act in the best interests of students?
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:06 pm
“How many years would you hold a student back?”
How many years would that student be a distraction to the other students?
(my answer to your question: as many as necessary – may require special classrooms with bigger desks for those first-graders whao are 16)
I have written previously about the need for intensive summer school with low student-teacher ratios to try to “catch up ” a student. Of course, it isn’t going to help if they don’t show up. And no school system is going to fund this because it costs more money. It also costs them more to retain a student, so it is easier and less costly (in money) to just promote them and then give them an unearned diploma that makes everyone else’s diploma meaningless. They CHEAT, in other words (if you give a diploma to a student who doesn’t deserve it, that is CHEATING, even if you call it a VARIANCE).
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:08 pm
So, Dennis, my question to you:
Would YOU retain a student and for how many years?
If you pass along a student who has not mastered the material, how will you deal with that student in future classes?
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:19 pm
See this is the difference between today’s schools and the schools I attended in the sixties.
In the sixties:
Your teacher gave you the grade you deserved by your work – if homework was required and you did not turn it in on time, you got a ZERO. Administrators would not DARE to ask a teacher to CHEAT and change your grade.
If you missed a certain number of school days, the Truancy officer showed up at your parents’ doorstep (back then parents was plural).
If your grades were and F, you had the option of attending Summer School, if you failed that, you were RETAINED, no ifs, ands, or buts.
If you misbehaved in class, you were subject to corporal punishment, or you were sent to the office, or you were kept after school. When your parents (plural again) found out about your misbehaving (when they had to come pick you up late after school, you got a SECOND punishment (usually corporal) at HOME.
Teachers would call parents and parents would APOLOGIZE for little Tommy’s misbehavior or lack of studying. Parents almost always backed up the teacher when it came down to teacher vs. student.
Now, in this millenium, practically all of these are reversed.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:23 pm
Here is a site that lists some funny differences between 1957 and 2007:
http://listverse.com/2007/10/26/8-differences-between-the-1950s-and-now/
The one I like is:
Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957: Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007: Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Rafe Hollister
November 21st, 2012
2:37 pm
Things worked so much better in the 60’s, back when we were so clueless and uninformed, that we believed it was possible for students to behave in class. Now that we have all the physiological and psychological answers, why these students are misbehaving, we seem to be impotent to correct the problems. Could it be that too much knowledge is counter productive? Maybe a gazillion dollar study, done by some academic geniuses, would be beneficial.
Dennis
November 21st, 2012
2:37 pm
@Mountain Man;
My five children all graduated from Ga public schools. I taught 33 years in Ga public schools.
I am aware of the problems; financially, socially, educationally.
When we have a student who can’t cut “it”, we need to have an alternative education for that student.
That student then becomes an even bigger societial problem for all of us.
We could solve that, if we just would. But the public has been brainwashed by conservative politicians and conservative media into not wanting to pay for that.
How many of these students do you suppose charter schools will take?
(Nor is corporal punishment effective).
gsmith
November 21st, 2012
2:39 pm
this might upset some people but fact is that if the schools were still segregated it was easier to isolate the problems and try and fix them. public schools in atlanta were thriving , and there was no need for charter schools and the private schools were for white kids with behavior problems. but now that the schools are integrated we have turned good schools into bad schools and the all black schools that were once bad are STILL horrible schools. and now that all the schools have been infested with low income kids and illegals it is much harder to fix the problem with our public schools. schools were created to educate not for SOCIAL ENGINEERING… but it seems that all so called people in the know were concerned about was ” equality and social engineering and what has that done for america and education in the last 40 years??? we have the dumbest most unqualified workforce in history!! we have taken our brightest and dumbed them down with policies of ” all that matters is make everything equal” so instead of educating the kids that are not performning and struggle in school , lets just bring DOWN the kids that are smart and overachievers to the level of the weaker kids all in the name of q
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:40 pm
Rafe – what was amazing back in the 60’s was, according to today’s “experts”, there were just as many ADD, ADHD, Asperger’s, Dyslexics back then and they WERE ABLE TO BEHAVE! Now they CAN’T behave unless medicated.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:42 pm
“(Nor is corporal punishment effective).”
It was effective on me when my mom applied it. I usually did not ever do thing behavior again.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 21st, 2012
2:43 pm
John
I like your ideas … and not just the ideas you stated today. I want to know what the plan is to implement them. We can’t just sit here and blog about them and hope that somebody does something about it.
Hillbilly D
November 21st, 2012
2:45 pm
(Nor is corporal punishment effective).
It was pretty effective in my day. Fear is a powerful motivator.
Things worked so much better in the 60’s, back when we were so clueless and uninformed, that we believed it was possible for students to behave in class.
It’s typical that every generation thinks they’re the smartest thing to ever come down the pike. It’s human nature I guess to think whatever time a person is living in is “on the cutting edge”. Humans have been raising kids and educating them for thousands of years, so they must have known something. All the attempts to re-invent the wheel and things seem to be worse than they were just a generation or two ago.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:47 pm
“When we have a student who can’t cut “it”, we need to have an alternative education for that student. ”
Cut it, academically, you mean. We used to have a solution for that, too – it was called vocational educational training. Shop. They learned to do woodwork and became carpenters and mechanics and were valued and productive members of society. My brother dropped out of high school at 17 and, because he had a good work ethic, has been successful. He has had to work hard, and he picked up his GED along the way, but he is a respected member of society. You don’t have to have a Ph. D. to be great.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:50 pm
“We could solve that, if we just would. But the public has been brainwashed by conservative politicians and conservative media into not wanting to pay for that.”
Again, I say, we are spend about three times what we spent in the 60’s per student, adjusted for inflation. I agree that we could accomplish more with the CORRECT application of more money (see my idea about summer school). But MONEY is not the answer. The BASIC issues I listed above do not require hoards of cash to implement. Just a little backbone from administrators (and support from parents, although that is probably asking too much).
crankee-yankee
November 21st, 2012
2:52 pm
dc
November 21st, 2012
12:25 pm
Not sure where you got the quote you attribute to me but it certainly was not in any of my posts.
What I gave you was publicly posted data by an independent source over the period 2001 to 2012 and gave you the link to verify my post.
You gave a vague reference to earlier postings of yours but no concrete backup for your numbers.
If I did not find the numbers you wanted me to find, that is on you.
Another salient fact would be to look at SAT scores for the same period. Not because I think it is a good measure of achievement, it is not & the College Board states as such, but because the politicians refer to it incessantly.
Nationally, SAT scores are fairly steady from 1986 to 2005 (with a slight dip between those years). Then, once NCLB took hold throughout the land, SAT scores start a slow but steady decline to its lowest point of 497 in Critical Reading. Math fares better as it is significantly higher than in 1986 but still down from its high in 2005. Writing is in steady decline since 2006 when it was introduced. The common thread throughout the decline is funding cutbacks nationally. To a certain extent, GA mirrors these trends except there is a steady & significant increase in scores from 1986 – 2005 before it begins to decline. I found supporting data up to 2006-7. In Georgia, there is a correlation between “austerity cuts” and declining SAT scores. Before the cuts there was a steady increase in scores mirroring the increased spending initiated by Zell Miller.
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=171
1987 – 1997 – http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d98/d98t134.asp
2000 – 2007 – http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_137.asp
The only problem with the increasing test scores was they did not reflect the political climate fomented by Roy Barnes and then Sonny Purdue so the increase was determined to not be fast enough and needed funding to be cut in order to fix it. Well it fixed it all right, it isn’t a slow steady increase anymore, just the opposite.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:53 pm
“Maybe a gazillion dollar study, done by some academic geniuses, would be beneficial.”
Sort of like that other multi-million dollar government statistical study that concluded that 100% of all people who LIVED, ultimately DIED. So now the FDA is thinking about outlawing LIVING as hazardous to your health.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:57 pm
“Nationally, SAT scores are fairly steady from 1986 to 2005 (with a slight dip between those years). Then, once NCLB took hold throughout the land, SAT scores start a slow but steady decline ”
The problem with using SAT scores is that they are dependent on the population taking them. Not all students take them. More students are taking the ACT test. It would be more indicative if you had a nationally recognized and consistent test, such as the ITBS was. But no one wants that now because it would show how badly our state is doing compared to other states.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 21st, 2012
3:09 pm
Dennis – Deal has sold out his own state’s public educational system
What exactly did he sell?
Who did he sell it to?
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
3:14 pm
“That student then becomes an even bigger societial problem for all of us.”
The problems began when we decided to make schools responsible for solving all of society’s problems – hunger, poverty, class and race relations, instead of just dealing with EDUCATION.
We cannot solve that “bigger societal problem” in our schools. Criminals will become criminals despite our best efforts in schools. Lots of “students” don’t WANT to learn, because it messes with their “rep” (too white). We cannot change that attitude and we should not be trying. That is left to the justice and prison system.
Soothsayer
November 21st, 2012
3:27 pm
@Mountain Man
Your 1957 and 2007 comparison site was interesting. Check out this site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9WDtQ4Ujn8
John Konop
November 21st, 2012
3:32 pm
Mountain Man
Currently today 40% of kids are dropping out and many are graduating ill prepared for a 4 year college and or have no skills for a job after graduation. I never said the concepts would 100 % fix the ills of society. Yet the plan would improve the situation. Below are answers to your questions.
…….How will you deal with student’s who are absent or tardy??……
First tracking students by aptitude over one size fit all No Child Left Behind will help the situation for obvious reasons. The public schools my kids attend have a good policy today.
……How will you deal with students who are discipline problems and are disrupting the classroom?……..
In my county Cherokee they are thrown out of class. And if it continues, we have school called Cross Roads for students to attend until they………….
………..How will you deal with students who have not mastered the material, yet are socially promoted, so the next year they are hopelessly behind and either get nothing out of the class, or else the teacher has to ignore the other students’ needs and “catch up” the one?…………
Once again tracking and extra help from the community, college students………will help the situation.
……..How will you deal with the vast amount of money spent on SPED students, with no sign that they are getting a significantly better education?….
In some cases once again tracking would help, also many times behavior issues are driven by untreated issues like dyslexia…..Finally, sadly in some cases we do the best we can, but without enough supervision it can be very dangerous for all involved. That is why I am advocating the cost savings, as well as quality at the same time. And if we filled the 3 million job openings in vocational jobs alone it would be a windfall of tax revenue and massive savings on social services.
John Konop
November 21st, 2012
3:36 pm
DIO
….John
I like your ideas … and not just the ideas you stated today. I want to know what the plan is to implement them. We can’t just sit here and blog about them and hope that somebody does something about it…..
I have been working on the ideas with our school board members. Parts of the ideas are being proposed from what I hear soon.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
3:39 pm
John – I like your ideas on “tracking”. Discipline: yes they should be thrown out of clss, then sent to the alternative school until they are 16, then released until they are picked up for crimes, then put them into jail. You didn’t say what Cherokee county’s attendance policy was, but I doubt it would be effective in APS. How many Cherokee families can claim ” I couldn’t get my kid to school because I don’t own a working car”.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
3:45 pm
“And if we filled the 3 million job openings in vocational jobs alone it would be a windfall of tax revenue and massive savings on social services.”
I am not sure I understand what 3 million job openings there are – where are those? In Cherokee County? What skills do they require that are not being met? I know there are plenty of unemployed people right now to fill those jobs (the kicker is they have to pass a drug screen and a background chek – uh-oh).
crankee-yankee
November 21st, 2012
3:48 pm
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
2:57 pm
I do not disagree, as I stated, I only used it since it is what the politicians point at and twist and misrepresent.
Look at the % of students who take the SAT in GA, approx 70%. Compare to South Dakota, 3%. Chances are the kids in SD taking the SAT are doing so to attend prestigious out-of-state institutions (Ivy League, Stanford, etc.). SD state schools do not rely on the SAT for admission, rather the ACT. If GA would de-fund the SAT or couple funding with academic achievement (i.e. grades) maybe only those kids planning on going to a 4 year school would take the test. That would raise GA’s numbers and a more realistic comparison could be made. That isn’t politically acceptable on a number of levels so it probably will not happen.
Huh
November 21st, 2012
3:54 pm
Would almost swear we already have charter schools in Georgia. All this ammendment accomplished was removing the power to grant charter schools from local school boards and give it to a politically appointed panel .
The solution to our educational problems in the state lie in the person staring at you from the mirror. Charter schools will not make parents care any more about their child’s education than they do today. The children of parents who are not involved, and who do not care, will still fail regardless of whether they are in a charter school or any other school.
Huh
November 21st, 2012
3:57 pm
Nothing like a condescending Mountain Man who offers nothing to the conversation.
Charles Douglas Edwards
November 21st, 2012
3:58 pm
We pray and HOPE that this charter school amendment works !!!
I believe that in the future citizens will have regret and remorse over passing this amendment.
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
4:00 pm
Crankee-yankee – I really liked the ITBS – it told me where my kids compared to our school, our state and nationally. I guess they got rid of it because it hurt too many parents’ feelings.
Too bad we don’t have a national High School Graduation Test. Heck, we don’t even have a minimum High School Graduation Test anymore. Give anyone a diploma. That is why a HS diploma is worth as much as toilet paper. That is why you have to have a college degree to get a job as a manager at our company.
crankee-yankee
November 21st, 2012
4:13 pm
Mountain Man
November 21st, 2012
4:00 pm
We still do the ITBS in Gwinnett. It gives us a yearly benchmark as opposed to the ever changing CRCT. Another politically fueled decision by the state thinking it could do a better testing job in-house.
John Konop
November 21st, 2012
4:41 pm
Mountainman
The jobs are in the vo-tech field from electrician techs, trucking, RN……..google you will be surprised. The one size 4 year college or out NCLB has contributed to the rescission. BTW they have great growth projections in the future.
John Konop
November 21st, 2012
4:52 pm
Mountain Man,
Our son was an “a” student at Woodstock High school and got into GT. His 11th grade year, he had a very serious sports injury that required surgery that put him out for awhile ie home traction machine. My wife and I were required to go through a special process to get him a waiver via attendance. In Cherokee, they would contact the home ASAP with any issues trust me!
My daughter is at Freedom Middle school the same………and both also went to Sixes elementary same…….
John Konop
November 21st, 2012
4:56 pm
MM,
They could create an alternative school inside the school building. I am from Toledo Ohio a very urban area, that is what they did when I went to school. APS, needs to get back to basics…….
Truthbetold
November 21st, 2012
5:33 pm
I just do not comprehend why all this effort on the part of parents and stakeholders has not been placed in your neighborhood schools. What have you done to improve schools? Have you voulnteered, joined the PTA, became part of the School Council or did you take the easy road and just complained? It is synonymous of individuals fleeing from one community to another instead of volunteering and helping to improve the neighborhood with which you reside. Absurd!!!
10:10 am
November 21st, 2012
7:02 pm
Putting all our eggs in the traditional public schools “basket” has left a sizable portion of parents and kids very unsatisfied.
Why won’t you credit that, Maureen?
As for the teachers’ union shills paid to fill this blog with anti-choice rhetoric day after day after day—education isn’t about you or your pay and benefits packages. Not even in highly unionized cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C.—where academic failure is a constant no matter how many taxpayer dollars are squandered.
Tony Similac
November 21st, 2012
7:22 pm
I have seen charter schools, for example Atlanta Heights Charter school. They have almost a 40% teacher turn over, and this year have already had 5 staff members quit. The administration is the worst i have ever seen. I pulled my child and am so glad. The principal melissa jones clark hides from parents, and often does not come in on time and leaves early. She is often not even there, but with no other schools in the state who is keeping her accountable? It is sad, but at this school NO behavior is address and parents can make wild comments about staff and not have any problems. I have seen parents swear at teachers and be such ghetto trash, yet with the administration as weak as it is, no one cares. Strong teachers leave. This school needs closed
Fred ™
November 21st, 2012
7:49 pm
What’s the over and under on the amount of cash Nathan Deal can shove in his pockets on this new “charter school” amendment?
I’ll bet he steals enough to not only pay off his MANY debts but walks away from his time as Governor with 10 million new offshore dollars to live on.
At LEAST.
cp
November 21st, 2012
8:06 pm
“Benign question put before voters”?!? Here’s what the ballot looked like:
*Provides for improving student achievement and parental involvement through more public charter school options.*
House Resolution No. 1162 Ga. L. 2012, p. 1364
Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?
( ) YES
( ) NO
I’d say that is about as malignant as they come. A “no” vote appeared to be a vote against student achievement and parental involvement.
I am using this ballot question in my classroom (among other resources) as a clear example of bias.
I don’t understand how this was legal.
Oldtimer
November 21st, 2012
8:06 pm
Everybody is not a genius. We need waffle makers and janatorial help. The system is working pretty well. Needs some tweeking yes For the most part it’s serving us well.
Rafe Hollister
November 21st, 2012
8:40 pm
A “no” vote appeared to be a vote against student achievement and parental involvement.
WHY? If those conditions existed in the public schools, no implication would be necessary.
Fred ™
November 21st, 2012
9:49 pm
Oldtimer
November 21st, 2012
8:06 pm
Everybody is not a genius. We need waffle makers and janatorial help. The system is working pretty well. Needs some tweeking yes For the most part it’s serving us well.
+++++++++++++++++
So did you make waffles or clean school toilets? Inquiring minds want to know………
Old Physics Teacher
November 21st, 2012
9:51 pm
Mountain Man,
Forgive me if someone else has commented about your post around 10:00AM, but special ed was essentially unknown in 1960. They didn’t attend “school” period. When I was crazy enough to think that a former highly successful business man would be welcomed into the ranks of administrators, I took the required courses in Administration. One of which was budgeting. The cost per pupil (in 2000) was measured in the multiple tens of thousands. Some of the ones that were in a high school environment could run the cost over (as well as I remember – it was 12 years ago,) in the thirty thousand per student range. Ten to twelve special ed students can really screw over the per pupil “costs.” The doors were opened wide when the “free and appropriate education” laws were put in place. Elections really matter re: The Supreme Court’s decisions have far reaching consequences.
Private Citizen
November 21st, 2012
9:59 pm
“Are you smarter than a US Marine? Take the recruitment quiz” http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2012/1109/Are-you-smarter-than-a-US-Marine-Take-the-recruitment-quiz
yawn. private citizen scores an easy 100, no pencil, no calculator. (the math is middle grades, basic algebra / geometry)(the vocabulary maybe high school level).