Spend more money on traditional schools? We tried that
Opponents of the charter-school amendment on next month’s ballot offer a simple alternative idea: Spend more money.
That’s about all the educational establishment can conjure as a means of improving Georgia’s below-average results. State schools superintendent John Barge got to the point quickly when he came out against the amendment back in August.
Barge estimated the state would spend an extra $430 million on new charter schools over a five-year period. He said the state shouldn’t spend that money until existing schools are fully staffed with fully paid teachers for full school years – the lack of which he attributed to state budget cuts averaging almost $1.2 billion in recent years.
So, there you have it, fiscal conservatives wary of the amendment. Barge and his fellow travelers don’t want to spend another $430 million over the next five years. They want to spend an additional $6 billion during those years – about 14 times as much.
Whereas charter schools would at least offer a chance to give students and parents different and better options, that $6 billion would go into the same model we’ve had for years. As it happens, we already know what we get when we pour more and more money into that system: Student learning doesn’t grow nearly as quickly as the funding does.
That’s because, complaints about spending notwithstanding, educational spending in Georgia has gone up, up, up over the longer term. But test scores have barely budged by comparison.
Consider a common national benchmark for standardized testing: the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. Because the annual data available for budget numbers and state NAEP scores don’t always overlap, I’m making the most long-term comparison I can: 2002 to 2011.
Between 2002 and 2011, state funding per pupil rose by 10 percent.
Reading scores for Georgia fourth-graders and eighth-graders during those years rose by just 2.8 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
Math scores for Georgia fourth-graders rose by 3.5 percent, eighth-graders by 3 percent. (The math scores actually come from 2003, but per-pupil funding then was within $2 of its level in 2002, so it’s a very similar comparison.)
As I reported in a recent column, state-chartered schools – the ones that stand to grow if the amendment passes — already outperform their local, traditional counterparts by about 12 percent.
Perhaps the extra money didn’t yield commensurate results because it didn’t always go into classrooms, according to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.
In a report to be released this week, the foundation found the number of teachers in Georgia grew about twice as fast as the number of students over the past two decades. But so did the number of non-instructional staff (e.g., administrators and secretaries).
Had the growth in non-instructional staff merely kept pace with that of students, Georgia would have employed about 23,000 fewer people in 2008, the most recent year the foundation studied. Using a conservative estimate of $40,000 per year for each of them, these extra workers cost Georgia about $925 million that year.
And how much do Barge & Co. think Georgia schools need each year? Right: $1.2 billion. That $925 million alone would cover three-quarters of the tab.
But if our educational dollars aren’t well-spent now, why would we give them more? And why wouldn’t we embrace an amendment that offers a better way?
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
243 comments Add your comment
Olde Tyme Teacher
October 19th, 2012
9:04 pm
@Rafe-At this point, I see little difference in traditional or charter schools. Some charters are “allowed” more leeway than others. I wish every local unit (not necessarily district!) could draw up a plan to educate their specific population. I am confident that most communities in Georgia could band together parents and school officials to do great things. Busting up the large, troublesome districts such as APS, DeKalb, Clayton, et al, into smaller, more accountable charter groups would probably solve a lot of their problems. Certainly, trying to hold the state to a “one size fits all” plan as a knee jerk reaction to the trouble areas will not work. I cannot fathom why any caring and intelligent leaders would attempt to go in that direction.
It is my experience that there are, in fact, many highly capable educators in this state. If the state leadership would partner with those that are in the effective classrooms to set policy, they would find that the vast majority of the good educators want and would embrace real change. I know this thought is against the talking points of both political parties, but it is, in fact, true!
For example, there are no bad teachers at my school. The community of parents and teachers will not put up with bad teachers. We usually do a good job of hiring, but if someone does not work out, we do not re-hire them. I fail to understand why any community will put up with bad teachers. There is sufficient policy and law in place to take care of bad teachers, and that is true everywhere in Georgia. Any leadership that refuses to put the policies and laws in place needs to be removed, themselves!
jconservative
October 19th, 2012
9:40 pm
Here is the text of the amendment.
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?”
Bruno
October 19th, 2012
9:52 pm
Look up the percentage of student enrollment increases and publish those numbers alongside the increase in funding.
You may find the actual cost per pupil decreased.
teacher and mom–Kyle stated that the 10% increase in funding was per pupil . If you look at charts comparing student performance vs. the money spent per pupil, it’s far from a 1:1 correspondence. The most egregious example is Washington DC, in which per pupil spending is always near the top, and student performance always near the bottom.
Hillbilly D
October 19th, 2012
9:52 pm
“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?”
That’s mighty vague, as these things always are. What if state wants to approve it and local doesn’t, or vice versa? What constitutes “request of local communities? Is that a majority, certain people, and what makes a community, a school system, or something else? And I’m not even a lawyer, I’m sure they could find more things to squabble about than I could.
ODD OWL
October 19th, 2012
9:58 pm
Rich school districts spend three time as much per student on education as poor districts but the grade point averages in the rich districts are only slightly higher than the GPA’s in the poorest districts… Question; Do any of you non rich Republicans know the what, when, where, how and why this country fund its public school system with money from property taxes ???
Hillbilly D
October 19th, 2012
10:08 pm
Question; Do any of you non rich Republicans know the what, when, where, how and why this country fund its public school system with money from property taxes ???
I’m not a Republican but I’ll take a stab at it. I’d say it’s a holdover from when most of the wealth in this country was in land. In my opinion, the property tax (read, land tax) is antiquated and we need to do something else.
ODD OWL
October 19th, 2012
10:17 pm
Wait a minute… No one can be this naive… There are people in this blog site that actually “believe” that a Republican controlled state legislature, a Republican controlled state Senate and a lazy, shiftless, no show, Republican Governor are going to solve problems in this state… Are you kidding me ??? The Republicans are the ones who created all the problems… Non rich Republicans are in a state of perpetual denial… Thank goodness for ObamaCare which provide for extensive, long term mental health care…
Hillbilly D
October 19th, 2012
10:28 pm
There are people in this blog site that actually “believe” that a Republican controlled state legislature, a Republican controlled state Senate and a lazy, shiftless, no show, Republican Governor are going to solve problems in this state…
How is it any different from the 150 years the state was under the Democrats? I can’t tell a bit of difference myself, not that I lived through the whole 150 years but I was around for a lot of it.
ODD OWL
October 19th, 2012
10:36 pm
In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled on “Brown Vs. Board of Education.” After the Supreme Court decision, all the southern states begin funding the public school system with money from property tax… The idea spreaded from the south throughout the rest of the Country… It was an overt effort on the part of segregationists to obstruct, block, delay and scuttle the racial integration of the public school system.. Charter schools will be the final nail in the coffin of the public school system…
Sailfish
October 19th, 2012
10:50 pm
Another day, another charter solution being promoted; it’s not rocket science, why are all the good performing public schools in solid middle to upper class neighborhoods and the under performing ones in the low class poorer areas? It all begins in the home, charter schools are no better in the tough hoods. Just more ways to tear down another american institution and try to squeeze new found money to the corporates, it’s a scam.
getalife
October 19th, 2012
11:32 pm
We tried tax cuts and regulations too that failed.
Fund education.
It is important for kids to have a chance to make it.
ODD OWL
October 20th, 2012
12:36 am
It seems as though many of the non rich Republicans have a severe case of Romnesia… Its symptoms are similar to ADHD…
Increased circulation
October 20th, 2012
1:05 am
2 things doomed public schools
1. White flight – monied whites went to private schools, eroding a base of good students to bring up test score averages. This exodus also eroded support for the schools, as tax bases shrank and who wanted to pay for schools that their children were not attending.
2. Women’s liberation – sorry, as this is very un-PC, but back before the early 70’s about the only professions intelligent women entered were teaching and nursing. Sure, there were exceptions, but they were rare. Then women found out they would get special hiring treatment at companies if they majored in engineering, accounting, marketing, finance or became doctors and lawyers. This depleted the pool of truly amazing people who, before, would have considered going into teaching.
How do you fix this?
1. You have to fix the schools before you can get back those who fled (actually, you’d be getting back their children). One suggestion is to train retired professionals to come in and supplement teachers at some low rate of pay. This might attract some of the people who went into other professions but might have stayed gone into education had the pay been comparable. Many of these people have retired, so they don’t need full time jobs, but tutoring, and providing extra help for a nominal ompensation might be attractive to them.
2. Route kids who need a vocational education into some sort of vocational school. It’s not fair to them or anyone to make them take college prep courses and have them come out of high school unprepared for college or a job.
3. Ignore race. If you ignore race, you shouldn’t have to worry about racism.
Steven
October 20th, 2012
3:49 am
I voted NO on Monday for Charter Schools. I want local control. Being a child of an educator, I see charter schools as a way to bring back ‘Seperate but Equal’ that was a part of the Jim Crow South. I’ll vote NO when the proponents try it again the NEXT election cycle! If you parents want a different education, then enroll your child in Woodward Academy. I’m sure they’d love to have you and your money.
Lynn43
October 20th, 2012
5:57 am
OTT The reason your charter school is not getting all the “said” benefits of being a charter school is (probably) that it is not managed by one of the “for profit” companies which contributes to the coffers of the legislators. There seems to be two sets of rules. I have two charter schools in my district-one for-profit and one non profit. They are certainly not the same.
Lynn43
October 20th, 2012
6:10 am
Kyle We take great pride in our school system for being well run, producing students who perform well in all areas of life, athletics, academics, fine arts-you name it, we offer it at a high level, but at the end of this year, the state will OWE us 85 million dollars (their formula and building since ‘03). In a different pocket of money, this year with one vote, the legislators cut 4 million from our share of state money. Every year unfunded mandates are added which we must find the dollars to cover. Before you start writing about “school”, you need to educate yourself about “school”. Spend a couple of days in my system with our wonderful superintendent, teachers, and staff. You don’t just write negative articles using “sort of” information. Or you shouldn’t.
lex
October 20th, 2012
6:21 am
Our children go to a top tier independent school, so we have, as they saying goes “no dog in this fight.” However, we strongly favor charter schools. Much as the thumb sucking set shudders at competition, that is, school choice, competition makes for better schools. Schools that don’t produce results get left behind. Problem is, competition also exposes and endangers incompetent and underperforming teachers and administrators. Correspondingly, non-performing, underperforming and misbehaving students ought to be segregated from achievers.
Hate to break the news, but test scores often are nothing more than proxies for involved, motivated parents and students, and, no amount of money will make a dent in the test scores (or academic achievement) of students whose families are incomplete, disfunctional or antagonistic to learning, who spend all their time whining about imaginary grievances.
Jack
October 20th, 2012
6:23 am
Show me a school where discipline is enforced and I’ll show you a good school.
Li'l Aynie
October 20th, 2012
7:04 am
jconservative … I’ve already voted. I recall that the charter school amendment was not so simply stated on the ballot. it went more like “to improve education in Georgia, etc.”. A second reading is needed to find out whether we’re voting for better education or whether we’re voting for the state government to authorize charter schools over the objection of local school boards.
I was surprised at the complexity of the amendment wording. I like your version better, but that’s not what was on my ballot.
Check it out!
Check it out!
MAY
October 20th, 2012
7:15 am
@OTT, I hope you will start a charter school. An independent, start-up charter. A place where you and the other teachers create the culture of high expectations and discipline is enforced. I will vote Yes because of the school boards across our state unwilling to give these schools a fair shake. Even in great districts, there’s sometimes a better way to ‘do it’ for some kids. If one child is hands on, why shouldn’t his family choose a constructivist curriculum at a charter school? Does that mean the really great non-charter public school has failed? Not at all.
As for money, when you guys hear Barge talk about the higher funding, he’s only talking state funds. Remember, the state approved schools receive zero local money even though they may have 300 local children. When you add up the dollars from all sources, the state charter operates on less than $.70 to every dollar the non-charter public schools spend.
I love charter schools! I love that most are working for the families that choose them. I love that they can be shut down. I look forward to voting yes.
Get Real
October 20th, 2012
7:30 am
If you believe in expanded state government, vote yes. That’s all this is. We already have charter schools. Some are approvwed by the local school board. Some are approved by the state school board. Why do we need more bureacracy to do what’s already being done? The only difference here is the for profit out of state corporations that will come to GA to run the new schools and make a a boat-load of money. Who’s paying them? Us, the taxpayer. Vote a resounding no.
teacher&mom
October 20th, 2012
7:42 am
@Bruno: Spending per pupil rose by 10% over a 9 year time frame. So….we raised funding, on average, a little over 1% per year.
How generous!
At the same time we were “raising” student funding, the state was cutting other areas of funding. For example, the tab for who pays the transportation costs has shifted significantly over this same time frame.
Smoke and mirrors is what Kyle is providing.
http://gbpi.org/survey-says-trouble-for-schools
Janes
October 20th, 2012
7:57 am
I’d love to see where all this increased funding has gone. Teachers haven’t had raises in 4 years. They still have furlough days. Clas sizes are the same. The number if in school support staff has gone down. They hav to provide their win supplies etc.
Obviously education professionals can’t get the job done. We don’t need charter schools. We need to replace the school boards and admin offices with corp. executives who will run schiols like a business. who will fund what works, defund what doesn’t, get rid of dead weight, advance the successful and get rid of the social experimentation that goes on.
DeborahinAthens
October 20th, 2012
8:22 am
Someone might have already mentioned this, but Sonny cut education funding to the bone so he could build a fish museum to which no one comes. Then Deal has cut yet again, so your position that we are throwing more money at education is totally false. If we funded our public school education programs, we might see improvement. Why do we keep trying to reinvent the wheel? Why not look to Finland and France, both of which beat the crap out of us? We have too many administrators and too few qualified teachers. By the way, to my knowledge, both Finland and France have strong teacher unions, so that old saw about teacher unions being responsible for our failure doesn’t cut it.
carlosgvv
October 20th, 2012
8:38 am
Spending more and more money on traditional schools is part of a social experiment designed to bring black student overall scores to the same level as white ones.
Charter schools are being pushed by Christian Conservative fanatics in order to bring Christ into the classrooms, get rid of traditional science, and replace it with creationism and “the infallible word of God”.
The ultra liberals and Christian fanatics only care about their own agendas. What’s actually best for the students and our Country, to them, is a dim and distant second.
catlady
October 20th, 2012
8:50 am
No, Kyle, it isn’t about “spending more money.” It is about spending the amount called for according to QBE, which we have not done in about ten years. And the effect of that is actually multiplicative, rather than additive. In addition, children in school, over the last ten years, have become EVEN MORE NEEDY. Finally, the federal government requires ever-increasing spending, especially in sped.
Lynn43
October 20th, 2012
8:59 am
Kyle’s figures do not add up to what is coming into my system from the state. Also, all tax digests are way down which diminishes the local share. The state once supplied over 60% of a school budget, but they are now down in the 40% range. Transportation once was about 30%. Now it is down in the teens, and charter schools are eligible for transportation grants even thought they provide no transportation (HB797). The state is slowly getting out of paying anything to public schools but still want to make all the rules and regulations to run them.
Numbers-R-US
October 20th, 2012
9:03 am
Between 2002 and 2011, state funding per pupil rose by 10 percent.
That’s your basis for “we tried that” — e.g., spending more money, Kyle. Really Kyle. Meanwhile, never mind the fact that inflation is up 25% in that timeframe. If you want to talk about a real “we tried that”, Kyle, tell us how much health insurance premiums have gone up over that time frame and then follow that up with your claims that the US healthcare system is working just fine and we don’t need the changes brought to us by “ObamaCare”.
the red herring
October 20th, 2012
9:04 am
amen kyle—people really need to look at how much of their tax dollars are going to school administration (central offices) as opposed to the class room. Putting more money in is not the solution –if it were the problem would have been solved a long time ago. Many of our schools have become cesspools of cronyism and nepotism. A new business model needs to implemented to achieve success. College educations have become unaffordable due to some of the same spend,spend, spend mentality—look at the new schools, college buildings and dorms (not mention amenities in them) —taxpayers can’t keep up with their spending on these things. Like our federal govt. the spending on education has simply been out of hand for a long time. We must make some changes. Nearly every county in my area of the state has bought land and rebuilt all their schools with splost money and yet the splost never stops. Riding by a private school a few months back (prior to school starting) there were parents, students, and teachers cleaning up in and around the school. They were painting, cutting grass, etc, etc. They take pride in their old buildings and schools and do some of their own work to cut costs. I wonder why we don’t see the same thing happening with our public schools? Our private schools have one headmaster and teachers while our public schools have superintendents, asst. supt., several principals and vice-principals and we wonder why they want more and more money. It’s simple math too many chiefs and not enough indians nor enough taxpayers.
Finn McCool is wrong
October 20th, 2012
9:22 am
Charter schools are public schools!!! Guess what?! YOUR kid can go there!! I am a charter parent and in addition to my tax dollars, I donate much more… time included. It’s about so much more than where the money is going. It’s about parent involvement, and what is best for the children. I feel that my child has benefitted so much more from the charter school than any other school. If our school closes, what will happen? These hundreds of kids will be dumped right back into the already overcrowded county school systems…. then what? Read the facts, talk to the “non exclusive” parents and LISTEN. You might be pleasantly surprised.
@@
October 20th, 2012
9:24 am
According to U.S. News, three of the top ten high schools in Georgia are charter schools.
Numbers-R-US
October 20th, 2012
9:25 am
No Child Left Behind is a failure. We can honestly say we tried it and it did not work. Let’s see how locally controlled schools do without that weight dragging them down. Meanwhile, Kyle and others should be free to pay the full cost of sending their children to any alternate school they want while their property taxes are still utilized to fund the public school system. I think that’s their right.
Numbers-R-US
October 20th, 2012
9:26 am
According to U.S. News, three of the top ten high schools in Georgia are charter schools.
And it did not take any new legislation to accomplish that. Vote no to more state control.
catlady
October 20th, 2012
9:31 am
Here is how it SHOULD work. My local school board has denied the application of a group of citizens for a charter school. It would not be corporate-run. After the second denial, the voters went to the polls and turned out all three board members up for election. The other two will not be in office after the next opportunity to vote. Now, you have to understand that in elections here the voters ALWAYS return the incumbents. It is unheard-of that one be denied re-election, much less all three.
Now, the system is talking about “becoming a charter system.” No one thinks this will happen, it’s just a delaying tactic, but but it shows how shaken up the leaders are about the flexing of political muscle by the electorate.
If your system denies a charter that the people want, turn them out! THAT is the American way!
yeah, that
October 20th, 2012
10:01 am
I’m a con and I say no. If I want a charter school ill vote in a LOCAL board to do it.
If you vote no, then you aren’t likely to ever get a chance to vote in a local board to do it. It really is that simple. If states don’t get involved, which local board of education is likely to give up power or money to charter schools? Which politician (and BOE members ARE politicians) has ever voluntarily given up power?
(none)
That’s what I thought.
Steve
October 20th, 2012
10:05 am
I don’t have kids so why am I paying taxes for YOUR kids???
(Kidding – trying to channel a rightwing nut)
Seriously, though, we need to scrap the public school system, completely overhaul it and start over. It’s a disaster here, and surely there are better models from other countries we should try.
Lee
October 20th, 2012
10:47 am
It’s not the amount of money we spend on public schools, it is how the schools spend it. For example:
1. Do we really need to pay premiums for teachers with graduate degrees? PE teachers with Phd’s anyone? For that matter, do elementary grade teachers really need a college degree? Back in the 60s, my mom was a teacher. She had some college, but not a degree.
2. Capital expenditures. A few years ago, my hometown built a new high school at a cost of some $25 million. They then shut down the old high school and sold it for pennies on the dollar. I think the net gain was about ten classrooms. Conversely, my daughter’s private school has historic buildings 70+ years old. A little maintenance goes a long way.
3. Central office staff. ‘Nuff said.
4. Poke around the school dumpster around June. You’d be amazed what these schools throw out.
5. And with all the money we taxpayers fork over, teachers still line up in August to buy basic classroom supplies with their own money. Most teachers spend several hundred (if not more) each year on things that really should be the school’s responsibility to buy.
I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
As far as the charter school amendment, there is already a process to get them approved. We don’t need another layer of bureaucracy. I’m voting no.
getalife
October 20th, 2012
11:12 am
“Report: GOP Document Dump Exposes Libyans Working With U.S.” Aol.
There they go again. Outing intell folks again. Strike three.
And
“CIA Docs Supported Administration’s Initial Benghazi Attack Assessment” Aol.
The last debate just got more interesting.
td
October 20th, 2012
11:17 am
catlady
October 20th, 2012
9:31 am
The sky must be falling because I agree with you 100%. Vote out the local board members if they do not do the will of the people. No to this Amendment is a yes to local control.
B. Thenet
October 20th, 2012
11:47 am
If your child is in “a bad school”, instead of taking government money to start a new school that has no guarantee of being any better….perhaps you should get involved in the local PTA. Work to make positive changes in your school.
I don’t see the big difference between throwing more money at an existing school versus throwing money at a new school. The idea that you would take this decision away from local governments and put it in the hands of the state government is simply hilarious.
If you are a lazy parent who can’t be bothered to get involved in improving your school district, you should spend a little extra money on a home/apartment located within a good school district. But don’t think you can “save money” on a home in a poor school district and just expect the state to bail out your poor decision by magically creating a new school for you.
Dusty
October 20th, 2012
11:54 am
Hmmmm interesting discussion of charter schools vs ;public schools
Charters sound so good. but I can’t help but wonder what will happen in a few years. I suspect they will soon be quite similar to our present public schools. Charters will have to meet the same standards and requirements, probably use many of the same textbooks, have teachers who were educated with the same educational principles to follow.
As to parent participations, public schools do have PTA organizations .There is quite an exceptional public school right down the street from me. Gets in the news with its many good projects.
Educated in public schools, I can’t believe that they can’t be improved. I also believe they teach EVERYBODY, not only those with good parents and good homes and good clothes and great influences, they teach (and rescue sometimes) all that come.
I know. If something doesn’t work, design a new one. But, there are so many good things about public schools, I hate to “throw out the baby with the bath water”. or somethng like that. .
MarkV
October 20th, 2012
12:00 pm
I do not want to ruin Dusty’s day, therefore I have no comment on this subject.
Dusty
October 20th, 2012
12:06 pm
Go ahead, Mark V. There are always exceptions.
@@
October 20th, 2012
12:35 pm
Numbers:
And it did not take any new legislation to accomplish that. Vote no to more state control.
None of those top charters were in Clayton County. Our school board can’t get out of their own way, much less the parents’.
Write-in Garland Watkins for Sheriff!
LarryMajor
October 20th, 2012
1:02 pm
The state funding description is inaccurate.
In FY2003, the state introduced a funding cut called “Austerity Reduction.” As a result, there have been five subsequent years when state per student funding was less than 2002 levels. The lowest level (so far) was FY2012, when school systems received about 10 percent less state funding than they received in FY2002.
Expecting state education funding to return to a decade old level is hardy an unreasonable position.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
October 20th, 2012
1:03 pm
The rub to the argument of local control is that local control in some of these rural counties is absolutely abysmal. Some of the BOE’s are so rapt up in racial issues and financial malfeasance, that they are just gridlocked. The last thing they are going to vote to do is share their limited resources, with a school they have little control over. Elections do not work as each election you can only replace a few and once in, they quickly get compromised and start spouting the group think agenda of we can’t afford a charter school.
I have no school age children or grandchildren, so I am just an interested observer and taxpayer. I think we get more education for the buck at Charter schools, so why not give them a try. It seems futile to continue trying to do the same things better, but always getting the same miserable results. If you live in a great school district, then you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone wanting to start a charter.
Gail
October 20th, 2012
1:19 pm
When people talk of school funding/cost per student, An important piece is hidden, I would think that the cost to educate some special education students is much greater than the cost to educate most regular education students.
Please don’t take this the wrong way. I am not saying special education students do not deserve a quality education. But, when you are talk about money spent per child you shouldn’t compare charter/private schools to public schools since the charter and private schools probably have very few special education students. I could be wrong,but I don’t know where to find these costs separated out.
Tom
October 20th, 2012
1:32 pm
Maybe we should stop paying superintendents more than the Vice President and principals more than the Governor? Who decided on these ridiculous compensation levels? For those who argue that school administrators can earn more in the private sector, I’d like to see them try: Companies have little use for education “Ph.D.’s” with no practical business experience.
MarkV
October 20th, 2012
1:56 pm
Dusty @ 12:06 pm
If you insist.
As a product of public schools, which have given me good education, I believe that they can and must be improved. I am not particularly opposed to charter schools, but I do not believe that they are the solution. I do believe that the teacher unions bear a lot of blame, but my view is mainly that it is a very complex and difficult problem, which cannot be solved by some slogans. On the other hand, it is not useless to offer good ideas, and I look forward to reading some here.
Numbers-R-US
October 20th, 2012
2:29 pm
Between 2002 and 2011, state funding per pupil rose by 10 percent.
Yes it rose between those two years. The sophist, Kyle, just conveniently neglected to point out that it rose going from 2011 to 2002.