​
JANINE WALKER CAFFREY - EDUCATION INNOVATION
  • Lexplore
  • Who is Janine?
  • The Today Show
  • Contact

There IS Enough Money

8/19/2010

0 Comments

 
So the politicians from Washington want to give schools more money because state and district officials have been singing the financial blues.  They have been crying about having to lay off teachers left and right to balance their budgets.  Politicians responded in a big way by diverting billions of dollars from future food stamps and into funds designed to avoid the big layoffs.  Only now, the state and district reps are saying that they don't think it will be such a good idea to hire more teachers because they have it all worked out.  This is very strange.  Well really, it is not.  The national teacher roster has grown exponentially in the past couple of decades.  And the truth is, we really don't need that many teachers.  Many have been placed into coach and mentor positions for other teachers.  Some are committed solely to test administration, or are part of an ever-bulging central office administration.  Others manage tasks that could easily be handled by administrative assistants.  AND, the research tells us that there may actually be a benefit to increasing class size.  Check out this NY Times article. There really IS enough money.  The problem with educational funding is that it is complex, mysterious, and has too many strings attached.  Most principals only have control over a tiny portion of their budgets.  It is typical for a principal to have to manage 40 - 50 (or even more) different funding categories at once, each with different reporting and spending requirements, and deadlines for compliance.  Most principals don't even have complete control over hiring their own teachers.  Although charter schools were supposed to be immune to this problem and allow educational leaders to operate more like entrepreneurs, they face many of the same budgetary restrictions.  Compounding the problem are costs associated with other organizations that serve schools  such as custodian and school safety unions, textbook vendors, and of course testing companies.

If you don't believe me, check out this op-ed piece written by Larry Sand of the California Teacher Empowerment Network.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Janine Walker Caffrey writes about reading, education and a few other topics related to happiness and life in general.

    Archives

    June 2016
    May 2016
    November 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    May 2012
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009

    Categories

    All
    Achievement Gap
    Adult Learning
    Arts
    Civil Rights
    Common Core
    Differentiation
    Discipline
    Federal Aid
    Grand Parenting
    Happiness
    Lead By Example
    Length Of School Year
    Middle School
    Parent Engagement
    Parenting
    Personalized Learning
    Phonemic Awareness
    Phonics
    Reading
    Reading Horizons
    School Finance
    School Reform
    School Spending
    Social Justice
    Special Education
    Student Engagement
    Summer Slide
    Suspension
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tiger Mom
    Title IX
    Traffic Light

    RSS Feed