There IS Enough Money

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.