Posted on 01/18/2006 6:54:15 AM PST by Millee
"Stossel is an idiot who should be fired from ABC and sent back to elementary school to learn journalism." "Stossel is a right-wing extremist ideologue."
The hate mail is coming in to ABC over a TV special I did Friday (1/13). I suggested that public schools had plenty of money but were squandering it, because that's what government monopolies do.
Many such comments came in after the National Education Association (NEA) informed its members about the special and claimed that I have a "documented history of blatant antagonism toward public schools." "Stossel is an idiot who should be fired from ABC and sent back to elementary school to learn journalism." "Stossel is a right-wing extremist ideologue."
Not enough money for education? It's a myth.
The truth is, public schools are rolling in money. If you divide the U.S. Department of Education's figure for total spending on K-12 education by the department's count of K-12 students, it works out to about $10,000 per student.
Think about that! For a class of 25 kids, that's $250,000 per classroom. This doesn't include capital costs. Couldn't you do much better than government schools with $250,000? You could hire several good teachers; I doubt you'd hire many bureaucrats. Government schools, like most monopolies, squander money.
America spends more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that outscore us on the international tests. But the bureaucrats still blame school failure on lack of funds, and demand more money.
In 1985, some of them got their wish. Kansas City, Mo., judge Russell Clark said the city's predominately black schools were not "halfway decent," and he ordered the government to spend billions more. Did the billions improve test scores? Did they hire better teachers, provide better books? Did the students learn anything?
Well, they learned how to waste lots of money.
The bureaucrats renovated school buildings, adding enormous gyms, an Olympic swimming pool, a robotics lab, TV studios, a zoo, a planetarium, and a wildlife sanctuary. They added intense instruction in foreign languages. They spent so much money that when they decided to bring more white kids to the city's schools, they didn't have to resort to busing. Instead, they paid for 120 taxis. Taxis!
What did spending billions more accomplish? The schools got worse. In 2000, five years and $2 billion later, the Kansas City school district failed 11 performance standards and lost its academic accreditation for the first time in the district's history.
A study by two professors at the Hoover Institution a few years ago compared public and Catholic schools in three of New York City's five boroughs. Parochial education outperformed the nation's largest school system "in every instance," they found -- and it did it at less than half the cost per student.
"Everyone has been conned -- you can give public schools all the money in America, and it will not be enough," says Ben Chavis, a former public school principal who now runs the American Indian Charter School in Oakland, Calif. His school spends thousands less per student than Oakland's government-run schools spend.
Chavis saves money by having students help clean the grounds and set up for lunch. "We don't have a full-time janitor," he told me. "We don't have security guards. We don't have computers. We don't have a cafeteria staff." Since Chavis took over four years ago, his school has gone from being among the worst middle schools in Oakland to the one where the kids get the best test scores. "I see my school as a business," he said. "And my students are the shareholders. And the families are the shareholders. I have to provide them with something."
I don't think the problem is too much money.
I think the problem is that the money is guaranteed and guaranteed to increase almost annually.
Make it so that the money gets sent when the results come in. Those that do better will get more, those that don't get a certain amount, but nothing near what they get now.
I will note that school districts all over the US need to re-invent themselves and how they provide services to students. NCLB will help that process along, by hook or by crook.
Children with IEP's are guaranteed certain services due to IDEA. If they are denied these services the parents do and will sue and the school system will not only pay for the services, they will pay for damages and all attornies fees.
The attorneys in DC have made a regular cottage industry of suing the school system there. They even advertise on TV for clients.
So do they have a natural, God given right to these things? Course not, but the Congress in all of its collective wisdom gave disabled students certain powers and the attorneys know every loophole and how to ding a system for maximum money.
So given this as a reality, I'd love to know how to reduce expenses. And I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, but a sincere one. Do we lobby Congress for changes in IDEA? Do school systems bend over to every request by parents? I document every single thing I do in the classroom when it comes to accommodations for my special ed kids. If I am sued, I want to be able to defend my actions and show proof of compliance.
That is my reality. It's not a liberal or a conservative position.
School systems don't have to cover Social Security? Then why is it coming out of my paycheck each month? Am I misunderstanding something?
There is horrible waste in the school sytem, but the waste is not of physical resources, it's of teachers who are too lazy to teach and kids too lazy to learn and parents too tired to do anything at home and wanting the schools to do it all. The waste is of minds and talents of our young people. I worry about what our country will look like in 20 years when these kids are adults. We need a systemic change, not little pieces here and there. I doubt vouchers are the total answer, but they may be a part. The product that schools are putting out is inferior. Teachers get no respect from communities, parents get no respect from the teachers and everyone points fingers at each other while fighting for scraps when our kids precious minds are wasted.
" For starters, I am not going to say that schools do not waste money. That would be an indefensible position."
Getting a handle on the waste would be a great first step, which has been my point (and yours?) from the beginning. Killing programs like social awareness issues classes, laptop giveaways, robotics labs, and the like would be an excellent start. in Maine, for example, we have spent tens of millions on redistricting, so that towns that never needed them can get gigantic new schools.
Eliminating the stranglehold of corruption at nearly every level of our educational system maintained by the unions would be my personal second move (although this corruption leads to a huge deal of waste and graft, which is more in keeping with my first point). My grandfather maintained that the unions would be the death of this country, and the teacher's union defines that opinion perfectly.
Cut the waste, cut the beaurocracy.
What state are you in? Here in Colorado, teachers aren't subject to Social Security. They're covered by PERA.
The great Commonwealth of Virginia
The "big lie" of bureacracy - no bureacrat wants to put themselves out of a job by solving the problem they're hired to fix.
But those expenses aren't exclusive to the public school system. And besides, buildings, busses, uniforms, desks, chairs, etc are re-used from one year to the next.
Gak! I was wrong. The ratio can change.
Oh, books, forgot books. Now there's a racket for you. Our English book costs $87 to replace; the math $74. Someone is making some serious bank on selling books.
Ah, no biggie, we are ust shooting the breeze here. In a perfect world our rantings and ravings could have a real affect. The problem is that we intelligent, well-spoken people who can listen rationally without taking personal offense are in the minority in this world. I didnt' take a single comment personally. We are ALL frustrated at the state of schools and we all feel powerless to change the system. My part is to be the best teacher I can and raise the best children I can. Others choose to pull their kids out entirely. Both are valid choices given a certain set of circumstances.
Ben Chavis's school:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/16/MNGAKG93SS1.DTL
Wow!
Keep up the good work Stossel.
More articles on Charter Schools:
http://www.neoperspectives.com/charterschoolarticles.htm
From a link that went dead:
The 100 highest salaried public school teachers in Illinois have a pay grade ranging from $173,077 (high end) to $132,940 (low end)? Check out this site, they list every one. And click here for the 100 highest paid Illinois public school administrators who make from $302,746 (high end) to $194,822 (low end).
Yes, schools have plenty of money. They just need to cut the top level of assistant superintendents, etc.
*8They just need to cut the top level of assistant superintendents, etc.**
And put that money into educating the children!!!!!!!!!
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