Second Thoughts (Ed Rendell & Education)

Yep, Wished someone had given him season tickets to the Bluejays(Toronto team.)

All states have to impose standardized testing under Dubya's "No Child Left Behind" law. And the educrats hate it. Check this thread..

For years, the only thing that came close to a way of comparing achievement between states and districts was SAT scores.

Well I know they pumped alot of money into his campaign. It's pay back time now.

However -- in Pensylvania, money will NOT solve the problem, but it will WORSEN it. Discretion and Accountability are the cure -- liberal supplies of money poisons those cures.

That is so true and in answer to your previous post--most of the money is wasted.

That is so true and in answer to your previous post--most of the money is wasted.

Exactly.

Out of control school spending by non-accountable school boards has created an opportunity for the RATs.

Rendell is brilliant here in his pursuit of enhanced socialist corruption. He can pit (a) working people against (b) retired people owning a house and (c) the teachers union.

Using the RAT model, everyone can assume that spiralling education costs are due to increased expenses associated with things that directly educate students. That way noone will question $millions for high school sports complexes, band uniforms, school directors creating unnecessary "administrative" posts for their relatives, and adding "Why does Heather have Two Mommies" to the curriculum instead of outmoded things like math.

The Philly School Board itself admits that teachers are <50% of the total budget.

Teachers can think that the cost increases are due to their union "fighting" to get them a better wage. I doubt if teachers make much more today in real dollars than they did 20 years ago.

Retirees want their real estate school taxes to be paid by someone else. It is key to convince them that out-of-control school costs are inevitable. Enough retirees in Pennsylvania consider FDR as comparable with the Pope, therefore they will drink the Kool-Aid and plan their next trip to Las Vegas, happy that they won't have to pay for the next round of State level corruption.

This leaves working people. If they protest this tax increase, they will be demonized as anti-old people and anti-teachers.

This could have been prevented. The idiots are the money behind the Republican party in Pa. (who told Mark Schweiker they wouldn't back him). Mike Fischer has always been a non-entity.

Schweiker would have flattened either Rendell or Casey jr. last year.

I repeat, we must have vouchers now.

Based on some of the ways "performance" is computed, I could take almost any school district in Pennsylvania and turn it into a top-rate district tomorrow -- I'd simply take anyone with an IQ under 120 and put them in special ed.

Tell the truth now, you've been working on raising the ratings of Philadelphia schools, haven't you? How else would you know all their tactics? LOL!

Teachers can think that the cost increases are due to their union "fighting" to get them a better wage. I doubt if teachers make much more today in real dollars than they did 20 years ago.

Maybe not where you are, around here they do. The average teacher salary in the State College Area School District is about $60,000/year now. Their last 2 3-year contracts had 4-6% a year increases, even as inflation was down to 1-2%. They managed to hold their own during the inflation of the late 70's and early 80's, and managed all their contract negotiations since as if 10% inflation were just around the corner.

Rendell is brilliant here in his pursuit of enhanced socialist corruption. He can pit (a) working people against (b) retired people owning a house and (c) the teachers union.

Did you see the map of which counties schoold districts would end up with more money and which would end up with less under the Rendell plan? Might as well have been the election results map!

I have a lot of concern about the funding going to the state level, as it will only increase state control of the schools. Parents would end up with even less say than they have now.

As far as going to an income tax and reducing the property tax by some small amount, I'd have to pass on that. MAYBE if they'd eliminate the property tax in exchange for an increase in the income tax... but of course that's not what Rendell is proposing. Kerry Benninghoff and some of his fellow legislatures are working on a proposal to eliminate the property tax, and replace it with the sales tax. Rather than increase the sales tax (currently 6%, exempting all food and clothing), they would reduce the rate to 4%, but cover everything including food and clothing. I like consumption taxes better than income taxes, because I believe it's better for society if you reduce your spending than if you quit working over taxes...

I've long suspected that in some jurisdictions there are two reasons for the incredible increase in the number of "special education" students -- 1) the special ed. teachers get paid more, and 2) these students aren't necessarily included in the school's performance on standardized tests.

You missed the main reason - the federal government shells out LOTS more money for "special ed" students. All the more incentive for the schools and the unions to classify as many kids as possible as needing special ed.