Posted on 03/08/2008 7:48:16 AM PST by urtax$@work
Teachers face ax under HISD plan
A steady decline in students within the state's largest school district may leave some teachers without jobs at the end of this school year.
Student enrollment this year is 199,534, down 3,400 students from the year before.
The news comes just after the district announced a jump in per-student revenue that will likely make Houston a so-called "rich district" under the state's controversial "Robin Hood" law. Rich districts, those with tax value per student that exceeds $374,200, must send money back to the state to help fund poorer school districts.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
ping
My beloved wife is a public school teacher. Based on her stories, you have no idea just how right you are. The levels of bureaucracy from the actual teacher up to the state are stupifying. Actual education takes third or fourth place behind filling out forms for non teaching administrators. All administrators are paid A LOT more than the teachers.
True story: after never seeeking a word of advice from the teachers, a core curriculum is purchased for a hefty mid 6 figure price and forced upon this school by administrators; none of whom are teachers. The kicker: the curriculum is developed by 1st-3d year college students with no experience whatsoever.
Absolutely right. My wife says the same.
The standard bureaucracy response to any issue is to hire a 6 figure expert to deal with it. My wife spends about 40% of her day dealing with committees, teams, testing and reports for people up the chain. These folks, former teachers or not, are notoriously out of touch with reality.
Many of the cut backs are actually kind of easy to anyone with eyes. However, most districts will layoff and raise class sizes first, before touching their district office programs.
In 1980, I moved to Fort Bend County to get/keep my son out of HISD.
I will be moving to the Houston area. What’s you opinion of the district that includes Baytown?
I don't know. I left Houston in 1994 and there's been enormous changes since then.
Looks like they will reduce costs by firing teachers, but will have to send the money to other districts instead of cutting taxes:
The news comes just after the district announced a jump in per-student revenue that will likely make Houston a so-called "rich district" under the state's controversial "Robin Hood" law. Rich districts, those with tax value per student that exceeds $374,200, must send money back to the state to help fund poorer school districts.
Pinging someone from that area.
What ever you do - DO NOT enroll your kids in HISD.
My youngest is 27. My potential future wife is a teacher in the Baytown area.
Not to forget the exorbitant retirement packages offered to ex- District superintendents the their spouses of $100,000 a year for a little small town district of one high school, one junior high and four elementary schools.
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