By Mark
A lesson in cause and effect:
- The economy tanks.
- People lose jobs or feel cuts in pay.
- People are less likely to have an income they are willing to spend; there are fewer sales to tax.
- Less income means families wait to buy homes; the market floods and property values drop, taking property tax collections along for the ride.
- Total tax revenue for the state collapses.
- The inevitable cuts occur; schools are not spared.
- Teachers are RIF'd; support services are slashed.
- Class sizes skyrocket; materials cannot be replaced; technology stays broken.
- Students receive less attention.
- Questions go unanswered.
- Learning gets harder.
- Standards aren't met.
- Tests aren't passed.
- Schools are threatened: Perform or else.
- Since tests matter to the powers, whatever resources left are devoted to test prep.
- The arts, music, technology, skilled courses, PE, and vocational education dissolve.
- Learning becomes test-prep, not critical thinking or life-enrichment.
- Fewer students graduate; those who do can pass tests, but lack skills.
- Trained to pass tests, those new to the labor market are unable to find jobs.
- Businesses large and small suffer due to a lack of skilled or capable labor.
- The economy tanks.
Anyone else see it? I see a clear choice that our policymakers and legislators can make, on or around step six.
If we want to turn our economy around for the long run, how decisions are made at step six will make all the difference. If the pleas about children and learning don't work, maybe we need to talk economics.
Nice post, Mark. The chain of cause and effect couldn’t be more clear.
I hear you, Kristin; especially in regards to early education. But I’m reluctant to let go of the bonus. Here’s why:
Teacher quality is generally considered, by research, to be the most important school-controlled factor in determining student success. NB Certification is the best way to help student aspire to the high teaching standards, and the bonus is the only way our state encourages teachers to take that challenge.
Like Mark says, cause and effect…
Education is always so close to financial crisis. We spend so much money and energy getting new programs up and running, and then when the money goes away all the extras also go away. It happens again, and again, and again.
I don’t know what the answer is. We can say that society needs to fully fund education, but honestly, when I look at the waste in my own district I don’t feel like we have much ground to stand on.
I’m believing more and more that districts need to be small. We need to use common sense, and we need to use the money we have more wisely.
I’m willing to let the NBCTS bonus go. I’m willing to have 32 kids in a class. I don’t need modern technology to teach history and reading.
What I’m not willing to allow is for elementary classes to get bigger.
I think that what we need to do as educators is to stop demanding that our scarce resources be shared equally in an effort to satisfy everyone. We need to look down the road in a way our elected officials seem unable to, and we need to put the pressure on them to spare elementary, especially pre-K services, and make cuts in secondary.
OUR voice, loud and clear, can affect what happens at step six. There will be cuts, but how deep and how painful depends on us, the teachers and parents in the state of Washington. For some of us, a few emails, letters, or a phone call or two is all we can offer–but it’s a start, and it’s the minimum. For others with the means, advocacy in person can be powerful. We need to tell our stories–not as complainers demanding more pay or benefits, because in reality it is so rarely ever really about that, no matter how the talking heads may try to cast it. We are professionals who care about young people and the future of our state and nation. That is what we are advocating for.