Like many places around the nation, the funding of education is a hot topic. Is funding adequate? Are the limited state / federal educational resources being allocated efficiently? How can a state budget be ‘rewritten’ to better meet the needs of education? Recently, a few state legislators looked at this issue and want to know what you think…
These leaders worked with a task force in order to attempt to solve issues with education funding which had not been examined since the 1970s. Some of the issues that the task force was directed to examine (by the state legislature) were to:
• Equalize district salary allocations across the state (Washington State has a state salary scale)
• Look at how the state funds its schools and to redefine basic education
• Providing state funding for technology
• Include funding for smaller class sizes
• Get the K-12 system back to among the top in the nation
In addition, they included funding suggestions for mentoring/ supporting beginning teachers. The overall goal continues to be to redefine how Washington State funds/ supports education, given that the state constitution states that it is the “Paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children.” *
Given that ‘rethinking’ the funding of education, in such a holistic matter, is rare in Washington State, we are going to try something new on our blog… All the bloggers are going to ‘weigh-in’ on the proposal. We would love to here your perspective too… What do you think about the ideas presented by these state leaders? How will this ‘policy’ impact practice in the schools? What is missing? These political leaders want to hear from us, so let’s provide the state leaders with some insights from the classroom.
The proposal can be found at what is takes for kids
*Article IX, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution: It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.
Bob- thanks for the alternative view… yes, it is not the popular view but it is one that we hear often in education (and in relation to social services programs). In Washington State, I think that we have been trying to meet the state’s ‘paramount duty’ for funding education (the only time that state constitution calls an action ‘paramount’) without increasing or changing the funding formulas, etc. But, we are running out of the room to change without the change in funding. Currently, I believe that we are 42nd in the nation in terms of per pupil funding – and we want a first class education system.
Yes, I know that money is not the only way to solve a problem. In Washington State, we have been doing just what you suggest (reallocating the money – and in some cases decreasing funding) for many years… now is the time to really look at how we are funding everything. I think, in the case of Washington State, money would help given that the cost of everything (from pencils to people) has increased over the last few decades but our funding ratios have remained virtually unchanged. Thus, there will be a couple new funding proposals from lawmakers this year… this is only the first one. While I hope that we have an overhaul of the educational funding (both new funding and reallocation), I know that this might be difficult in these tough economic times. Overall, I am happy and excited that we are having a real conversation about education and funding in the State of Washington, something that has not been done in more years that I care to count.
Another view exists to the opposition you suggest. The state provides adequate resources for the proper education of students, but teachers do not provide adequate instruction with those resources.
While not currently a popular view among public school educators, evidence exists to support the point that teachers choose instruction patterns that require more resources than necessary to achieve the same or better student academic achievement.
I’m not sure that all educators know enough of these options, but I’m confident they know about them. That leaves us in an awkward spot when it comes to requesting more resources. Yes?