By Travis
Not too long ago, Governor Gregoire’s educational budget cuts came out, and I have had some time to think about it.
Washington, you can continue to be a pillar of education strength.
Washington, you worked so hard to not have California-sized classrooms.
Washington, your students have already given up a lot.
Washington … you need to figure out your budget.
Please do not trash the future of our children's education.
I understand budgeting. I do the finances for my family. I know it is hard. I know times are tough, and there are, indeed, tough decisions to be made.
My family does not have cable TV and I have not purchased new shoes in two years because it is not in the budget. We all make sacrifices.
However, are we willing to reduce the quality of our education in Washington? Doing nearly the same with less, or worse, getting less.
Budgets are tough. I have no critique with Washington's act of budgeting; my complaint is with confusion that a high quality level of service can be provided with less money.
You cannot have both–same service and less money.
Clearly, you cannot have–greater service for less money either.
On Friday, I received my garbage bill. It was higher than I expected. I could pay it for the month of October, but I needed to figure out a plan for November so I called up my garbage provider.
She told me that I have two choices:
(1) Reduce my service to that which can be paid with the amount I can afford … or …
(2) Pay more for a level of service I wish.
The customer service representative on the phone seemed nice so I tried the Washington-education-budget talk with her, telling her, "I would like the same service for last month's fee." I figured it would work. Washington seems to think it will.
In her most polite voice she responded to my request, "Sir, it does not work that way. Not in the real world."
And it won’t. You cannot continue to increase class size and expect that students will continue to learn successfully. You cannot make the job unforgiving and unemployable and expect that strong professionals will continue to teach. I am a great teacher, and I am young. I have started to look at my other options. After all, I have a family to support. I have a budget.
Washington has some tough decisions to make, and it will involve either a change in service or paying the higher cost for the quality education it can provide.
People of Washington, do you want less educational service? If not, you need to get involved in the budget conversation. You need to voice your opinion that fewer educational services is not a successful option.
If you are okay with the proposed budget, understood. However, please do not complain that you are getting less service because you will, and you knew. I have a friend who teaches biology in high school. His class, remember it is a lab class, has 43 students in it. I would be appalled if my son were in a class of that size. My friend does not even have enough desks for all of the students. Many sit on the side on donated chairs, no desk.
Oh, and for those who are interested, I decided to pay for the higher garbage service.
Office of Financial Management
Gov. Gregoire's October 27, 2011 Letter to Legislature
Good questions. I haven’t seen any data, but based on my own attitude and those with whom I work, I get the sense that we’re nearing the point where teachers are starting to tire of working beyond contract, and being expected to keep do so.
I remember an evening last week when I was in my room past 5:30 and I thought, “Wow, they stopped paying me over an hour ago. Why am I still here?”
Before this year, I have never felt that way, and I don’t think I’m alone.
Tom, good points. It does seem hopeful. Hopefully for the students of Washington. However, here are my concerns; perhaps you can address them.
(1) are things going well because the system is working hard? And if so, is this level of work sustainable? Let’s say a teacher gives it his all, working with kids every moment be is at school then he finds out that more is needed. He says to himself, what’s another hour of my time? At what point can we expect that the teacher will stop–when will he stop giving beyond his contract? I am all for going above and beyond. However, if a state can continue to expect is workers to keep on giving, at the sacrifice of the employees, how far will it go?
(2) it is good now and that may be the result of people saying that they are up to the extra work for less or with fewer resources. Is this a trend that will continue or is it a blip before going down?
I will need to do some research on your statements and see how they mold my perception. Imagining the mentality of a group the size of our state’s education system is tough. I cannot accou for the group’s mentality. However, and what we often do, we look at how we would react. I know that I have a point at which I cannot give any more because it impacts my time with my family.
Washington is definitely trying to get more for less. However, according to the latest NAEP scores, they’re actually succeeding.
Our scores are up, which is good; but it’s also bad, in the sense that it shows that even in the face of larger class sizes, lower salaries and less support, Washington’s teachers are still coming through. It’s enough to make a cynic wonder why we shouldn’t continue to underfund schools.