Why We Never Seem To Get Anywhere On Education
With the howls from the Betsy DeVos confirmation still ringing, it’s worth wondering why education seems to be such a powerful, but intractable issue. Last year’s Opportunity School District was a well-intentioned reform aimed at fixing chronically failing schools that was defeated soundly after the educracy characterized it as a “state takeover.” School choice advocates have to avoid using the word “vouchers,” lest they be accused of “stealing” public money from teachers and students. We hear over and over again that Georgia’s public school systems are “chronically underfunded” even though education spending is roughly half of the state budget. When it comes to discussing education as public policy, we can’t even seem to agree on facts, let alone methodologies.
Kyle Wingfield’s column in the AJC takes note of a recent study by Ben Scafidi, a professor in economics at Kennesaw State who’s also a senior fellow at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. The study claims that Georgia is under-reporting the amount we spend per-pupil on public education, and that when adjusted for inflation, taxes spent on education
Essentially we spend $11,031 per student -which is $2,011 more than the $9,020 we say we spend. The extra money has not gone to teacher salaries, however. “Adjusted for inflation, the average Georgia teacher in 2014 made $26 less per year than in 1988.”
We can argue over the study (read the whole thing for yourself at this link) but can we agree on one thing? If it’s true that Georgia teachers are earning less today than they were when Ronald Reagan was President, can we all say that is a damnable shame for which we must hang our collective heads?
Because we should, and agreeing on that is a prerequisite to any kind of meaningful discussion. You might think schools are underfunded, and I might think that privatizing every school in the country is a great idea. But before we start debating how much more money we should spend on education, let’s agree that any increase will go directly to the pockets of classroom-based, student-facing personnel. Not administrators or superintendents, or anybody higher up than principal. No money for capital improvements or whatever whack-a-doodle fad program is hot this year. Increase teacher’s salaries.
Conceived in the era of buggy-whips, our public education system is deeply and historically flawed. It’s suffering from mission creep in being asked to address poverty and other social issues. Reform is difficult and slow, but while we seek a solution to what’s wrong with public education, we ought to pay teachers at a level commensurate with what we demand of them.
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Mike Hassinger
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I agree with Hassinger. Shocking I know. Alas, it doesn’t count because my wife is a teacher so I have to recuse myself.
You’re allowed. 😉
I certainly respect and laud the intent. It’s often appeared to me that teachers just don’t get the respect they deserve from the general public-at-large, and I’m not sure why. They seem to have at times been scapegoated for school failures, despite the typically high level of difficulty and professional expertise required of the job. Perhaps these vague memories are associated with an old argument around unionization or lack of it, or quasi-unionization.
Implying the OSD is other than a “state takeover” with quotation marks when that is exactly what it would have been undermines credibility.
I should have been clearer. It was portrayed as a state takeover of ALL schools, instead of a state takeover of the FAILING schools. And I’m still annoyed that an elected school board member in Barrow County (IIR) said Governor Deal could “go to hell and take his money with him,” when 2/3 of Barrow’s education funding comes from the State.
The problem is in many peoples minds teachers are already paid to much. ‘They have to large of benefit packages, they only work 8 – 9 months a year, blah blah blah.’ People get elected onto school boards by saying they are going to cut taxes and make teachers more accountable for what they get paid and so forth. In the last twenty years in the name of fiscal responsibility, teachers have been the monetary escape goat for all that is wrong in education. We need to show the tax paying public that teachers are worthy of the increase.
And yes I am extremely pro teacher. My mom was one for 35 years.
I don’t recall seeing a spate of “school boards cutting taxes” stories, but it could be that I missed them. School districts get 2/3 of the local property taxes, 1/2 the state budget, e-SPLOST revenue (for most) and some federal funding -mostly for free and reduced lunches. Most of the people I’ve seen (and helped) get elected to school boards promise to “keep money in the classroom” because it’s “for the children.”
I think there ARE people who think education costs too much, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who says teachers are paid too much.
I’ve heard/read it plenty. When you have about half of our public officials saying that public education sucks it just kind of goes with the territory.
The related discussion I would like to see is: What do we get for our money? What is the hiring procedure and minimum qualifications for a teacher? If we raised the qualifications would we get better outcomes? If we pay more can we ask more- not in terms of hours or dedication, but in education and preparation? And how do you get well qualified teachers and administrators to go to “bad” schools in “bad” neighborhoods?