Is the Increase in Funding Worth It?

In my opinion, this is a popularly nostalgic image of our schools, but more accurately portrays the achievement level of too many students coming out of this system today.

Why is it that test scores have fallen from past performance?

Well, to me, after 40 years in the profession, there are several contributing factors; breakdown of the family unit, a drifting away in our nation of moral values such as "right & wrong", the preoccupation / distraction of the advent of technology... take your pick, or combine them all if you want to be more inclusive.

As we've learned recently, the McCleary decision provided lots of new funding for school districts who then increased teacher's salaries during negotiations over the last year.

Then, more recently as the school year was nearing the start this fall, we heard news about how many of those districts who used the increase in funding to raise teacher's salaries were suddenly looking at "RIFING" some of their school staffs. (Here's another source.) Part of this problem is how teacher's unions have helped to create district's funding problems by negotiating retirement pensions. Yep, most likely, I'm part of this problem. So, is it fair that I should blame the teacher's union for staff still in the profession who are now dealing with their funding problem? No, they should... but won't, because they're just as much in need about looking into the future as I was when going through my career! Sadly, it's a vicious cycle with a better solution being ignored by the state legislature.

Now, the '17/'18 test results have come in... and it's not so great.

Granted, these test results are pre-fundng from the McCleary decision, so it's oranges and apples. However, with the cut back in school staffing - what the WEA always calls "stack 'em deep, teach 'em cheap" resulting in reduced learning gains - it seems we've merely ended up increasing the salaries of teachers, and not improved the promised improvements in test scores for the '19/'20 results which will come out next year this month.

Wanna bet?