Money is NOT the cause for public education's failure in the US

Never in the history of the republic has a bigger fraud been perpetrated on so many by so few for so long.  The fraud is public education.  America spends more per pupil than any country in the world.  For that investment we rank 14^th in reading, 17^th in science and 25^th in math.  

As the decade’s long descent of our public education system continues, we are assured by the education establishment that the only problem with public education is that we aren’t spending enough for the mediocre results we manage to achieve.

Take the editorial by Ryan Henly et al “Educators expecting more from lawmakers” of Mar 11, 2020.  The authors want the Indiana legislature to know that they “have been watching.”   While they want legislators to know that they “have been watching,” the same hypocrites don’t want anyone watching what they are doing in the classroom. 

                               

The authors applaud a two-year hold-harmless mandate on ILEARN results and a permanent decoupling of standardized test results and teacher evaluations.  In other words they don’t want to be evaluated by any standardized metric – except how much money is being wasted to achieve their sub-standard results. 

Think about that.  Would anyone get on an airplane knowing the pilot’s union had negotiated a contract whereby pilot’s and airlines would be “held harmless” for crashing the airplane?  Would anyone be happy undergoing surgery performed by a doctor whose career was “decoupled” from standardized medical boards?

Tellingly, there is not one word in this selfish piece that addresses advancing the quality of education for students.  The authors, it seems, would have us believe that purpose of public education to advance the quality of life of members of the teacher’s union.  Given that warped view, is it any wonder that parents want to get their kids out of failing and often dangerous public schools and into charter/parochial schools?

If funding was the key metric for success in public education, the United States would already be the world’s run away leader.  We aren’t.     

       

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 1:00 am

Educators expecting more from lawmakers

Ryan Henly, Andra Kosmoski and Sandra Vohs

On Nov. 19, 2019, educators across Indiana converged on Indianapolis as well as their own local schools to rally for public education. The date was the symbolic beginning of the current legislative session – a way to let state legislators know we were watching and expecting results.

Today, the last day of this legislative session, we converge again locally. We want legislators to know we have been watching.

We appreciate that the following steps have been taken during the 2020 legislative session:

• A two-year hold-harmless mandate on ILEARN results.

• A permanent decoupling of standardized test results and teacher evaluations.

• A switch in teachers'15-hour career and externship professional growth program from a mandate to one of many options for license renewal.

While we are appreciative of these small steps, we stand together today to say we are still watching – and waiting.

We are still waiting for a larger increase in traditional public-school funding.

In 2008, Indiana changed the way public schools are funded, putting more financial control in the hands of the state.

Our state has not met this obligation.

In 2010, Indiana took away $300 million from public schools as an emergency budget measure; that amount has yet to be repaid although Indiana boasts increasing state reserves.

In addition to repaying this $300 million, Indiana needs to dedicate more resources to ensure we are keeping up with inflation.

We are currently 47th in the nation in per-pupil spending; in salary growth, we are 51st in the nation – 51st.

Again, we want our legislators to know we have been watching.

We have seen the repeated amendments to increase teacher salaries voted down along party lines. We have seen the amendment that allows charter schools to receive money from a local public-school corporation's referendum. We have seen no movement on increasing overall public funding

Lawmakers have had time to act on these measures, and they have chosen not to.

It is time for Indiana to begin adequately funding public schools; our students and our future depend upon it.