What's even worse is Gov. Kasich is making the problem so much more terrible by attacking teachers and poorer school district funding from the state level. This means school districts in rich areas will at least have the possibility of raising local levy taxes to make up the difference whereas poor school districts (already at an unconstitutional funding disadvantage) have no chance of offsetting the lost state aid with local taxes....
Source?
Edit: There's this story:
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/onnnews/stories/2011/03/16/story-budget-schools.html
Which sounds like Kasich wants to give parents choice in where their kids go. It sounds like a voucher system. Parents would be able to decide what school gets the voucher for their kid's school funding.
Heck, the more I read about Kasich and schooling it sounds like he has a plan. It's almost a progressive plan... changing what you claim nobody is changing.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/kasich-promises-to-bring-teach-for-america-to-ohio-1106749.html
More:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/04/03/kasich-plan-would-let-parents-fix-failing-schools.html
The highlights here:
- If parents disagree with the way the kids are being taught they can petition to have it changed, by law
- School funding at a per pupil level instead of levee based. So I don't see how poor communities would be disadvantaged here.
Are you kidding? He's hardly progressive in any sense of the word.... I'm well aware of his proposed "solutions." Do you really want me to look for a source saying that cutting state funding hurts education and specifically hurts poorer districts? Do you understand I could inundate you with them? I haven't met an educator who likes Kasich and they tend to write... a lot. Additionally your own articles mention the undeniable spending cuts he is making to education. Tell you what, you're from Columbus, how about some from your local paper?
Are you actually calling me out on not having a source for opposing Kasich's education cuts, especially that they hurt poor schools? You can disagree with me if you want, but don't say there isn't an ocean of opposition to him and tons of written sources to that effect....
Vouchers: Vouchers are not the way to go. Public education needs widespread reform in order to be effective. Your own article states that the "parent's choice" voucher provision only applies to parents in school districts that perform in the bottom 5% of the state school districts and that is a narrow reform. (Kasich knows we don't have the money to privatize all the under performing schools and you do or should too). If you are in a school district performing in the bottom 6th-49th% this simply doesn't apply to you and Governor Kasich has no plan to help you at all, or at least his voucher plan doesn't.... Those widespread cuts to education? Those hit hard and vouchers can't provide the cushion he wants people to think they can.
Have you read some of the alleged "remedies" of this crap the governor thinks parents should be able to do in these bottom 5% performing schools?
"• Converting into a charter school. [How the hell is anyone going to pay for that? Unfunded mandate]
• Replacing at least 70 percent of the staff. [And replace them with who and how exactly and with what plan for improvement?]
• Contracting with another school district, an effective nonprofit group or a for-profit group to operate the school. [pray someone else can figure it out]
• Turning the school's operation over to the Ohio Department of Education. [complicated, unspecified, unpredictable results]
• Making "fundamental reforms" to the school's staffing or governance. [what the heck does this even mean?]"
This is crap that sounds good but no one really can practically do. It might get him reelected; but it won't fix jack, which is exactly what he's planning on. Also Vouchers generally have problems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_voucher#Legal_challengesTeach for AmericaIs also not the way to go because it doesn't address the problem at all. First of all, these people may have no background in education/teaching whatsoever, your article says they are given just 5 weeks of training and don't meet current certification standards! Are you serious, 5 weeks of training? That's supposed to prepare them for the hell that is today's classrooms? Just because someone got good grades in college doesn't mean they understand anything at all much less that they know how to teach material to someone who doesn't get it.... I have had countless professors who were clearly brilliant; they knew their subject matter but damned if they knew how to teach it. How to teach is its own skill and it involves communication. Moreover, we're just gonna can all the existing teachers? Really? The magic pill is to replace what we have with ... what exactly. He doesn't have a plan, he's just throwing out what we have to replace it with something that hasn't been thought out well....
Summation:
No! This man speaks like he's thinking up slogans that will fit on a bumper sticker, because that's exactly what he is doing. Someone needs to role up their sleeves and get into the nitty gritty mechanics of things. Giving only 5% of parents the possibility of a choice if they go through a crazy process doesn't fix the system at large.....
We could just fund our schools like any of the other 49 states do, but no..... Instead let's attack teachers along with police, firemen and every other public employee in Ohio, which the governor is expressly against....
Edit2:
It actually looks like it's the normally richer schools that are throwing the biggest fits:
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/04/ohio_gop_lawmakers_plan_change.html
In Cuyahoga County -- home to some of the deepest cuts in state funding for wealthy schools under Kasich's proposal -- 18 of 31 school districts would be helped by such a provision. The districts are all suburban, with relatively high property values such as Orange, Rocky River, Westlake and Beachwood.
Wow, let me spell this out for you. I know Cuyhoga County.... They aren't hurting in those districts at all in the slightest. They are getting cuts, everyone is. The rich folks are just complaining more. "Deepest Cuts?" Under "No Child Left Behind." The top performing schools got more money, and these were the top performing schools. I have been to each and every one of those districts, they actually have something to cut in terms of funding. However, in downtown Cleveland (Glennville, Marshal, etc) THERE'S NOTHING TO CUT. These districts are already operating on a bare bones budget and barely surviving. Cutting their funding means that these schools are in serious danger of shutting down and/or having to consolidate.
These articles miss the mark entirely.... "OMG! They're taking more from Rocky River than they are from the piss poor inner city Cleveland Ghetto Schools. Waaaah!" These rich little morons.... [headdesk]
What would you like them to take away from people who already have nothing? This is exactly what I'm talking about with overeducated morons with absolutely no god damn practical sense whatsoever who will point to these numbers and say they are the most disadvantaged by the recent cuts....
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