education

Milwaukee, Wisconsin teachers make $100,005 per year. Quit your whining and get back to work!

by Mark on February 23, 2011 8:19 am · Comments/Link

The teachers protesting in Wisconsin would like you to think that Governor Scott Walker will send them to the poor house. But did you know they already earn an average of $56,500, excluding benefits, double the state average wage. But the astounding number, when you include fringe benefits, is $100,005 per year. You read that right, that’s nearly $44,000 per year in benefits.

I’m sorry, I said they earn that much. That word is a stretch when you consider two-thirds of Wisconsin Public School 8th graders cannot read proficiently.

Watch this video from last spring, where MacIver’s Bill Osmulski has more details on their compensation.

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Two-Thirds of Wisconsin Public-School 8th Graders Cannot Read Proficiently

by Mark on February 22, 2011 18:40 pm · Comments/Link

Are you feeling just a bit of sympathy for the teachers who have stormed the capitol of Wisconsin to try and keep their union gravy train going, because you know they are at least really trying to help the children? Well, maybe those children would be better off without those teachers — after all, they can’t even teach most of them to read. CNS News tells the tale.

Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.”

The test also showed that the reading abilities of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders had not improved at all between 1998 and 2009 despite a significant inflation-adjusted increase in the amount of money Wisconsin public schools spent per pupil each year.

Not only are we spending too much money on these unionized teachers, we’re not getting enough for our money. Send in the nuns.

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Detroit ordered to close half its schools to wipe out deficit

by Mark on February 22, 2011 7:42 am · Comments/Link

Those whiny unionized teachers in Wisconsin should thank their lucky stars they are not teaching in Detroit, Michigan. The Telegraph UK tells the story:

Half of Detroit’s schools are set to close in order to wipe out the district’s $327million deficit by 2014.

The four-year plan was submitted last month by Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools (DPS).

It was seen as the final resolution if the district failed to find new revenue sources and so far it hasn’t.

Mr Bobb is now looking to downsize the number of schools to 72 schools from 142 and the financial restructuring will likely increase the average high school class to 60 students.
He said the strategy was ill-advised because it was likely to drive students away, depriving the district of much-needed state funds – a veritable catch-22 situation.
Despite this state officials approved the plan earlier this month, but it only became public knowledge today.

‘This is the route we’re forced to take under state law,’ Steven Wasko, a spokesman for DPS said.
‘However we continue to look for longer-term plans so we can avoid this. Robert Bobb has eliminated over $500million of budget requests in his short two years here. But we still have these additional cuts to make.’

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LA. Unified School District Responsible for Cutting 5,000 Jobs, Including 4,000 Teachers

by Mark on February 15, 2011 8:42 am · Comments/Link

They never learn do they? Last September Los Angeles unveiled the Robert F. Kennedy Community School at a cost of $578 million, the costliest in the nation, and today I read that the L.A. Unified School District is $408 million in debt. Idiots. Fricken Idiots. But at least the Kennedy legacy of overspending lives on.

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Former LA Mayor: 90% of cities and states to go bankrupt

by Mark on January 18, 2011 7:20 am · 2 comments

“The unions don’t want any accountability, they put incompetent adults ahead of children.”

That’s a quote from from former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, in an interview with Reason.tv’s Tim Cavanaugh.

He tells Cavanaugh that while he has been quite a critic of current L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigos, he’s become a fan ever since he “dropped the atomic bomb” on the unions by saying publicly that they are in the way of educational reform.

Riordan is encouraged that although Sacramento is still overwhelmingly controlled by the unions, there’s a break in the ice and increased public awareness of the problem, especially with Villaraigos blaming the unions for our failed education system.

He goes on to discuss state and local budget crises, one upping Meredith Whitney an her call for 100 cities to go bankrupt, with this quote:

“Throughout the country, 90 percent of cities and states are going to go bankrupt within the next five years, many of them sooner.”

Ouch.

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If You Think Our Public Schools Are Horrible Now…

by Mark on January 15, 2011 8:58 am · Comments/Link

The first news story I read this morning concerned the impact drastic budget cuts will have on Detroit public schools, that could force closing half their school and increasing class sizes to 60. Right after that, I came across another story of a school official in Dallas who opines that, you know what, kids really don’t need 12th grade. And coincidentally as I was reading that story, I was heard on Fox News that 86 girls are pregnant in one Tennessee high school. What a way to start the day in our educationally-challenged country.

It’s no surprise that schools in every state this year will face draconian budget cuts. With property taxes down, income tax revenue down, pension obligations up and federal stimulus over, there simply is not enough money. Every year we see the scare tactics by the teachers unions that budget cuts will see kids in the streets instead of in school, which almost always leads to the funding they want. But 2011 is different. The money is simply not there.

Let’s get a taste of each story.

Increase Class Size to 60

Today’s big story in state budget problems is the dire straits of Detroit Public School System, who will have to close almost half of its schools during 2012-13 and increase the class sizes to 60 in 2014, if a deficit-reduction plan filed with the state is put in effect. Let’s go to the Detroit News for the details:

Starting this fall, the district plans to boost class sizes in grades 4-12 and at all grade levels by fiscal 2012, which begins July 1, to save $16.8 million. The plan would hike class sizes for: Grades K-3 from 17-25 students to 29 in 2012-13 and 31 in 2013-14.

Grades 4-5 from 30 students to 37 in 2012-13 and 39 in 2013-14.

Grades 6-8 from 35 students to 45 in 2012-13 and 47 in 2013-14.

Grades 9-12 from 35 students to 60 in 2012-13 and 62 in 2013-14.

Kids Don’t Really Need 12th Grade

Former Dallas Independent School System superintendent Linus Wright thinks he has a better idea: Eliminate the 12th grade. Local ABC affiliate KVUE has the details:

He argues the senior year of high school is the most wasted year of education. By the time most high school students reach their senior year, they’ve already completed most required courses.

Wright says the state would be better off using the money for early-childhood development.

What the hell, only 61% of Texas’ 9th graders go on to graduate anyway.

There’s Just Having Sex At School Anyway,

This has nothing to do with budget cuts, although I heard a guest on the Fox News piece say that the bad economy is a big part of the problem (I thought schools handed out free condoms?). It turns out that 86 students at Frayser High School in Memphis, Tennessee are pregnant now or have given birth in the last year. This is out of a school enrollment of just 978.

So what’s the problem? According to Deborah Hester Harrison of nonprofit Girls, Inc., it’s a matter of willpower:

“Right now, these girls don’t know how to say ‘no,’ they’re having sex when they don’t want to, they just don’t know how to say ‘no,’”

I thought we were spending untold amounts of money and time in just about every grade level to teach children self-esteem? Wasn’t that supposed to fix everything? Guess that didn’t pan out very well. And how’s that Sex Ed going?

By the way, I did a little digging and found that the average Frayser High School class size is just 19.9. Note to Detroit: So much for small class size being so important.

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Every state and every school district is in financial trouble. If the public school system couldn’t educate our kids with proper funding, how well do you think they are going to do with considerably less? And you can bet that the kids are going to bear the brunt of this, not the teachers unions and their generous pension systems. It’s ironic really, that state pension problems are the biggest contributors to runaway budget deficits, and a substantial part of these pension obligations are to the very same unionized teachers and other public school employees who are there to supposedly put the education of our children as their highest priority.

The teachers unions are the worst thing to have ever happened to what was once a prized educational system.

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