Monday, January 30, 2006

More money for the same failures

Oregon Public Schools Threatened By Failing Grades, High Costs And Changing Demographics
Teacher salaries averaging over $40,000, with many earning over $60,000 per year, have combined with declining enrollment and declining educational achievement to pose a Catch-22 dilemma for many Oregon school districts. The way forward for Oregon's students is not promising.

In Oregon, there is an institutionalized hue and cry asserting that the lack of money is always the root cause of public education's failures and the underperformance of our students. In the liberal media and among its supportive politicos, it's always about the lack of money for education in Oregon...It's never about demanding acceptable performance from highly paid educators.

It's like saying that the Ford Pinto wasn't fundamentally flawed, they just needed more money for a better marketing plan.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so sick of hearing the schools need money. I worked for a school here in Salem about 6 years ago. I had teachers tell me that if they didn't spend X amount of money in this month, then they would not get the money the following month. They also threw away text books every year that were not even opened for whatever reason. I asked, but could never find out why these books were bought only to throw them away. By the way, my children both went to a private school for less money and better education. When they eventually went to public school, they were way ahead of other children in their classes. If I had some way of preventing public schools from wasting the money, I would, but that is not possible. Just please open your eyes and get involved.

Daniel said...

We all know that public employees make those statements of "we have to spend the money." I would really love some memo or solid evidence of it.

BEAR said...

Daniel, I used to work for an office products manufacturer. At the end of each year, we were guaranteed a landslide of orders from the public trough. The purchasing agents and other folks ordering our products were not shy about the explanation..."if we don't spend the money, we lose it." I told my boss that the practice was shameful. I was told to ignore it and help rake in the dough. He considered it a tax refund for the business.

BEAR said...

Hey, liberty44, the portland public schools need and should get LOTS of our money. Here's why....It costs 50%-60% less for an excellent and rewarding education at any private school. As a direct result of this, the crummiest (note that I didn't use the word 'poorest') teachers are relegated to public schools, where they must endure a top-heavy bureaucracy, every politically correct mandate on the planet, teach cucumbers and condoms to what must be a fascinated audience of punks and punkettes (42%? of whom will drop out), and devote an inordinate amount of their time whining about needing mo'mony! Gee whiz, liberty44, give these folks a break! Do we also demand that our children be taught stuff?

Anonymous said...

The US Gov is no different. We had to spend X amount by a certain date or the money was swept up in a fund and you never seen it again. They also reduce your budget for the following year by the amount you did not use. Its huge shell game, thats all. Its a house of cards just like the US banking system we rely on everyday. 3 degree's of separation.