uPolitico

How is it possible that the richest and more powerful country in the world cannot find a way to obtain better results in our schools? I believe that politics and the misappropriation of funds have much to do with it. President after president always makes education a priority during their campaign, however, once in office, other “more popular” issues become a priority for those in office. I believe that we, as voters, also carry the blame as we fail, year after year, to hold our elective officials responsible for false promises.

Living in Florida, I see how our Department of Education, puts so much emphasis on FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test). There is plenty of research that shown that “rich” schools or districts, or those where more affluent families live, are more likely to perform better. So, why does Florida insists on providing financial rewards to teachers and schools who perform the best on the annual tests? Does that mean that the teachers in these schools work harder, care more, and are better teachers? Not necessarily!

I currently work in a charter school where we have a wonderful mix of stunts. We have African-American students, white students, Hispanics, Asian, etc. Our kids are wonderful and we have teachers and staff members who work incredibly hard in preparing these kids for life – not for an assessment test. I am sure that story repeats itself across America – although I have to say that my students are incredible young people (bias?). Before I started working at this school, I worked at a local private parochial school. The teachers and students were, and continue to be, just as wonderful. The main difference between the two schools is that the kids at the private school came from more stable homes, with more financial resources, and many times, with stronger values when it came to schooling. Naturally, these students performed at the top percentile at a national level. The teachers were just as dedicated, but many things, completely out of the hands of the teachers, played a role.

The current administration is currently engaging in a program, Race to the Top, where the Federal Government will reward only those states that raise their academic standards, improve teacher quality and expand the reach of charter schools. Money in play $4.35 billion dollars! President Obama, the problem is not lack of money! According to the Wall Street Journal, “The Department of Education estimates that the U.S. as a whole spent $667 billion on K-12 education in the 2008-09 school year alone, up from $553 billion in 2006-07.”

In an effort to become more “efficient”, thousands of teachers found themselves without a job. Funds were held back from the stimulus package and districts found themselves scrambling to meet financial shortcomings. So what happens now? Well, now we have thousands of teachers without jobs, larger classrooms, and states scrambling to get a piece of the $4.35 billion package. In the mean time, students, our future, will pay for Mr. Obama’s failure to reform education. As many “traditional” Democrats, President Obama believes that throwing money to a problem, will eventually heal the wound.

The sad reality is that those districts that serve minorities, or poor districts, are the ones who are going to pay the bigger price for this failed policy. See Mr. Obama, as a rule, poor schools do not usually attract the brightest students, or the teachers who graduated top of their class, or the attention of politicians. Instead, they will continue to go in a downwards spiral, to graduate less qualified students, shatter dreams to attend college or vocational schools, and will continue to increase their dropout rates. Why not spend more on teachers’ workshops? Why not make sure adequate and updated textbooks are in the classroom? Why don’t we make sure all schools give students a safe place to be? Why not provide extra funds so all schools can have adequate tools to meet the needs for all students – such as art, music, etc.? Why not do research on what really works? Why not approach real experts in education and get some feedback? Shouldn’t we look at what districts pay in salaries to people who do not teach – such as district offices, “papers pushers”, salaries for school board members, etc?

Reality is, putting schools and districts, which already perform poorly, under a microscope, or firing teachers based on data, regardless of the student population’s make up, is unfortunate and unfair. I believe that all students, regardless of race or financial means, need to be held to the same standards, but before that happen, all schools need to receive a fair an equal amount of funding and other resources. I believe that only then, our young people will improve their basic skills.

Tags: Education, Obama, Politico, Politics, Race to the Top

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