I know what you’re thinking. “It’s mighty early in the school-year for an education rant.” (And if that’s not what you were thinking, it is now). But I just can’t help it. It’s not that I’m trying to be negative and pessimistic. It’s not that I want to be a Debbie-Downer. But as a pragmatist, North Carolina’s “balanced” budget really gets under my skin. And it itches. And yes, I know. When something itches, you’re not supposed to scratch it because in the long run that just makes it itch more. But sometimes scratching it just feels so good, even if it’s just for a minute or two. And it’s especially hard to ignore the itch when you have nothing to distract you from it. Usually my students draw the attention away from that bureaucratic crawl that gets under my skin every year, but teacher workdays don’t give you much distraction. They actually fuel the fire with endless and copious meetings, followed by a meeting to discuss the previous meeting, in which you will plan a follow up meeting to discuss the next time you will meet.
I wrote about the state budget back in June, right after it passed because I was pissed. And I knew then that the budget looked bad on paper. We lost 15% of our support staff budget, 19% of our assistant principal budget, 5% of our guidance counselor and media assistant fund, and almost 50% of our instructional supplies budget (because who really needs supplies? Let’s just have hypothetical school. It will be like the hypothetical staircase I’ve been climbing the last 3 years…) But after being back at school for just a few days, I’m starting to see what those budget cuts look like in the halls, in the staff room, in the office, and in the classroom. And I’m also starting to experience what they feel like. Teachers have quickly become the scapegoats for a failing education system because they are an easy target, and because the small fraction of teachers that are truly terrible get 99.9% of the attention from society. (And because of Oprah). So these deep budget cuts come as a kick in the ribs to a group of people who have already been knocked down by one-sided documentaries, sensationalized media, and a government that continually fails to put its money (well...China's money) where its mouth is.
I think the most frustrating aspect of this entire debacle is that I feel powerless. I’m watching as outside forces change the structure of the institution that I’ve dedicated my entire (albeit tiny) professional life to (so far) and a good portion of my personal life as well. It seems like local, state, and federal legislators are all playing a giant game of Jenga; they are taking out important pieces from the foundation of our schools and then placing more weight on top of that weakened foundation.
NC’s new budget cut 92.2 million dollars from our text book fund. I can’t assign take-home reading to any of my classes in a textbook because I don’t have enough books for every student. I’m sharing 1 set of text books between 3 different classes. In the past, teachers either had enough books or they would just break copyright laws while crossing their fingers and send their students home with paper copies. (If you back people into a corner, they sometimes resort to desperate measures, so stop judging). But since the new budget demolished the instructional supply fund, most schools will be cutting their paper consumption in half. Yet, next year the federal government will be placing a brand new curriculum on top of that weakened foundation that cannot afford to purchase new text books to align with the mandated curriculum.
Thousands of teachers were laid off or pushed into retirement, yet school enrollment in the state of North Carolina is at an all time high. Again, we are chiseling out the foundation, but adding more weight to the roof.
13.3 million dollars for a Dropout Prevention Program was eliminated, yet schools are being pressured to raise their graduation rates to 85%.
Staff development funds to help teachers continue their training and learn better practices have been completely eliminated at the state level, yet teachers are still required to attend staff development to renew their licenses. Teachers are often expected to pay for these required CEUs out of their own pockets that are already growing leaner thanks to quickly disappearing benefits. (My teeth are uninsured for the first time in my life because my county cut our dental insurance this year…yet our administrators got iPad 2s, and our state adopted a new teacher assessment tool that was certainly not free). Teachers are also expected to raise their students’ test scores so that their schools can meet AYP, yet the state no longer provides the teachers with professional development.
And despite all of this, I will teach the largest classes I’ve ever had with half the supplies from last year. We’ll make due. Teachers will still teach, students will still learn, and by some (shady and tragic) miracle, our graduation rate will be 85%. It's not that I don't want schools to be held to higher standards. I think it's good for school to strive to be better, but any good teacher knows that one step back is often two steps forward. If a student is struggling to keep his head above water, you wouldn't respond by asking him to do more. You would stop him in his tracks, and re-teach whatever concept(s) he needed to continue. If you keep asking the student to do more without teaching him the basics, eventually he will give up and collapse. I can’t help wonder in the future which government mandated block will be the one that finally brings the whole thing crashing down. Which budget cut will finally weaken the foundation to where it cannot support the federal and state programs that were put in place to give people the illusion that America’s schools weren’t failing. After all, how can a school system that has Smartboards on every wall and iPads at every desk be failing?
And maybe this is just me being completely naïve and melodramatic (wouldn’t be the first time today). Maybe the school systems have always been this screwed up and damaging. Or maybe this budget has pushed me over the pragmatic ledge (where the view is clearest) into legit pessimism. Because it certainly feels like the majority of North Carolina legislators are playing this terrifying and careless game of Jenga, secretly anticipating the moment when the whole structure collapses. Then they would be able to pick up the pieces of the public schools and rebuild a privatized system. And then Rick Perry will smile…which will cause a kitten to die in the Southern Hemisphere. (Told you it was melodramatic).
I wrote about the state budget back in June, right after it passed because I was pissed. And I knew then that the budget looked bad on paper. We lost 15% of our support staff budget, 19% of our assistant principal budget, 5% of our guidance counselor and media assistant fund, and almost 50% of our instructional supplies budget (because who really needs supplies? Let’s just have hypothetical school. It will be like the hypothetical staircase I’ve been climbing the last 3 years…) But after being back at school for just a few days, I’m starting to see what those budget cuts look like in the halls, in the staff room, in the office, and in the classroom. And I’m also starting to experience what they feel like. Teachers have quickly become the scapegoats for a failing education system because they are an easy target, and because the small fraction of teachers that are truly terrible get 99.9% of the attention from society. (And because of Oprah). So these deep budget cuts come as a kick in the ribs to a group of people who have already been knocked down by one-sided documentaries, sensationalized media, and a government that continually fails to put its money (well...China's money) where its mouth is.
I think the most frustrating aspect of this entire debacle is that I feel powerless. I’m watching as outside forces change the structure of the institution that I’ve dedicated my entire (albeit tiny) professional life to (so far) and a good portion of my personal life as well. It seems like local, state, and federal legislators are all playing a giant game of Jenga; they are taking out important pieces from the foundation of our schools and then placing more weight on top of that weakened foundation.
NC’s new budget cut 92.2 million dollars from our text book fund. I can’t assign take-home reading to any of my classes in a textbook because I don’t have enough books for every student. I’m sharing 1 set of text books between 3 different classes. In the past, teachers either had enough books or they would just break copyright laws while crossing their fingers and send their students home with paper copies. (If you back people into a corner, they sometimes resort to desperate measures, so stop judging). But since the new budget demolished the instructional supply fund, most schools will be cutting their paper consumption in half. Yet, next year the federal government will be placing a brand new curriculum on top of that weakened foundation that cannot afford to purchase new text books to align with the mandated curriculum.
Thousands of teachers were laid off or pushed into retirement, yet school enrollment in the state of North Carolina is at an all time high. Again, we are chiseling out the foundation, but adding more weight to the roof.
13.3 million dollars for a Dropout Prevention Program was eliminated, yet schools are being pressured to raise their graduation rates to 85%.
Staff development funds to help teachers continue their training and learn better practices have been completely eliminated at the state level, yet teachers are still required to attend staff development to renew their licenses. Teachers are often expected to pay for these required CEUs out of their own pockets that are already growing leaner thanks to quickly disappearing benefits. (My teeth are uninsured for the first time in my life because my county cut our dental insurance this year…yet our administrators got iPad 2s, and our state adopted a new teacher assessment tool that was certainly not free). Teachers are also expected to raise their students’ test scores so that their schools can meet AYP, yet the state no longer provides the teachers with professional development.
And despite all of this, I will teach the largest classes I’ve ever had with half the supplies from last year. We’ll make due. Teachers will still teach, students will still learn, and by some (shady and tragic) miracle, our graduation rate will be 85%. It's not that I don't want schools to be held to higher standards. I think it's good for school to strive to be better, but any good teacher knows that one step back is often two steps forward. If a student is struggling to keep his head above water, you wouldn't respond by asking him to do more. You would stop him in his tracks, and re-teach whatever concept(s) he needed to continue. If you keep asking the student to do more without teaching him the basics, eventually he will give up and collapse. I can’t help wonder in the future which government mandated block will be the one that finally brings the whole thing crashing down. Which budget cut will finally weaken the foundation to where it cannot support the federal and state programs that were put in place to give people the illusion that America’s schools weren’t failing. After all, how can a school system that has Smartboards on every wall and iPads at every desk be failing?
And maybe this is just me being completely naïve and melodramatic (wouldn’t be the first time today). Maybe the school systems have always been this screwed up and damaging. Or maybe this budget has pushed me over the pragmatic ledge (where the view is clearest) into legit pessimism. Because it certainly feels like the majority of North Carolina legislators are playing this terrifying and careless game of Jenga, secretly anticipating the moment when the whole structure collapses. Then they would be able to pick up the pieces of the public schools and rebuild a privatized system. And then Rick Perry will smile…which will cause a kitten to die in the Southern Hemisphere. (Told you it was melodramatic).
Just googled "Rick Perry smiles, kittens die". Interesting stuff! /hill
ReplyDeleteit's very similar to the butterfly effect hillary...there is just less ashton kutcher.
ReplyDelete