tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post8393151684176766956..comments2024-03-29T02:41:52.718-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: U.S. School Districts and FundingMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-44505754192995382272014-07-13T20:53:23.479-07:002014-07-13T20:53:23.479-07:00I didn't bother reading the report but the quo...I didn't bother reading the report but the quote Charlie highlighted is hilarious!!!<br /><br />Damn teachers.... Geeze, so much of the damn education budget goes to pay teachers. If it wasn't for that, heck, we could really get down to brass tacks and make that whole system hum! We could make it like a ferocious beast of learning!! We could be über-"productive".... If only we could get rid of those damn pesky teachers!!!!<br /><br /><br />I gotta wonder, what are they thinking? Have they ever stepped foot in a school? Have they ever seen a child, you know, up close? And in person? What exactly do they think is a more productive way of helping students learn by teaching them... with, you know ... teachers?<br /><br /><br />I am picturing "Clockwork Orange", where kids would go to school and sit sedated in a dentist chair with their eyelids pried open and Khan Academy blaring on huge plasma screens in front of their faces for 8 hours! Zero cost for teachers! Just shop at Best Buy for huge screens, and pay the tab for the electricity. <br /><br />Maybe Hospitals could be more "productive" if we didn't have to pay so much of health care budget to doctors and nurses! What a waste!!<br /><br />This priceless drivel gave me a great laugh. Thanks. <br /><br />Maybe consultants' reports could be way more productive if they didn't have to spend so much damn money on those pesky consultants' salaries. Now, there's a thought.<br /><br />#consultantsAREboneheadsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-24072393842976617672014-07-13T16:46:42.654-07:002014-07-13T16:46:42.654-07:00Funny how salary seems to be all-important for CEO...Funny how salary seems to be all-important for CEO effectiveness. But educator's salaries do not constitute a "productive" investment of educational resources.<br /><br />-educatorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-22168257012207537762014-07-13T08:05:59.117-07:002014-07-13T08:05:59.117-07:00I'm reading this article, but it's hard to...I'm reading this article, but it's hard to get through because it is really pissing me off.<br /><br />First, it constantly refers to "productivity". That not only reflects a business-oriented perspective, but it's simply wrong. There is no productivity in schools because there is no product. Student outcomes are not a product. Test scores are not a product. Learning is not a product.<br /><br />They could have just as easily (and more accurately) written about "student outcomes", or "test scores", or "academic achievement", but they didn't. They chose the word "productivity" and that tips me off about their perspective, costs them credibility, and pisses me off.<br /><br />Second, there was this sentence:<br /><br />"<i>About 60 percent of districts’ budgets are committed to instructional costs, which are primarily educators’ salaries. That does not leave much room for district leaders to invest their financial resources in more productive ways.</i>"<br /><br />What?!? When the goal is student learning, what more productive use of funds can there be other than instruction? Instruction is the work that gets the job done. There is no "more productive" work. The idea that these people think that instruction isn't particularly productive costs them all of the credibility they had left.Charlie Mashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17173903762962067277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-3161818573331854482014-07-11T20:44:13.107-07:002014-07-11T20:44:13.107-07:00Seems to me that if they could figure out *why* di...Seems to me that if they could figure out *why* different schools achieved different results with the same funding, or more with less funding, they would be in a better place to make recommendations on what actually works Does one just pay less with a lower cost of living? Have newer schools so less (for now) maintenance? Or is one school actually investing less in say a smart board in each classroom (that rarely seem to actually get used, but providing more workbooks for elementary (vs haphazard worksheets), manipulatives vs having to wait for a turn, etc? I don't see how you can recommend changes to funding when you have no idea why similar schools are getting different results.<br /><br />NE parentAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-10730367196765113952014-07-11T17:02:07.547-07:002014-07-11T17:02:07.547-07:00When you learn that a school's teaching staff ...When you learn that a school's teaching staff is turning over all the replacements are all new teaching school grads there is economic inequity from school to school.<br /><br />Or when a new school starts up and it is able to recruit experienced teachers from other schools, there also is inequity there.<br /><br />Ann DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com