Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/09/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 9/15/03 klw.51@comcast.net (Ken Wilcox) thoughtfully wrote: >In my state (Michigan) schools are paid per student enrolled, and >most of the money comes from the state. Therefore students lost to >vouchers or private schools by any means takes money directly from >the public school. As you said the private schools do cheery pick and >often they are only K-6 or K-8 schools, leaving the the more >expensive 9-12 students to the public schools. One only had to live in Charleston, S.C. in the 70s to see this effect where the white population removed its children en masse from the public schools and then never again voted to improve school funding since they were privately funding their own schools anyway. California's schools are funded in the same way: by ADA (Average daily attendance). We have the additional complication of Prop 13 which removed a substantial amount of funding AND local control because the only entity with money became the state. There are many complications beyond that, of course, a vast number. And, of course, the public schools are required by law to handle ALL students whose parents want them to be main-streamed - which places extraordinary demands on districts who already cannot afford them. Having a full-time aide/attendent is quite expensive and private institutions are not REQUIRED to provide these services for students who they can decide not to accept. Many teachers work hard, are dedicated to their craft and care about their students. Unfortunately there are also some who, after some point, rest on their tenure. If there was one thing I could do to improve schools it would be remove the concept of tenure. In California existing work-place laws already provide the protects that tenure offers. In what other job can you work three years and be hired for life? It is EXTREMELY difficult and EXTREMELY expensive to remove a teacher who has tenure since the district not only pays for their own legal staff they also pay for at least a substantial part of the teacher's legal costs as well. Adam Bridge - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html