Have you looked around lately?
Dallas isn’t the only school system in trouble in America. Financial woes plague many, perhaps most of the nation’s schools systems.
Funding for schools is difficult in an environment where even good schools get stuck with the label “failing school” due to seriously misdirected programs from the federal government. The situation is complicated by a non-booming economy, especially in districts that had been gearing to build new schools to accommodate increased student populations.
What will the future bring?
It’s enough to merit its own little impromptu carnival. Oy.
- In Hawaii, libraries may not have enough money to stay open — in Hawaii, the libraries fall under the jurisdiction of education. Long gone are the days when Republican war hero/president Dwight Eisenhower found libraries to be the fount of information necessary for civilization, and proposed to spend $100 million to be certain even the smallest counties in America had a good library. (From The Honolulu Advertiser)
- Virginia proposes to whack education to make up for a statewide $2.5 billion funding shortage. (News Advance in Lynchburg)
- It’s this bad: In Missouri, Republicans campaign on the idea that education funding is bad. You don’t believe there’s a War on Education? Look at the local races, such as the race for the Missouri House of Representatives between Democrat incumbent Sara Lampe and Republican Michael S. Goodart, Jr. “Goodart criticizes his opponent as a polished, one-issue politician, referring to Lampe’s background as an educator and proponent of education funding.” Oh, yeah, those fat cats in public education. (From the Springfield News-Leader)
- Community colleges in Florida, suffering from “draconian” budget cuts, don’t agree on Amendment 8 on this election’s ballot, a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution to allow counties to hold elections to increase taxes for community college funding. Some colleges fear this is the first step by the legislature to cut off state support. (Miami Herald)
- Great googly-moogly, it’s difficult to tell what’s going on in South Dakota. It looks like the Democrat calls for a cut in state spending including education, though South Dakota ranks 51st in teacher pay (out of 50 states, that’s a remarkable failure!). (Sioux Falls Argus Leader)
- In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the schools are headed for a crash. When we drove through there last month, the headlines told of a proposal to dissolve the school district completely. But that’s a little way into the future. Right now the district must choose between double-digit increases in taxes, or dramatic, education-crippling budget cuts. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel publishes a special on-line education section, with information on the crisis in Milwaukee’s schools. The fight is getting bitter. (Looks this morning as if the board chose the tax increase — bet they’re not up for election this fall.)
- Perennial crab William Murchison complains in the East Texas Review that public schools are the problem, and invites Joe the Plumber to Texas where he can get a plumber’s license without knowing anything about plumbing. Ignorance about plumbing among plumbers good for business, Murchison says. He probably feels the same about ignorance in other areas — good for business. Murchison blames school funding woes on the schools. If only they’d close, Murchison says, things might be better. (Heck, Murchison even complains about Brownsville ISD’s winning the Broad Prize — according to Murchison, they don’t deserve it. Crabby, crabby, crabby.)
- Dallas, Texas’s schools are being hammered by the Bush economy, according to U.S. News and World Report. That’s why the layoffs, the magazine said. Dallas Superintendent Michael Hinojosa apologized to laid-off teachers and their now-more-heavily-laden colleagues, but he did it to an audience of lawyers, not teachers. Have all the shoes dropped? No one knows.
There may be updates. We haven’t even gotten to the Texas SBOE House of Science Horrors.
Vote, will you?
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 