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education whining
Mar. 7th, 2010 01:42 amI have neither sympathy nor support for the protesters who choose to flagrantly break the law in the latest round of education protests.
It's a really simple matter to stay on the sidewalk, hold up signs and banners, chant and otherwise call attention to your cause.
When you start blocking roadways and freeways, damaging State and private property, interfering with the Constitutional rights of others, and last but not least, shutting down the very educational facilities you claim to be supporting . . . you lose my respect and the public's trust.
Let's shed some light on this budget mess, shall we?
( cut for simple financial analysis from public sources )
So we've established that the major state departments employ about 311,000 people.
How many K-12 teachers do we have at the local level . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . .
nearly 307,000
That's right, folks, we have just about as many K-12 teachers as the other state agencies listed have FTEs when all put together.
We are paying a LOT for K-12 education and for higher education in this state, that's $45 of those $85 billion.
What are we getting for our money?
I get applicants with high school diplomas who cannot read a job application, let alone fill one out.
The problem is not educational funding. The problem is educational bureaucracy and retaining "qualified" teachers in the profession. I put this in quotes because the credentialing system is itself a huge part of the problem.
It's a really simple matter to stay on the sidewalk, hold up signs and banners, chant and otherwise call attention to your cause.
When you start blocking roadways and freeways, damaging State and private property, interfering with the Constitutional rights of others, and last but not least, shutting down the very educational facilities you claim to be supporting . . . you lose my respect and the public's trust.
Let's shed some light on this budget mess, shall we?
( cut for simple financial analysis from public sources )
So we've established that the major state departments employ about 311,000 people.
How many K-12 teachers do we have at the local level . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . .
nearly 307,000
That's right, folks, we have just about as many K-12 teachers as the other state agencies listed have FTEs when all put together.
We are paying a LOT for K-12 education and for higher education in this state, that's $45 of those $85 billion.
What are we getting for our money?
I get applicants with high school diplomas who cannot read a job application, let alone fill one out.
The problem is not educational funding. The problem is educational bureaucracy and retaining "qualified" teachers in the profession. I put this in quotes because the credentialing system is itself a huge part of the problem.
