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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > July > 19 > Entry
Editorial: Schools have to anticipate more cuts
Ohio’s education policy makers need to get real.
The Ohio Department of Education’s proposed budget for the upcoming two years is ridiculously unrealistic. Everyone in education knows that — unless they’ve been living under a rock.
Meanwhile, a new school funding commission, charged with recommending and advising how much schools should get from the state in an ideal world, also has proposed a big jump in state aid. Among other things, the commission doesn’t believe that the state is compensating districts for the true cost of paying teachers.
Ohio faces up to an $8 billion shortfall in its coming two-year budget. (Currently, the budget is about $50 billion.) So it’s absurd to think that, in this next budget cycle, lawmakers will be interested in making everything right and fair for schools (or anyone).
Put aside, for a minute, the funding commission’s belief that districts aren’t being given enough state support to adequately pay their teachers. The education department’s plan alone would increase education spending by $929 million. But that’s not accounting for the fact that the current budget was bailed out by $845 million in federal stimulus aid for schools, money that cannot be counted on to be there again.
This means that to do just what the education department proposes, lawmakers would have to find another $1.7 billion. All told, the education department wants spending on schools to grow by 4.5 percent the first year and 3.4 percent the next, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Both the education department’s spending plan and the funding commission’s proposal are designed to keep the state on track to pay for Gov. Ted Strickland’s “evidence-based” funding model.
That program was designed to incrementally create a constitutional school funding system built on eight years of spending increases. The problem, of course, is that no one knows where the necessary new money is going to come from.
What with Ohio’s school funding method having been declared unconstitutional four times, the governor has the right goal and some good ideas. But he has yet to say how he will pay for his changes. With state revenue expected to increase only minimally for a good time to come, there isn’t any easy solution.
The state desperately needs a jolt of realism. Legislators and policy makers are right to be in reform mode. But the reforms they should be promoting need to be about saving money. They have to find ways to maintain critical state services while spending less.
Smart local school leaders and their school boards are already preparing for the worst. They have to believe that the downsizing that many of them have been going through won’t be stopping any time soon. Every school district should be working on a contingency plan for that very real possibility. Teachers’ unions across the Dayton area, for instance, have been agreeing to contracts with low or no raises.
Floating fantasies that a state funding increase could be around the corner is only distracting schools from the hard work that needs to be done.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Education, Ohio government, Ohio politics, Scott Elliott
Comments
By C
July 19, 2010 7:26 PM | Link to this
Eventually they will cut all the staff and teachers and the kids can just teach themselves. Someone NEEDS to solve the school funding crisis. NOW.
By guy in dayton
July 19, 2010 8:44 PM | Link to this
Perhaps schools should get back to concentrating on educational matters and allow social issues to be handled by social agencies. If students do not want to participate in normal classroom scenarios or disrupt the learning process of others; they should be dealt with by a social agency, not an educational agency. Special Education could be consolidated so there is not duplication between districts or schools. No more alternative schools for “misfits” or psychologists for students with psychological needs. Children do spend 9% of their time in school and 91% elsewhere; and that elsewhere may not be a positive, encouraging, intact family that promotes positive educational goals. Teachers can not correct that deficiency and these may be the students that present obstacles to others that are in class striving to accomplish their educational goals.
By Another Guy In Dayton
July 20, 2010 8:55 AM | Link to this
By Guy In Dayton is on target with his thinking. I would add to that the contiunued lunacy of running an extraordinary number of half-empty busses, consuming fuel and maintenance costs, employing additional drivers, on duplicated routes just so we can keep primary & high school age students apart. Operating budgets could shrink noticeably if the rules/laws were changed to allow for that again.
By Another Guy In Dayton
July 20, 2010 8:55 AM | Link to this
By Guy In Dayton is on target with his thinking. I would add to that the contiunued lunacy of running an extraordinary number of half-empty busses, consuming fuel and maintenance costs, employing additional drivers, on duplicated routes just so we can keep primary & high school age students apart. Operating budgets could shrink noticeably if the rules/laws were changed to allow for that again.
By Another Guy In Dayton
July 20, 2010 8:56 AM | Link to this
By Guy In Dayton is on target with his thinking. I would add to that the contiunued lunacy of running an extraordinary number of half-empty busses, consuming fuel and maintenance costs, employing additional drivers, on duplicated routes just so we can keep primary & high school age students apart. Operating budgets could shrink noticeably if the rules/laws were changed to allow for that again.
By Mike
July 20, 2010 10:17 AM | Link to this
I’m sorry, what was that, Another Guy?
By Laura
July 20, 2010 10:54 AM | Link to this
How about legislators and policy makers stop making more and more mandates that they can’t fund? Wanting to improve education is a wonderful goal, but if you can’t pay for what you have, you don’t keep adding to the requirements. If you go to the grocery and want to add junk food on top of your basic food needs you don’t then bring less money than in the past and also expect the grocery to lower their costs to allow you to take the junk food home. Schools shouldn’t be told they are receiving less operating money and at the same time being told they have to add more and more programs.
By librarian
July 20, 2010 12:24 PM | Link to this
Schools should not be dumping grounds for kids with serious problems, nor should we expect that every child should be college bound. We should stop “teaching to the test” and teaching creativity and problem solving—which INCLUDES the arts and languages, people. Nonperforming students should be encouraged to leave for a trade school, if they are 16. Younger students should be placed in a central school with psychologists and others in place to try to help. Let the remaining students learn and succeed.
By guy in dayton
July 20, 2010 12:50 PM | Link to this
Schools cannot be all things to all people. Perhaps FAPE (free and proper education) should become FADE (free and deserved education). Most school systems spend somewhere in the vicinity of $10,000 per student per year so a graduating senior has enjoyed $120,000 worth of free education. The students that need extra help (skills level classes) deserve to be given the chance; ESL students deserve extra help, but the students that are only there to disrupt because they do not want to be there need to be removed. MH units for each school; I don’t know. Are they redundant? What are the expectations for the student? Could the service be better via a centralized program eliminating redundancy and pooling all of the teaching talent?
By guy in dayton
July 20, 2010 1:02 PM | Link to this
Knowledge Works philosophy …“You may not recognize it at first – it isn’t defined by textbooks, white boards, lesson plans and rigid subject areas. Instead, learning is achieved through experiences, teaching is tailored to individual students, and essential skills such as problem-solving and creativity are developed across subjects. This is a place where learning is active and exciting. Students are engaged because they’re gaining knowledge and skills relevant to their world. They take responsibility for their own education. Teachers and students work collaboratively, and they take part in the real world outside the classroom door. Our education system has become a world of learning, tapping the full potential of every student it touches.” As a retired teacher and current academic volunteer, I will be interested to see the implementation plan for this model. It will be amazing if it can be done with a single classroom teacher. We are trying (GED) to accommodate varying student skill levels, but with one or two additional personal in the classroom.
By fortressdayton
July 21, 2010 10:09 AM | Link to this
Concentrate on basics first, returning these skills to the core curriculum. Advanced curr. should be reviewed until kids get their basic skills back. I use the Singapore Math books for my soon-to-be 7th grader. If this is what 7th graders in Singapore use, then it is no wonder we are getting destroyed in testing. Spay and neuter the gteacher’s unions, radically alter tenure, and hold people accountable. If the kids have to share textbooks and write on chalkboards instead of computers, then that is the way it must be, but they can still learn to read and write. Currently, they are doing poorly in this regard even though they have books and computers. Disruptive students need to be removed and they need to be in the same building as the school superintendant so he can see hoe nerve-wracking catering to these monsters really is. Teachers need to teach not babysit. School is an educational place, not a social engineering lab. There is NO excuse for our poor performance except that we have consistently lowered the passing scores, expectations and hopes for these children. As long as we peg our hopes on the lowest common denominators in society, that is as much as we will get. We also need vocational paths for children (as in Europe) who do not do well in the advanced educational environment. Not everyone is a genius, but they should be given a chance to learn a good trade. get rid of Life Skills (a racket) and the GED.Stay in school or pay the price. Pregnant at 16? Not my problem, even if I have to pay for your mistake.
By Marcus
July 21, 2010 12:16 PM | Link to this
The real problem is that teachers are failing to inspire children to understand that education is valuable in and of itself. Once a person is turned on to that simple truth, it doesn’t matter if they are operating on a shoe string budget or not.. the child or young adult is going to learn. I left a far more lucrative industry, and am currently two years away from a degree in Education. I certainly didn’t make the switch because I wanted to make more money. As far as I’m concerned, if you are a teacher, and you aren’t willing to do what you do for a meager salary, get out. There is work to done. The problem with education is bigger than funding—we need the kind of teachers who are passionate about what they do whether it’s raining or shining.
By guy in dayton
July 21, 2010 1:28 PM | Link to this
GED classes are interesting. They’re 3 hours long with a break and the smokers walk off the property to light-up. Most are adults trying to gain a GED for job placement or promotion. Occasionally a “student” will show up that still thinks they’re in high school. They usually last till the first break when the STUDENTS set them straight; either get to work or leave. It is amazing to see the class maintain order and direction. Students in high school usually can’t do that in the classroom; however in the extracurricular arena; no problem. Coaches can cut; true athletes set the slackers straight. In the classroom it is the 9/91 rule. If 91% of time is spent in a non-positive environment, it will not be changed by the 9% spent in the classroom. That is a social problem, not an educational problem. A kid may make the band/crew/team/cast/… and need a lot of coaching to become proficient; the slacker will be removed from the team by the coach or the other members.
By guy in dayton
July 21, 2010 5:12 PM | Link to this
Do our students understand the decimal system and powers of 10? Can they do long division without a calculator? Do they understand fractions or only use the ab/c key? Can they read, understand and solve word problems? What is required to be successful in college and/or life? I have seen many students taught “tricks” to resolve problems rather than understanding the underlying logic of the principle; dropping zeros, moving decimal points, etc. Some skills level classes push the “tricks” rather than the reasoning. Half of the math GED test prohibits calculators.
By Joe
July 21, 2010 6:56 PM | Link to this
Can someone tell me how the state has $4.2 million for DARE (page A3 in Tuesday’s edition)programs, yet districts across the state have to let teachers go and cut other programs? Why not use that $4.2 million to keep teachers?
By Max
July 22, 2010 9:15 AM | Link to this
DDN: “What with Ohio’s school funding method having been declared unconstitutional four times, the governor has the right goal and some good ideas. But he has yet to say how he will pay for his changes.”———-There’s the problem. The Ohio Supreme Court, in a case of accidental wisdom, found the reliance on property value for schools funding tipped the scales of ‘equitable’ education favoring wealthy communities. The Court DID NOT foresee the mortgage bubble bursting placing all districts on thin ice. This funding issue, to be fair, predates Strickland but the gov. had advance notice of the problem and promised to fix it. DDN has it right; new rounds of district cuts will probably already happened by this time next year. Realistically, a 10% of the state budget is what is required to adequately fund schools; that’s about $5-billion of the projected budget not counting the shortfall. The challenge to the districts during the next round of cuts will be the choices between education-essential overhead or retaining the nice-to-have secretaries, textbooks, sports, buses, etc. One of the few good things coming out of a sustained economic downturn is a trimming of focus to the important, essential elements of education. This may be, way down the road, a good thing for the quality of education which has declined during better times. As it stands, I cannot support my local levy in November until the fat and gristle have been trimmed. It is time for principals and administrators to multi-task and answer their own phones. Regardless of who is Gov. next year, this will be the message to districts. But, DDN’s overview here is accurate.
By Max
July 22, 2010 9:39 AM | Link to this
Marcus: “The real problem is that teachers are failing to inspire children to understand that education is valuable in and of itself.”——-This is the ‘old school’ [pun intended] ideology which places a student’s ‘inspiration’ as a golden mantra running contra to the fact the attention span of a student has expired within the first 15 minutes of class. ‘Inspiration’ also falls short in an education system which, under law, requires all students to attend school until 16. Failure to ‘inspire’ is self evident, so why teach the importance of education? Just teach what one is being paid to teach.
By guy in dayton
July 22, 2010 1:31 PM | Link to this
Did anyone see the NatGeo TV show last night featuring the “real slum dwellers” in Mumbai? What education means to the families “living” there and the extent they go to ensure their children get an education. Paying for classes and wearing uniforms. It was an incredible show. Reminded me of the show Mrs. Chris Rock had regarding her trip to Africa to impress upon the children of NYC what some people will do to get an education. Students had to have a uniform and pay $27 to attend school, basically a year’s salary for their parents. No free and proper education there. Here is the address if you want to appreciate it. http://www.examiner.com/x-16472-Chris-Rock-Examiner~y2009m7d16-Mrs-Rock-inspires-Brooklyn-teens
By guy in dayton
July 22, 2010 1:46 PM | Link to this
Inspiring kids to learn ….Isn’t that the 91% social responsibility, not the 9% controlled by the school. If the” family” does not inspire the child, there is no amount of inspiration rendered by the school that will accomplish it. That is Arne Duncan’s philosophy; the school is a garden and every child will develop into a flower. I don’t believe that. Don’t we have to weed and cultivate to allow the crop to grow? That is not to say that those plants may return to the garden after some modification/rehabilitation, but I don’t believe that transformation is the primary duty of the school.
By guy in dayton
July 22, 2010 7:51 PM | Link to this
sorry; make that http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/06/01/btsc.bia.south.africa/index.html