State Senator Sandy Jerstad thinks we may be able to avoid some of those costs:
Jerstad says since the funding formula was put in place over a decade ago, schools continue to lose money. Last year a Senate bill that would have given school districts a 4.3 percent annual increase in funding failed. Jerstad says if that bill would have passed...a funding lawsuit may have never existed.Nothing like a lawsuit get someone's attention. But we should be ashamed that we have gotten to this point in the first place. Is our Legislature so hidebound that it will only lurch grudgingly toward change in the face of a crisis? It shouldn't take a big legal stick to make lawmakers want to pay teachers what they're worth. The carrot of retaining the best professionals and producing top graduates who could serve as the engines of the fastest economic growth in the nation ought to be enough motivation to fix the school funding formula.
She says, “I do believe that if the districts knew that they were going to receive the bill that we did last year I think they would cancel their lawsuit.”
Jerstad says because of its price tag, lawmakers are paying attention to the funding lawsuit. She just hopes they're paying enough attention to make education funding a first priority [Kelli Grant, "Will Education Lawsuit Impact 2008 Session?" KELOLand.com, 2007.11.17].
Kids are an investment, not a liability. Let's hope the 2008 Legislature can boost education funding, not just because they want to settle out of court, but because paying teachers what they are worth is the right thing to do.
My disappointment is that more schools are not involved in the lawsuit. It should be a no-brainer, but everyone in education is conservative and shy about political repurcussion, so they let a few lead and they sit back and wait for the fallout. Then, they can safely say they supported the lawsuit, but if it fails, feel they didn't hurt themselves in Pierre. Dumb, real dumb! One guy said he was mad because Madison joined the lawsuit, trying to get more money, but I told him that if the lawsuit is successful, Madison won't need any of the opt out money taxpayers approved. That takes the burden off local taxpayers and puts it back on the State where it belongs and is shared among all South Dakota taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Anon -- education is filled with conservatives afraid of some sort of repercussion if they speak up. Teachers all too often learn to keep their heads down and not make waves -- a position utterly in contradiction to a profession that demands leaders.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that even 70 districts were willing to put their names to the lawsuit. When even 40% of the schools can be roused to this drastic of an action, that tells me the funding problem is real.
As a teacher and a conservative, I would contend that most teachers are of contrary opinion.
ReplyDeleteIf you took high school government, you would have learned that there are better ways to influence legislation. How many teachers even know who their legislators are?
Establish a connection and let them know what is going well and what needs improvement. Do not just say that you need money. "Okay- why?" Tell the legislators why you need money.
You may say that this is not the job of a teacher, but I argue that it is exactly what every other public service employee does in every other sector. If every teacher in South Dakota established a relationship with their legislators a decade ago, this would not be such a battleground with clearly drawn sides. Rather this should be a question of working together to figure out the best situation for the most important people in the equation-- the students.
Madison teachers (and others!) will get a chance to tell Messrs. Sutton, Gassman, and Olson why they need more money tomorrow night, Monday, 7 p.m., at a legislative forum in the HS cafeteria. (And yes, I think the teachers already know the names of their reps.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe one place to start saving money would be to do away with the laptops. Kids themselves say they spend time in class emailing, playing games, etc, not listening or taking notes. Are these computers really a good investment? Kids already know how to use them whether or not they have them in class (just ask those who recently hacked the school's system when the password wasn't bothered to be changed -- administration too busy??). Maybe a pencil and paper would be a better way to go for high school kids.
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