Recently, I wrote about how members of Congress are tipping the scales of fairness through gerrymandered elections. But that same group is putting their whole hand, not just their thumb, on the scales of education.
Everyone except the blind needs to see a deliberate attempt to dismantle traditional public schools. There is no doubt that public education is in trouble. Consider her 2023 reading scores from 3rd grade through her 8th grade. Only 31.3% of his students reached grade level reading comprehension. 68.7% did not. That's not acceptable.
If we want to improve public education, let's admit we have too many players on the field. Our governance system is a nightmare!
tangled web
First, there are some members of Congress who think they know more about children's education than the experts, and who submit their opinions (laws) on any topic at any time. Next on the organizational chart is the State Board of Education (SBOE), which includes her 11 politically appointed members and a lieutenant governor who may or may not have educational expertise. State Treasurer. The state Superintendent of Public Instruction, chosen presumably at the direction of lawmakers and this commission, will manage the Office of Public Instruction, a staff of about 700 state employees who interpret, guide and impose rules and regulations.
Others are also reading…
We have others, too. The collective wisdom (?) of all of the above people is passed on to 115 local school districts, each with a locally elected board of directors, a superintendent, and each school also has a principal.
We usually place the blame on the classroom teacher, but this poor (and I use this word knowingly) man or woman is highly regulated, scrutinized, controlled, With all the criticism, it's a miracle that Johnny and Johnny are doing as well as they are.
I designed an albatross!
chartered territory
Out of that frustration, our Congress created charter schools in 1996. Charter schools were intended to foster innovation and leverage lessons learned to improve traditional public schools. The Charter provided great freedom regarding admissions, curriculum, and regulations. We don't have to have buses, cafeterias, extracurricular activities, or many other regulations, and we don't have very strict hiring standards, especially for teachers.
Charter school student populations were supposed to reflect traditional school student populations, but that has become little more than an eye-catching requirement. Too many people are discriminated against not only by race but also by socio-economic and academic criteria. Oversight of charter schools is given to the State Board of Education (SBOE), and to further hold charter schools accountable, the board recently announced that charter schools must score within 2 percent on achievement tests in the school district in which they are located. I proposed requesting the school. The Charter rose up against this requirement, and the SBOE retreated, at least temporarily.
What is Charter's track record? mixture. While some schools are outliers, many others perform about as well as traditional schools. Once again, instead of solving the problem, our legislators created another system: vouchers.
Coupons for everyone!
A longtime Republican dream has been to give all parents vouchers so their children can attend the schools of their choice.
They began with “opportunity scholarships,” designed to help low-income parents pay to withdraw their children from traditional (or charter) schools and enroll them in private schools. Even Forrest Gump understood that this was just the first step in “getting the camel under the tent.” Last session, Congress approved a $500 million fund to give vouchers to almost everyone who can fog the mirror.
And never forget that with each iteration of “innovation,” our legislators have dictated fewer rules and regulations than are necessary for traditional and district schools. please. (Remember, the rules and regulations they are waiving or relaxing are those created by legislators and politicians themselves.)
Let's fix our education system.
First, the governance structure must be streamlined and the minimum number of people in charge must be in charge. Second, we need to level the playing field so that all entities receiving state funding (traditional schools, charter schools, private schools, homeschools) play by the same rules. This will require a top-to-bottom review, removing untenable rules and regulations.
Next, we must clearly identify the reasonable but difficult performance outcomes expected from each grade level and each course, and then establish an agreed testing system for determining student achievement. And if we want to excel in our schools, we must advocate for and hold great teachers and administrators accountable.
Finally, the biggest requirement. You only get the best if you pay for the best. North Carolina has the lowest per-pupil spending of any state. Money alone does not guarantee good grades, but just as a hungry child cannot do well in the classroom, a starving education system cannot do well either. you can't. We get what we pay for.
There is nothing our state government spends money on more important than the education of our children. Our students' failures are our failures.
