Comments on: Mitt Romney’s Views on Education

By: Michele

Michele — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 22:10:09 +0000

A review of these comments are straight on. As a teacher of 35 yrs., I have seen changes for the good and for the bad. NCLB has run its course. It is time for it to begone. I have seen more train wrecks created than prevented for far too many kids.
Magic potions and wands do not exist in the area of education. Loyal, creative, and caring teachers with a strong support of parents and administrators are the keys to success. I forgot one more thing….a well funded and supported educational system by our government.
Visiting a classroom for a day is not the answer…do our job day in and out. Take time away from your families to attend professional development sessions, take work home to do every night including weekends and holidays. How about no raise for the last 5 yrs ? How about trying to balance what has already been placed on your plate as well as the extra helpings? How about those kids that find more compassion from us than they do from their families?
No one should ever say we complain..we are just trying to make a point.
We are in this profession because we love it and we have a passion for wanting to touch young lives and make a difference in our students now and in the future.
Politicians and the government need to face reality…our economy needs improvement, yes, but our schools are the foundation for future lives. Give the kids what they need!!! A previous comment mentioned that if Romney wants to pay top teachers, let him have at it ……There are too many of us to reward…it’s true…They can’t afford us!

By: A Study of Fiscal Autonomy and Accountability Schools

A Study of Fiscal Autonomy and Accountability Schools — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 11:47:39 +0000

A Study of Fiscal Autonomy and Accountability Schools
opinion
I believe checks and balances can be codified into law
Every year school boards are faced with asking their governing bodies for revenue they need to continue the services they provide and every year they are short changed. Keep in mind that fiscal responsibility and fiscal irresponsibility are separate issues that may be present with or without fiscal autonomy.Accountability requires responsibility. The governing body, before approval of such increase, should require and put in mechanisms for such through codified prerequisites such as mandatory audits etc. prior to tax increase for revenue above which is required bystate law etc. By giving school boards taxing authority and requiring accountability before approval, school boards would have the authority to decide what is going to happen in their schools and to generate the revenue necessary to
make that happen if the governing body accountability requirements are met.
Data may have changed in the below commentary!
Revenue for K-12 public schools comes primarily from state
governments, local school districts and the federal government. In
the aggregate, the states provide 48% of all revenue, school
districts provide 45%, and the federal government provides 7% of all revenue.1 The majority of state level education funding is
appropriated from state general funds, with other funding from
earmarked taxes such as income and sales taxes. State funding levels,established in state policy, can create incentives or disincentives for districts to provide full-day kindergarten. When states provide funding for full-day kindergarten that is equal to or greater than state funding provided for 1st grade, districts have an incentive to offer full-day kindergarten. To date, only eight states provide school districts with funding for full-day kindergarten that is equal to or greater than that provided for 1st grade.2 In contrast, when states provide funding for full-day kindergarten that is less than funding provided for 1st grade, local revenue sources must make up the difference. Funding for local school districts comes primarily from property taxes. In some states, other sources of revenue provide funding streams, such as local sales taxes and local income taxes. To that end, local district taxation, as well as state limits on spending, play a critical role in whether or not local school districts have the ability to support programs such as full-day kindergarten.
Local Control Over School Budgets and Taxes School district budget and tax rate procedures vary among the states. Often, local school boards have authority for both developing budgets and levying taxes to support district budgets. If school districts can levy taxes to support public education, they are considered
fiscally independent. The nature of this taxing authority varies from state to state. For example, school boards in some states may need voter approval for any tax increase, while others may need only voter approval after a specified tax rate is surpassed.
In some instances, school boards do not have independent tax
authority, so another governmental entity typically a municipal or
county governing body approves the budget and levies taxes. If a
school district cannot levy its own taxes, it is considered fiscally dependent.
Mandatory audits and sound, reasonable audit recommendations and its implementations, as long as it does not negatively impact daily services,
operations and school board constitutional rights, is key.I believe, with great legal minds, checks and balances can be codified into law.
Mandatory audits and sound, reasonable audit recommendations and its implementations, as long as it does not negatively impact daily services,
operations and school board constitutional rights, is key.I believe, with great legal minds, checks and balances can be codified into law.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:34:03 +0000

Americans somehow believe you can “command” improvement in schools or “legislate” it or “test” to achieve it or “privatize” to improve it or “motivate” to improve it or “use technology” to improve it or “teacher-union bash” to improve it. This is all a sad joke.

The only ways to improve education results is to mitigate poverty, train teachers better, pay them more money, and start earlier with ECE.

Nothing else works. We know many of you don’t like to hear this or don’t believe it or don’t want to pay the taxes to support it but just keep going on the losing path and you will sink yourselves.

By: Planning for the Presidential Election «

Planning for the Presidential Election « — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:55:53 +0000

[...] begins, teachers and students will have a scant few months to delve into the platforms of Obama and Romney. And while some might see more similarity than difference, the discussions are still [...]

By: Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 23:06:14 +0000

Hooray for Megan C! I too am seventeen years old and the daughter of a wonderful teacher. Eliminating the Department of education might have been one actually redeeming feature of Mitt Romney’s platform, and now he has gotten rid of it. Both No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are more harmful than helpful to American education, and the latter is simply a half-baked reformation of the former. Let the educators deal with education, and let the policymakers let all of their aids look over other issues.

It seems like I can’t win……so who should I vote for in 2012?

By: wintertime

wintertime — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:51:10 +0000

Required attendance a parental education classes????? Huh?

Let’s call this what it is! RE-EDUCATION CAMP!

By: Megan C

Megan C — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:21:34 +0000

I think it should be up to the teachers to decide all these laws and policies and whatever. they know their students better than anyone! i think it should be a law that only teachers/educators can make these laws and what not. have them vote on the laws! NOT the senators, governors, or even the president…. these government people have no idea what goes on inside of these schools, so how does it make sense for them to decide what goes and what doesn’t???? If anything, i think these gov’t people make it worse!!! I know a lot of people agree w/ me.. I may only be 17 years old, but i know what i’m talking about. I always go in and help my momma. she is a teacher… a really good one!

By: Sandra

Sandra — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:11:56 +0000

Education reform – I would like to say that most of the comments left before mine are on point. I have been a teacher of special education students for 11 years now, with a career in business for 20 years, before I found my true calling. I hear about accountability and pay based on performance. I have this to say. If you truly paid teachers for the jobs we do, we would be earning more than $100,000 yearly. If you did a time and job studyof special education teachers and mid level managers and compared it to the private sector, you would find that more than 95% of teachers do a great job and really care about their students. So, go ahead and talk about accountability and paying us for what we do…. I say bring it on, you can’t really afford us. That is if you truly are equitable and pay us what a person in the private sector with a Masters degree, which most teachers hold, and multiple certification areas. We are like doctors and lawyers and are required annually to maintain certifications and gain new ones. BUT, those new areas of certifications or higher levels of degrees, education, etc. does not yield us any more in pay. Annually when I am reviewed and I get an “exceeds” expectations for the outstanding job I do with my students…… I wonder, ok, what will my pay increase be…. and sadly, generally, it’s a great big ZERO! Enough is enough, we don’t even get cost of living increases annually, let’s talk about that. Congress does….

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By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:21:17 +0000

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND is the absolute worst thing to happen to our schools. There are more children being left behind then ever before and they can shove that “MAP” testing. I wish every parent would refuse to send their child to school when that testing is going on, as a protest!!