Meranda Watling, writing for the Lafayette Journal & Courier, has a story about how the passage of HB 1367 will affect schools in the Lafayette area.
The bill allows schools to transfer a percentage of their maintenance and capital projects funds to cover operating expesnes. Turns out it won’t be a great deal of help for our local schools. At the Tippecanoe School Corporation, it will allow transfer of only about $1.8 million as compared to the $3.1 million the state shorted TSC this year. And, even for that $1.8 million, it sounds like they had a mechanism available to transfer the money even in the absence of the legislation. West Lafayette could transfer about $200,000 as compared to a $586,000 shortfall in state funding. And Lafayette School Corp. could transfer $350,000 as compared to a $2.2 million state shortfall.
Public education is sucking wind. And, once again, it bears mentioning that this is a consequence of shifting school funding away from local property taxes to the more volatile state level income and sales tax. The ballot language on property tax caps in the Constitution is pretty simplistic: just mentioning the 1%, 2%, 3%. I think it should come with something that looks like the disclaimers for prescription medication (or Happy Fun Ball): “Caution – may cause extreme revenue volatility, making school financial planning impossible.”
At a personal level, I feel like grousing because I paid into the school system for roughly 14 years without kids of my own in the system – which I’m absolutely cool with. I benefit greatly from a population that knows how to read, write, and the rest of it. However, now, going into the second year of having my kid in the system, the system starts crumbling because of short sighted tax policy and they slash teachers.
Imagine what it feels like to have dedicated 25 years of your life – more than half to public education (not to mention my Mom’s 42 years, Sister’s 23 years and several more relatives) – and watch this crumble?
There is a real deep fear in me, that Daniels, Bennett and the Republican Party see public education as no longer a civic good.. and even though the Indiana Constitution requires a public option in every community.. they’d rather see corporate America take it over — destroy the teacher’s unions — and go back to a time when the rich / powerful get more and the poor suck it up.
Here again, the money shouldn’t be going to the state for redistribution. But, as you pointed out, we’re part of a society, and have to do our part for others. Guess Lafayette can just suck it up and get over its’ bad self, and recognize that it is doing good for those less fortunate.
and recognize that it is doing good for those less fortunate
Property owners, you mean?
Personally, I think the money should go to the state for redistribution. But then I live in a low income community. The students in school here need a good education just the same as the relatively pampered students in the ‘burbs, probably more. And many a child from out here in the sticks has started with a public school education and gone on to success in higher academics, it’s not like they’re genetically defective. No doubt well motivated students from lower income backgrounds can overcome some deficiencies in their K-12 background, but at some point it becomes a blatant class system. Even if that doesn’t bother you in terms of ethics, that’s the breeding ground for class warfare.
I’m not sure how we fix education – so many different interests have spent such a long time breaking it.
How do we get to a point where teachers who give a damn can interact effectively with students who want to learn?
I think the attitudes of teachers and students are much more important than the funding – but our society does not much support constructive attitudes in this realm.
If money was the whole answer, we’d have this solved already, given how far per-pupil expenditures have outstripped the rate of inflation over the past 30-40 years.
Hoosier I has it right. Public Education is no longer viewed as a public good by the republicants. They have viewed it as a cash cow for some time. Each and every time one of their privatization schemes fails (Edison Schools, vouchers, charters) they ignore that and get some paid hack in the guise of a researcher to “conduct” research that supports their ideals but that no other people seem to be able to replicate. mitch and his toady tony want to turn the public funds over to their private market friends.
Tell you what I’d do if I could start over from scratch:
I’d set up a government-run system where only the upper- and upper-middle class have other choices. I’d want the monopoly power over the poor and middle class to be as great as possible.
Then I’d pass policies that undermine the nuclear family and set those kids loose in the schools.
Then I’d want all of the workers to be in a union.
And I’d spend more than $10,000 per student and then complain that we don’t spend enough.
Man, that would be AWESOME!
And one more thing: If someone started to complain about my system, I’d call them names, question their compassion, bring up strawmen about separation of church and state, and so on. Good fun!