SOOOO mad at our school district....

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
Sports *does* bring in revenue in the forms of ticket sales, hence why some of these schools with good football teams like Farmington-Harrison tend to put the football players on a pedestal. However, I do think that other things take precedence over sports. I worked at a district in southern Michigan and got laid off while they were building a new athletic stadium. The old one--from the 1920s--was condemned as being unsafe (crumbling foundation, unsafe seating).

You may want to attend a school board meeting and voice your concerns, maybe bring some other concerned/interested parents with you.

 

[woodmort]

As a retired educator who spent his whole life in the business one way(teacher and coach) or another (Dad was an administrator, Mom a teacher as was my wife) I couldn't agree more that there are misplaced funds in most schools, be they public or private, HS or college. Most of these funds go to things that are good PR but have very little to do with education either practicable or cultural. The biggest problem is that those in charge are not called on it or, if they are, those opposed are so single-issue oriented that nothing is really done. Probably the biggest problem with education is that it is run by noneducators and those best qualified to do the best job are either run off or not given voice in the operation. The better districts are those where the foot soldiers (teachers, not union bosses, administrators, politicians, educated dilettantes or parents) are given input as to the operation, curriculum and fund allocation. The trouble is that this is rare but where it is done, it works. Trust me there are two truths about teachers: First the teachers know who of their colleagues are good and who are bad at teaching. Second, the good teachers' top priority is educating their students to get the best out of their talents. The problem is that there are too many other people with personal agendas that are telling these teachers what to do and drawing away funding from what is needed to get it done. While the best way to improve education is not to just throw money at it, you do need funds for a warm,dry, secure facility, books, labs, tools (like computers) and salaries to attract good people into teaching. What we have to understand is that the best PR for an educational system is not whether the school's football team wins the state championship but successful graduation rates and the ability of those graduates to have a meaningful life after commencement.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Well said, Woodmort

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Well said, Woodmort!

I just thought of the other things the kids have been complaining about... (I checked with teachers and staff, it is true)

They didn't turn on the boiler until they were SURE they could leave it on, so it was down into the 55-60 range in the school for WEEKS. Everyone wore a coat to class! They did this, according to the teacher, because they weren't sure if they turned it off, if it would turn back on.

The health room, AKA antique home ec, still has the OLD OLD OLD kitchens, with holes in the floor for sewing machines! It is always cold in there, because they never closed the ancient dryer vents.

The band room has rats, and not enough room for the band.

I agree about revenue, but our foot ball team is so bad, no one comes to the games. :O

 

[BantamoftheOpera]

As a future music educator this post makes me sad. Yet, even without the cuts to the arts I am still upset. Computers are so important to a functioning school system. In teacher education classes we learn alot about how to implement computers into our teaching. I come from a school where the music program brought in the most money for the school. It's sad to see that kind of functional group getting cuts left and right.

 

[Muggsmagee]

My husband has enlightened my previous conceptions to funding of schools...he is the board president for our podunk schools (hillbilly capital). One thing we do have going for us is our community is a HUGE supporter of the arts... so band, music, chorus, marching band, etc are basically taken care of. Phew. State funding can't always be used wherever the school wants. If they get millions of dollars in funding for a new parking lot, they are obligated by law to use the money for ONLY the parking lot. Our school put in a state funded artificial turf football field to the tune of $10 million dollars! Our soccer teams use it too, and some schools rent it from us. I was FURIOUS over this spending, because I thought they could use the money elsewhere in the school (this was before DH was on the board). Now I know if they didn't use it, they would lose it. There is some STUPID spending going on in places that don't need it. My son is in chorus and band, I had to pay for his uniform and his instruments. The school was funded for a capital project and put in new seats in the auditorium and gave the high school a new facade, new windows, heating, etc. In the meantime the elementary school parking lot is a nightmare, and the elementary chorus room has chairs in it from when my husband was a student (25 + years ago). They still work, but are a sore sight. We also have an excellent technology program, long distance learning (6th graders on up learning Mandarin Chinese), bridging programs where students can take college level courses. As small as we are, we have a lot to offer. But our community cares.

Side note...Here in NY they have something called tenure, where once a teacher reaches tenure (say after 4-5 years), they are locked into that level pay, and can almost never be fired for being complacent or a bad teacher. We are fortunate to have some fantastic teachers in our district. Thank goodness.

But the funding is where you need to focus your attention. The financial officer of your school should be actively seeking state grants and funding for the school. That's a start. It doesn't always come from community pockets. There is only so much you can do going to a board meeting. They rule the spending of the money, not how to get it. You should first go to the superintendent of your school. She/he will be able to send you in the direction to proceed or make sense of what's going on. Sometimes...their hands are tied until the next fiscal year. Booster clubs and fundraising are always a good idea. Boosting community support for your school (alumni, etc) to show your concern and push for better funding for your school. Sign a petition promoting focus on XXX. Sports highlight the school in the news...it makes immediate sense why so much funding goes towards them. Most times sports are what draw people to move to an area...(sad, sad, sad IMO).

There are a ton of schools closing down or merging. I hope your school can turn this around.

 

[Mattemma]

I think sports will always take priority in most schools. I did see on one show that money was being given to schools to fund music programs. I would look for that.I would also recommend applying for the show where they fix up the school.Never know!

I think it is good when kids have a lot of options to choose from.

We pay tuition for our kids school and have nothing left over for anything extra.Oh the things I could get/do for them with that tuition!
I think it would be ok for families to *pay as you participate* in sports or band or whatever. We have to pay extra for gym glasses(golf,skating,dance) or band/soccer.Then there would be scholarships and other help for families that can not pay.I know there are kids going to our private school that go for free,becuase their district schools are not good.We live in a good district otherwise we too would qualify for free tuition as we are very working poor.

I would say look into outside programs if the schools will not provide them. When I taught the kids at home I signed them up for various gym,music,nature classes.There will be few if any schools that ever give 100% of the programs we think they should,so we just have to make sure their needs are met outside of school.

 

[justbugged]

Stories like this remind me of why we chose to homeschool our children. At this point I would never put a child into public school in this country. I must say that I am deeply impressed with the outcome of homeschooling for my children. They are self supporting contributing members of society. I rarely see that out come for children in the public school system.

 

[michickenwrangler]

For music, all of you with children in districts that tend to overlook it, look into VH1's "Save the Music" foundation that donates money and instruments to schools that otherwise can't afford it.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Ditto what MuggsMagee said. Some schools have found it successful to hire a grant writer whose sole job is to actively seek grants and private funding for 'extras'.
If your school cant afford to hire one outright, then suggest one that works on commission. They get paid a percentage of any successful grants and it is written into the overhead/admin fees of the grant itself.