The future of education

This video gives a cynical view of what education could become.

They are proposing cutting teacher pay another 5% (in addition to the 3% they cut it this year). I hear rumors they will cut our benefits also. Need to sit down and figure out what that means.

Detroit teachers are being asked to give up money

Detroit teachers are being asked to agree to give up $500 a month in a "loan" to the city that they would "get back" when they retire.

How many of YOU believe they'd ever see the money again?

Is it just teachers being asked to give up money - I am not seeing that the mayor, the superintendent, the board are being asked to contribute.

Having said that, DPS is $218 Million in the hole - something has to give.

cuts coming but nothing in the paper

From Edweek:
Georgia schools Superintendent Kathy Cox says the schools will have a "pretty rocky couple of years" before state education funding improves.

Cox said during a meeting Friday that she expects to have to cut up to another $39 million from school funding before the fiscal year ends June 30. That would be painful for the state's 180 school districts, which have already lost millions in funding as the state grapples with the worst fiscal crisis in decades.

It could mean more layoffs, more furlough days and even larger classes.


But the local newspaper has NOTHING. Wouldn't you think this was important to know?

Heck, I wonder when our district will tell us something.

Merry Christmas!

More on furloughs - you value what you pay for.

It's interesting. As I read the different ways the various counties around here are dealing with the required 3-day furlough, I am learning a lot about how teachers view themselves and how others view teachers.

The state superintendent went on tv to assure the general population that they didn't need to worry about their children's education: the teachers would do the work needed to get school up and running even without pay.

A local school board member said that teachers need to learn to be conservative in the classroom. I think she meant that we needed to turn off the light when we weren't there.

On the one hand, I know things are tough all over and I am more than willing to think smart and do my part. On the other hand, I resent the state telling me that of course, I will work for free.

"They" say that there will be more furloughs after the first of the year. We have 10 non-student days. Only 3 are after Christmas. If they need more than 3 more, they will have to cut into student days.

Furlough

The governor of our fair state has declared that all government employees - including teachers - will take a 3 day furlough. Toward that end, he has cut the state's payments to district's budgets by 3%. Some counties have said they will not furlough their teachers, but will make up the state's portion somehow. (The state pays a portion of teacher pay, districts pay some - so some districts pay more than others.)

We start school in less than a month but do not know - at this point - what day we'll start. I wonder when they will tell us when we are furloughed (what days)?