Why Mommy and Daddy Can’t Read -
Public Education’s Crisis and The Stockholm Syndrome
Nearly 50 years ago, Rudolph Flesch wrote a best-selling book called Why Johnny Can’t Read, and identified for the first time the epic proportions of illiteracy that were then plaguing our nation. The book put the blame squarely at the feet of poor reading instruction, and the lack of phonics which years later would also be identified as the number one cause of poor reading proficiency. While some believe Johnny’s prospects may have improved a bit since then, and there is evidence that some students are making progress, it seems that grown-up Johnny has equally paltry literacy skills. As parents, Johnny and his wife also have trouble meeting the basic demands of a literate society.
Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy found that fully a third of college graduates are incapable of reading “lengthy English texts and making complex references from the readings.” According to former California prosecutor and now - high school teacher Patrick Mattimore, “while the educational attainment of America’s adults increased between 1992 and 2003, the percentages of college graduates scoring at the proficient level declined by nine percentage points.”
To view the rest of the story click here.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Thursday, January 05, 2006
ReformK12.com Because Education reform is not rocket science!
This site was actually started by a very brilliant public school teacher. He was an engineering student when the teaching bug bit. This fact does not surprise us at CRAFT since many of the education reformists we meet are engineers of one form or another. Engineers appear to have the math skills, problem solving skills and a mastery of logic that makes them excellent education reformists. This is a must read site with a plethora of information.
This great quote is on his website. "We accept no excuses. Excuses do children no favors. We refuse to accept that a child is too poor to learn. We refuse to accept that a parent is too detached to participate. We refuse to accept that a school system is too poor to demand high standards from its students."
-Paul G. Vallas
We agree with Mr. Vallas.
We feel that Education Reform has been portrayed as rocket science by an army of self-serving consultants, publishers, and "experts," when instead there are a few very, very simple culprits to our educational woes.
Lack of Choice: Why is it that in any other area of our lives we don't tolerate the government telling us what to do or what to choose, yet when people propose giving parents real choice (for example in the form of vouchers, or even permitting parents to homeschool), the response is, "Nooooo, that will destroy public education!" In fact, the only thing that would be destroyed is the government monopoly over education. Please see the Milton Friedman Foundation for more.
Low Standards: In far too many schools, especially in our cities, there are crushingly low standards for our children. A common refrain is "they can't!" when describing what poor or minority students can or can't do. This mindset helps the staff of ineffective schools get to work each day, but it does nothing to prepare our kids.
Lack of Discipline: In far too many schools, behavior standards are rare or nonexistent. We've taught in schools where the routine nature of uncivilized conduct made teaching and learning all but impossible. Should the students be blamed for this? Of course not, they are just acting within the boundaries--or lack thereof--established by the adults of the school. The flip side of this is also a problem. "Zero Tolerance" policies are also due to the adults' lack of discipline!
Fuzzy Curriculum: One of the biggest reasons our students are performing poorly relates to our poor choice of curricula. Math appreciation is taught under the NCTM's New New Math, reading appreciation is taught under Balanced Literacy and Whole Language, and culture appreciation is taught in soft-core social studies. And don't get us started on the political correctness which has usurped science.
In more than a few cities, the specific curriculum was tossed in favor of a bare-bones "curriculum frameworks"--frameworks which were famous for their vagueness. This was done in the hopes that a "constructivist pedagogy will inform teachers' choices in the classroom" or other drivel.
Teacher Indoctrination: One sound bite the general public hears is "we need more certified teachers!" Yet no one asks what teachers learn in their certification courses. And people don't ask if certified teachers have been proven to be more effective than non-certified ones. What may shock people is that the best private schools in the U.S. refuse to hire certified teachers! That should tell you something. Which leads us to...
Theory over Practice: This is the primary message teachers receive in their 2-years of brainwashing teacher certification classes. If someone wanted to learn how to grow corn in Iowa, or build a bridge over a windy channel, or navigate a corporation through the waters of Chapter 11, or design a really absorbent diaper ... the first step would be to speak to the people who've been successful at those very things!
The site has a section titled Education Reform Blueprint. To view the complete blueprint click here.
This great quote is on his website. "We accept no excuses. Excuses do children no favors. We refuse to accept that a child is too poor to learn. We refuse to accept that a parent is too detached to participate. We refuse to accept that a school system is too poor to demand high standards from its students."
-Paul G. Vallas
We agree with Mr. Vallas.
We feel that Education Reform has been portrayed as rocket science by an army of self-serving consultants, publishers, and "experts," when instead there are a few very, very simple culprits to our educational woes.
Lack of Choice: Why is it that in any other area of our lives we don't tolerate the government telling us what to do or what to choose, yet when people propose giving parents real choice (for example in the form of vouchers, or even permitting parents to homeschool), the response is, "Nooooo, that will destroy public education!" In fact, the only thing that would be destroyed is the government monopoly over education. Please see the Milton Friedman Foundation for more.
Low Standards: In far too many schools, especially in our cities, there are crushingly low standards for our children. A common refrain is "they can't!" when describing what poor or minority students can or can't do. This mindset helps the staff of ineffective schools get to work each day, but it does nothing to prepare our kids.
Lack of Discipline: In far too many schools, behavior standards are rare or nonexistent. We've taught in schools where the routine nature of uncivilized conduct made teaching and learning all but impossible. Should the students be blamed for this? Of course not, they are just acting within the boundaries--or lack thereof--established by the adults of the school. The flip side of this is also a problem. "Zero Tolerance" policies are also due to the adults' lack of discipline!
Fuzzy Curriculum: One of the biggest reasons our students are performing poorly relates to our poor choice of curricula. Math appreciation is taught under the NCTM's New New Math, reading appreciation is taught under Balanced Literacy and Whole Language, and culture appreciation is taught in soft-core social studies. And don't get us started on the political correctness which has usurped science.
In more than a few cities, the specific curriculum was tossed in favor of a bare-bones "curriculum frameworks"--frameworks which were famous for their vagueness. This was done in the hopes that a "constructivist pedagogy will inform teachers' choices in the classroom" or other drivel.
Teacher Indoctrination: One sound bite the general public hears is "we need more certified teachers!" Yet no one asks what teachers learn in their certification courses. And people don't ask if certified teachers have been proven to be more effective than non-certified ones. What may shock people is that the best private schools in the U.S. refuse to hire certified teachers! That should tell you something. Which leads us to...
Theory over Practice: This is the primary message teachers receive in their 2-years of brainwashing teacher certification classes. If someone wanted to learn how to grow corn in Iowa, or build a bridge over a windy channel, or navigate a corporation through the waters of Chapter 11, or design a really absorbent diaper ... the first step would be to speak to the people who've been successful at those very things!
The site has a section titled Education Reform Blueprint. To view the complete blueprint click here.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Camera found in D-2 school bathroom
CRAFT received an email about the incident below on January 2nd, 2006. The writer had asked the school board and superintendent about this incident. Why does it have to take involved parents to bring incidents like this to light. If this parent had not spoken up would the school officials still be sitting on this information? Parents should have received notice of this incident shortly after it happened. More proof that schools are more concerned about their image than actually protecting the children that they serve.
The article below appeared in the January 4 edition of the Northwest Herald.
Camera found in D-2 school bathroom
Video inside
[published on Wed, Jan 4, 2006]
RICHMOND – Nippersink District 2 suspended one of its employees last month after a teacher found a hidden wireless camera in a staff bathroom at Richmond Grade School, Superintendent Paul Hain said Tuesday.
Hain said students, who return from winter break today, are in no danger.
District officials would not name the employee but said the person was not a teacher.
"We are trying to do this as legally and dutifully as we can right now," Hain said. "If there is any truth to this, the school board will fire in a heartbeat anybody who has done that."
Richmond Police Chief Rich Contant said the department had a suspect but had not filed any charges in connection with the incident.
A male teacher used the bathroom Dec. 13 to change his clothes after finding all the bathrooms near the gymnasium full. As the teacher bent over to collect his things, he noticed the small camera under the sink, Hain said.
"It was pointed at the toilet," Hain said.
The bathroom, which is behind the school's kitchen, is used by kitchen staff, maintenance workers, and occasionally teachers. It is a private bathroom, without a stall, that can be used by either men or women.
CBS 2 Video
Richmond police started their investigation Dec. 14 but did not search the rest of the bathrooms until Dec. 19 and Dec. 20.
Winter break started Dec. 21, one week after the camera was found.
Contant said they did not find any more cameras in other bathrooms.
"Parents should not be concerned for their kids at this point," Contant said. "The camera was found in a bathroom, but not one used by children."
Hain said police seized some of the school's equipment, including a computer, as evidence, but he said he did not know whether any images were recovered.
"They are checking to see if any of it was used or if there were any latent images," Hain said.
Contant said he was waiting for a forensics lab to tell him what they have and said he will check with the state attorney's office to see if they have another evidence to press charges.
Hain said the school board will fire the employee if there is credible evidence, even if charges are never filed.
"We don't have to have that same standard of evidence in order to take an action," he said.
By JEFF GARD
jgard@nwherald.com
The article below appeared in the January 4 edition of the Northwest Herald.
Camera found in D-2 school bathroom
Video inside
[published on Wed, Jan 4, 2006]
RICHMOND – Nippersink District 2 suspended one of its employees last month after a teacher found a hidden wireless camera in a staff bathroom at Richmond Grade School, Superintendent Paul Hain said Tuesday.
Hain said students, who return from winter break today, are in no danger.
District officials would not name the employee but said the person was not a teacher.
"We are trying to do this as legally and dutifully as we can right now," Hain said. "If there is any truth to this, the school board will fire in a heartbeat anybody who has done that."
Richmond Police Chief Rich Contant said the department had a suspect but had not filed any charges in connection with the incident.
A male teacher used the bathroom Dec. 13 to change his clothes after finding all the bathrooms near the gymnasium full. As the teacher bent over to collect his things, he noticed the small camera under the sink, Hain said.
"It was pointed at the toilet," Hain said.
The bathroom, which is behind the school's kitchen, is used by kitchen staff, maintenance workers, and occasionally teachers. It is a private bathroom, without a stall, that can be used by either men or women.
CBS 2 Video
Richmond police started their investigation Dec. 14 but did not search the rest of the bathrooms until Dec. 19 and Dec. 20.
Winter break started Dec. 21, one week after the camera was found.
Contant said they did not find any more cameras in other bathrooms.
"Parents should not be concerned for their kids at this point," Contant said. "The camera was found in a bathroom, but not one used by children."
Hain said police seized some of the school's equipment, including a computer, as evidence, but he said he did not know whether any images were recovered.
"They are checking to see if any of it was used or if there were any latent images," Hain said.
Contant said he was waiting for a forensics lab to tell him what they have and said he will check with the state attorney's office to see if they have another evidence to press charges.
Hain said the school board will fire the employee if there is credible evidence, even if charges are never filed.
"We don't have to have that same standard of evidence in order to take an action," he said.
By JEFF GARD
jgard@nwherald.com
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Teachers' Pets
Teachers' Pets
The NEA gave $65 million in its members' dues to left-liberal groups last year
Tuesday, January 3, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST
If we told you that an organization gave away more than $65 million last year to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International, AIDS Walk Washington and dozens of other such advocacy groups, you'd probably assume we were describing a liberal philanthropy. In fact, those expenditures have all turned up on the financial disclosure report of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union.
Under new federal rules pushed through by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, large unions must now disclose in much more detail how they spend members' dues money. Big Labor fought hard (if unsuccessfully) against the new accountability standards, and even a cursory glance at the NEA's recent filings--the first under the new rules--helps explain why. They expose the union as a honey pot for left-wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers, much less students.
We already knew that the NEA's top brass lives large. Reg Weaver, the union's president, makes $439,000 a year. The NEA has a $58 million payroll for just over 600 employees, more than half of whom draw six-figure salaries. Last year the average teacher made only $48,000, so it seems you're better off working as a union rep than in the classroom.
Many of the organization's disbursements--$30,000 to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, $122,000 to the Center for Teaching Quality--at least target groups that ostensibly have a direct educational mission. But many others are a stretch, to say the least. The NEA gave $15,000 to the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights." The National Women's Law Center, whose Web site currently features a "pocket guide" to opposing Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito, received $5,000. And something called the Fund to Protect Social Security got $400,000, presumably to defeat personal investment accounts.
The new disclosure rules mark the first revisions since 1959 and took effect this year. "What wasn't clear before is how much of a part the teachers unions play in the wider liberal movement and the Democratic Party," says Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency, a California-based watchdog group. "They're like some philanthropic organization that passes out grant money to interest groups."
There's been a lot in the news recently about published opinion that parallels donor politics. Well, last year the NEA gave $45,000 to the Economic Policy Institute, which regularly issues reports that claim education is underfunded and teachers are underpaid. The partisans at People for the American Way got a $51,000 NEA contribution; PFAW happens to be vehemently anti-voucher.
The extent to which the NEA sends money to states for political agitation is also revealing. For example, Protect Our Public Schools, an anti-charter-school group backed by the NEA's Washington state affiliate, received $500,000 toward its efforts to block school choice for underprivileged children. (Never mind that charter schools are public schools.) And the Floridians for All Committee, which focuses on "the construction of a permanent progressive infrastructure that will help redirect Florida politics in a more progressive, Democratic direction," received a $249,000 donation from NEA headquarters.
When George Soros does this sort of thing, at least he's spending his own money. The NEA is spending the mandatory dues paid by members who are told their money will be used to gain better wages, benefits and working conditions. According to the latest filing, member dues accounted for $295 million of the NEA's $341 million in total receipts last year. But the union spent $25 million of that on "political activities and lobbying" and another $65.5 million on "contributions, gifts and grants" that seemed designed to further those hyper-liberal political goals.
The good news is that for the first time members can find out how their union chieftains did their political thinking for them, by going to www.union-reports.dol.gov , where the Labor Department has posted the details.
Union officials claim that they favored such transparency all along, but the truth is they fought the new rules hard in both Congress and the courts. Originally, the AFL-CIO said detailed disclosures were too expensive, citing compliance costs in excess of $1 billion. The final bill turned out to be $54,000, or half of what the unions spent on litigation fighting the new requirements. When Secretary Chao refused to back down, the unions took her to court, and lost.
It's well understood that the NEA is an arm of the Democratic National Committee. (Or is it the other way around?) But we wonder if the union's rank-and-file stand in unity behind this laundry list of left-to-liberal recipients of money that comes out of their pockets.
The NEA gave $65 million in its members' dues to left-liberal groups last year
Tuesday, January 3, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST
If we told you that an organization gave away more than $65 million last year to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International, AIDS Walk Washington and dozens of other such advocacy groups, you'd probably assume we were describing a liberal philanthropy. In fact, those expenditures have all turned up on the financial disclosure report of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union.
Under new federal rules pushed through by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, large unions must now disclose in much more detail how they spend members' dues money. Big Labor fought hard (if unsuccessfully) against the new accountability standards, and even a cursory glance at the NEA's recent filings--the first under the new rules--helps explain why. They expose the union as a honey pot for left-wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers, much less students.
We already knew that the NEA's top brass lives large. Reg Weaver, the union's president, makes $439,000 a year. The NEA has a $58 million payroll for just over 600 employees, more than half of whom draw six-figure salaries. Last year the average teacher made only $48,000, so it seems you're better off working as a union rep than in the classroom.
Many of the organization's disbursements--$30,000 to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, $122,000 to the Center for Teaching Quality--at least target groups that ostensibly have a direct educational mission. But many others are a stretch, to say the least. The NEA gave $15,000 to the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights." The National Women's Law Center, whose Web site currently features a "pocket guide" to opposing Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito, received $5,000. And something called the Fund to Protect Social Security got $400,000, presumably to defeat personal investment accounts.
The new disclosure rules mark the first revisions since 1959 and took effect this year. "What wasn't clear before is how much of a part the teachers unions play in the wider liberal movement and the Democratic Party," says Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency, a California-based watchdog group. "They're like some philanthropic organization that passes out grant money to interest groups."
There's been a lot in the news recently about published opinion that parallels donor politics. Well, last year the NEA gave $45,000 to the Economic Policy Institute, which regularly issues reports that claim education is underfunded and teachers are underpaid. The partisans at People for the American Way got a $51,000 NEA contribution; PFAW happens to be vehemently anti-voucher.
The extent to which the NEA sends money to states for political agitation is also revealing. For example, Protect Our Public Schools, an anti-charter-school group backed by the NEA's Washington state affiliate, received $500,000 toward its efforts to block school choice for underprivileged children. (Never mind that charter schools are public schools.) And the Floridians for All Committee, which focuses on "the construction of a permanent progressive infrastructure that will help redirect Florida politics in a more progressive, Democratic direction," received a $249,000 donation from NEA headquarters.
When George Soros does this sort of thing, at least he's spending his own money. The NEA is spending the mandatory dues paid by members who are told their money will be used to gain better wages, benefits and working conditions. According to the latest filing, member dues accounted for $295 million of the NEA's $341 million in total receipts last year. But the union spent $25 million of that on "political activities and lobbying" and another $65.5 million on "contributions, gifts and grants" that seemed designed to further those hyper-liberal political goals.
The good news is that for the first time members can find out how their union chieftains did their political thinking for them, by going to www.union-reports.dol.gov , where the Labor Department has posted the details.
Union officials claim that they favored such transparency all along, but the truth is they fought the new rules hard in both Congress and the courts. Originally, the AFL-CIO said detailed disclosures were too expensive, citing compliance costs in excess of $1 billion. The final bill turned out to be $54,000, or half of what the unions spent on litigation fighting the new requirements. When Secretary Chao refused to back down, the unions took her to court, and lost.
It's well understood that the NEA is an arm of the Democratic National Committee. (Or is it the other way around?) But we wonder if the union's rank-and-file stand in unity behind this laundry list of left-to-liberal recipients of money that comes out of their pockets.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Letting Literacy Slip
The opinion below appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
OUR OPINION
Letting literacy slip
Marked decline checks in as students are swamped with test-taking tips — and the latest electronic toys
Published on: 12/30/05
At every level of education, Americans are faltering in their ability to grasp a newspaper story or a passage in a book.
This skill is known as prose literacy, and it's declining even among well-educated Americans. The latest sampling of adult literacy by the National Center for Education Statistics found a 10 percentage point drop in graduate students who tested proficient in prose literacy in 2003 compared to the last time it was measured in 1992.
There was also a marked slip among college students testing proficient; 40 percent in 1992 and 31 percent in 2003.
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy gauges Americans' fluency in reading text and documents such as maps and labels. It also looks at quantitative literacy, a person's ability to understand tax forms, tables or bank statements.
To be ranked proficient, an adult has to be able to read and extract information from complex materials, such as legal documents. "No group, not even those with the highest levels of formal education, had an average in the proficient level on any of the scales," says National Center for Education Statistics commissioner Mark Schneider.
The sampling found that 13 percent of adults demonstrated "below basic prose literacy." According to Schneider, that translates to 30 million Americans who "could not do much more than sign a form or search a simple document to find out what they are allowed to drink before a medical test."
What's hard to understand is how literacy is falling at the same time that schools are making reading their top priority.
The poor showing on the national literacy assessment even among college grads ought to generate discussion at both state and federal levels about whether test-driven reform is creating better test-takers rather than better readers. As schools concentrate more resources on teaching kids how to bubble in the correct answers on standardized tests, less time is available to develop critical thinking skills.
If a generation of test drilling produces adults unable to decipher nutrition labels, then education will have failed miserably.
But it's not only schools that need to re-examine their tactics. How many children received video games, IPods and DVDs for Christmas rather than any books or board games? Among the must-have items this holiday season for kids were the Xbox 360, I-Dog, an electronic dog that hooks up to a digital music player, and ChatNow, a two-way radio.
Too many children have also cleared their bookshelves of books to accommodate televisions. A survey commissioned last year by the National Sleep Foundation found that 43 percent of school-age children, 30 percent of preschoolers and 18 percent of toddlers now have televisions in their bedrooms.
Consider a new poll of public high-school students by the city of Boston. Released by the city a week ago, the survey found that half of the teens devoted three or more hours each night to watching television and that four out of 10 spent that same amount of time on the Internet or playing computer games.
The real quest of schools and parents is not to cram children full of facts, but to teach them how to gather and evaluate information. Literacy is the requisite first step to that goal.
The below was sent to us by our friend Joyce Morrison of News With Views.
"Now the Print Media Is Getting Worried"
by Donna Garner
Jan. 1, 2006
It is so ironic to me that the print media has led the fight to inundate our country in multiculturalism and to de-emphasize our country's historical foundation in Western civilization. With that has come a resistance in our schools toward teaching primary historical documents and the traditional classics which immerse students in deep vocabulary and higher-level thinking skills -- the very skills which the Atlanta-Constitution editorial board now lament have been lost by a large percentage of Americans (please see article posted below).
When whole language was exposed after damaging at least two generations of students and lowering their reading levels, the print media along with concerned Americans should have insisted that the public schools teach children to read through research-based methods and then to make sure that students are immersed in high-quality literature. Instead, the media has aligned themselves with the very organizations which have promoted the dumbing down of America (e.g., NEA, NCEE, NCTE, IRA, NCTM, NBPTS, NCATE, etc.). It is only recently that the print media has come to realize they are losing their readership; now they are getting worried.
Where were they when we classroom teachers who wrote the Texas Alternative Document (TAD -- http://www.educationnews.org/new_home_for_the_texas_alternati.htm) tried to bring back quality literature to the children in our state? I don't remember the media fighting alongside us to force the education establishment to respond to the TAD's attempts to implement the time-honored classics into our state's standards.
With the power to persuade which the print media has utilized for many years, if the TAD had had the print media's full support, every child in our Texas public schools would now be reading quality literature and historical documents which would provide that much-needed foundational knowledge that helps children increase their skills and reading levels each year. Instead, our students are reading multicultural, politically correct drivel which has been chosen because of its social agenda and the ethnicity of the author instead of being chosen based upon the author's superior writing skills. Our textbooks are filled with distracting graphics which de-emphasize the written word, and students are wasting away their precious classroom minutes by playing on computers rather than on reading the time-honored literary pieces of the world.
The result will be an ever-growing slump in reading abilities which will eventually have dire ramifications for the future of our nation. It will also mean that the print media, to stay in business, will be forced to lower the reading level of its articles. This will mean shallower coverage, more bias, shorter articles, non-engaging depth, more sound bites, and less sophisticated writing style in their articles. If the print media were smart, they would use their tremendous ability to influence the public; and they would lead in the fight to get the public schools to require students to read the cherished works which have linked each generation of Americans with past generations. Instead, multicultural/politically correct pabulum reigns supreme in most public schools; and the print media will continue to lose its readership.
OUR OPINION
Letting literacy slip
Marked decline checks in as students are swamped with test-taking tips — and the latest electronic toys
Published on: 12/30/05
At every level of education, Americans are faltering in their ability to grasp a newspaper story or a passage in a book.
This skill is known as prose literacy, and it's declining even among well-educated Americans. The latest sampling of adult literacy by the National Center for Education Statistics found a 10 percentage point drop in graduate students who tested proficient in prose literacy in 2003 compared to the last time it was measured in 1992.
There was also a marked slip among college students testing proficient; 40 percent in 1992 and 31 percent in 2003.
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy gauges Americans' fluency in reading text and documents such as maps and labels. It also looks at quantitative literacy, a person's ability to understand tax forms, tables or bank statements.
To be ranked proficient, an adult has to be able to read and extract information from complex materials, such as legal documents. "No group, not even those with the highest levels of formal education, had an average in the proficient level on any of the scales," says National Center for Education Statistics commissioner Mark Schneider.
The sampling found that 13 percent of adults demonstrated "below basic prose literacy." According to Schneider, that translates to 30 million Americans who "could not do much more than sign a form or search a simple document to find out what they are allowed to drink before a medical test."
What's hard to understand is how literacy is falling at the same time that schools are making reading their top priority.
The poor showing on the national literacy assessment even among college grads ought to generate discussion at both state and federal levels about whether test-driven reform is creating better test-takers rather than better readers. As schools concentrate more resources on teaching kids how to bubble in the correct answers on standardized tests, less time is available to develop critical thinking skills.
If a generation of test drilling produces adults unable to decipher nutrition labels, then education will have failed miserably.
But it's not only schools that need to re-examine their tactics. How many children received video games, IPods and DVDs for Christmas rather than any books or board games? Among the must-have items this holiday season for kids were the Xbox 360, I-Dog, an electronic dog that hooks up to a digital music player, and ChatNow, a two-way radio.
Too many children have also cleared their bookshelves of books to accommodate televisions. A survey commissioned last year by the National Sleep Foundation found that 43 percent of school-age children, 30 percent of preschoolers and 18 percent of toddlers now have televisions in their bedrooms.
Consider a new poll of public high-school students by the city of Boston. Released by the city a week ago, the survey found that half of the teens devoted three or more hours each night to watching television and that four out of 10 spent that same amount of time on the Internet or playing computer games.
The real quest of schools and parents is not to cram children full of facts, but to teach them how to gather and evaluate information. Literacy is the requisite first step to that goal.
The below was sent to us by our friend Joyce Morrison of News With Views.
"Now the Print Media Is Getting Worried"
by Donna Garner
Jan. 1, 2006
It is so ironic to me that the print media has led the fight to inundate our country in multiculturalism and to de-emphasize our country's historical foundation in Western civilization. With that has come a resistance in our schools toward teaching primary historical documents and the traditional classics which immerse students in deep vocabulary and higher-level thinking skills -- the very skills which the Atlanta-Constitution editorial board now lament have been lost by a large percentage of Americans (please see article posted below).
When whole language was exposed after damaging at least two generations of students and lowering their reading levels, the print media along with concerned Americans should have insisted that the public schools teach children to read through research-based methods and then to make sure that students are immersed in high-quality literature. Instead, the media has aligned themselves with the very organizations which have promoted the dumbing down of America (e.g., NEA, NCEE, NCTE, IRA, NCTM, NBPTS, NCATE, etc.). It is only recently that the print media has come to realize they are losing their readership; now they are getting worried.
Where were they when we classroom teachers who wrote the Texas Alternative Document (TAD -- http://www.educationnews.org/new_home_for_the_texas_alternati.htm) tried to bring back quality literature to the children in our state? I don't remember the media fighting alongside us to force the education establishment to respond to the TAD's attempts to implement the time-honored classics into our state's standards.
With the power to persuade which the print media has utilized for many years, if the TAD had had the print media's full support, every child in our Texas public schools would now be reading quality literature and historical documents which would provide that much-needed foundational knowledge that helps children increase their skills and reading levels each year. Instead, our students are reading multicultural, politically correct drivel which has been chosen because of its social agenda and the ethnicity of the author instead of being chosen based upon the author's superior writing skills. Our textbooks are filled with distracting graphics which de-emphasize the written word, and students are wasting away their precious classroom minutes by playing on computers rather than on reading the time-honored literary pieces of the world.
The result will be an ever-growing slump in reading abilities which will eventually have dire ramifications for the future of our nation. It will also mean that the print media, to stay in business, will be forced to lower the reading level of its articles. This will mean shallower coverage, more bias, shorter articles, non-engaging depth, more sound bites, and less sophisticated writing style in their articles. If the print media were smart, they would use their tremendous ability to influence the public; and they would lead in the fight to get the public schools to require students to read the cherished works which have linked each generation of Americans with past generations. Instead, multicultural/politically correct pabulum reigns supreme in most public schools; and the print media will continue to lose its readership.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Taxpayers deserve better from Dist. 203
This appeared as a letter to the editor in the January 1, 2006 issue of the Daily Herald. Imagine the millions of taxpayer dollars that could be saved if we had more responsible school board members like Mike Davitt.
Taxpayers deserve better from Dist. 203
Thanks to reporting by the Daily Herald, taxpayers discovered that many school districts were taking advantage of referendums through a loophole in the tax law (a loophole legislators are now scrambling to correct). Nevertheless, District 203 collected somewhere between $24 million to $36 million more than what was originally projected by the 2002 referendum.////
I made a motion to reduce our 2005 levy by $5.8 million (3 percent of our $200 million budget). My rationale was since we over collected $24 million to $36 million more than what voters authorized in 2002, returning some of it was the simply the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, the majority of the board didn’t think we could afford to give any of the money back and voted 5-2 to keep it all. It was the same 5-2 vote that reasoned we could afford to give teachers a 5.2 percent raise for the next three years following six years of 6 percent raises.
Our operating budget has tripled in 15 years (from $69 million in 1990 to $200 million today). Has your home tripled in value? Taxpayers cannot be expected to sustain this level of spending growth.
If only taxpayers could borrow a page from the Naperville Unit Education Association play book and hold parents and students hostage with the threat of a strike perhaps they would have more leverage.
Merry Christmas, Naperville taxpayers.
Mike Davitt
Naperville
Taxpayers deserve better from Dist. 203
Thanks to reporting by the Daily Herald, taxpayers discovered that many school districts were taking advantage of referendums through a loophole in the tax law (a loophole legislators are now scrambling to correct). Nevertheless, District 203 collected somewhere between $24 million to $36 million more than what was originally projected by the 2002 referendum.////
I made a motion to reduce our 2005 levy by $5.8 million (3 percent of our $200 million budget). My rationale was since we over collected $24 million to $36 million more than what voters authorized in 2002, returning some of it was the simply the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, the majority of the board didn’t think we could afford to give any of the money back and voted 5-2 to keep it all. It was the same 5-2 vote that reasoned we could afford to give teachers a 5.2 percent raise for the next three years following six years of 6 percent raises.
Our operating budget has tripled in 15 years (from $69 million in 1990 to $200 million today). Has your home tripled in value? Taxpayers cannot be expected to sustain this level of spending growth.
If only taxpayers could borrow a page from the Naperville Unit Education Association play book and hold parents and students hostage with the threat of a strike perhaps they would have more leverage.
Merry Christmas, Naperville taxpayers.
Mike Davitt
Naperville
Friday, December 30, 2005
Putting tenure on trial
The below story was sent to us from a friend in Harvard and can be found by clicking on the title above or at www.townhall.com.
Putting tenure on trial
By Burt Prelutsky
Dec 30, 2005
An ongoing problem I have is that I am, at heart, a crusader, but, by temperament, a couch potato. To be really good at altering the status quo, you have to be ready to join with others in a mission, and I don’t happen to like group activities. Even when a group consists of people I like as individuals, as soon as they organize, some bossy person is handing out marching orders, and somebody else is putting me to sleep reading the minutes of the last meeting.
Ideally, the way it should work is that I come up with great ideas and then get to lie down on the sofa and take a nap while other people run off and do the heavy lifting.
My latest campaign is to do away with tenure. If there’s a dumber idea floating around than the guarantee of lifetime employment I’m not sure I want to hear about it. A person can take only so much stupidity in a single lifetime and I believe I’ve just about reached my quota.
So far as I’m aware, the only two groups that receive tenure in our society are Supreme Court justices and teachers. The theory is that these people need to be protected from undue political pressure. Well, these days, as we’re all very much aware, there is as much or more blatant politicking involved in a Supreme Court appointment than in a presidential election. For the life of me, I don’t see why a duly-elected president can only serve eight years, but a justice can serve thirty or forty.
It makes even less sense that professors are guaranteed a job for life. Guys on the assemblyline don’t have tenure. Gardeners and waitresses don’t get tenure. Why should professors who already work short hours for good money be treated like English royalty?
I have heard the argument that, without such guarantees, they might be fired for political reasons. The fact of the matter is that, as more and more colleges and universities are infested with leftwing radicals, professors are far more likely to be hired because of their politics.
As for the risk that a professor of any political stripe might be shown the exit because the administration disapproves of his leanings, the question should be moot. Even if his field of study happens to be history, philosophy or even the Republican party in the 21st century, no professor worth his salt has any business dragging his own politics into the classroom. But suggest that to a leftwing academic, and he starts yelling about censorship, as if the job description includes proselytizing.
To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw: those who can, teach; those who can’t, indoctrinate.
Instead of tenure, I’d give these academics with their childish Che Guevara posters the gate.
Putting tenure on trial
By Burt Prelutsky
Dec 30, 2005
An ongoing problem I have is that I am, at heart, a crusader, but, by temperament, a couch potato. To be really good at altering the status quo, you have to be ready to join with others in a mission, and I don’t happen to like group activities. Even when a group consists of people I like as individuals, as soon as they organize, some bossy person is handing out marching orders, and somebody else is putting me to sleep reading the minutes of the last meeting.
Ideally, the way it should work is that I come up with great ideas and then get to lie down on the sofa and take a nap while other people run off and do the heavy lifting.
My latest campaign is to do away with tenure. If there’s a dumber idea floating around than the guarantee of lifetime employment I’m not sure I want to hear about it. A person can take only so much stupidity in a single lifetime and I believe I’ve just about reached my quota.
So far as I’m aware, the only two groups that receive tenure in our society are Supreme Court justices and teachers. The theory is that these people need to be protected from undue political pressure. Well, these days, as we’re all very much aware, there is as much or more blatant politicking involved in a Supreme Court appointment than in a presidential election. For the life of me, I don’t see why a duly-elected president can only serve eight years, but a justice can serve thirty or forty.
It makes even less sense that professors are guaranteed a job for life. Guys on the assemblyline don’t have tenure. Gardeners and waitresses don’t get tenure. Why should professors who already work short hours for good money be treated like English royalty?
I have heard the argument that, without such guarantees, they might be fired for political reasons. The fact of the matter is that, as more and more colleges and universities are infested with leftwing radicals, professors are far more likely to be hired because of their politics.
As for the risk that a professor of any political stripe might be shown the exit because the administration disapproves of his leanings, the question should be moot. Even if his field of study happens to be history, philosophy or even the Republican party in the 21st century, no professor worth his salt has any business dragging his own politics into the classroom. But suggest that to a leftwing academic, and he starts yelling about censorship, as if the job description includes proselytizing.
To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw: those who can, teach; those who can’t, indoctrinate.
Instead of tenure, I’d give these academics with their childish Che Guevara posters the gate.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Why American Students Know So Little American History and What We Can Do About It
Today's entry was sent to us by our friend Joyce Morrison of News With Views. This story is posted on Education News.Org.
Why American Students Know So Little American History and What We Can Do About It
Sandra Stotsky
Commonwealth Education Organization
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
October 6, 2005
Introduction to the sources of the problem
The study of US history in K-12 has traditionally served two significant purposes, one academic, the other civic. It has been the major source for civic education, promoting both knowledge of this country's political principles, processes, and institutions and allegiance to them-i.e., the basis for US citizenship. Over the past 100 years, however, there has been a steady decline in the teaching of history through the grades. To view the rest of the story click here.
Why American Students Know So Little American History and What We Can Do About It
Sandra Stotsky
Commonwealth Education Organization
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
October 6, 2005
Introduction to the sources of the problem
The study of US history in K-12 has traditionally served two significant purposes, one academic, the other civic. It has been the major source for civic education, promoting both knowledge of this country's political principles, processes, and institutions and allegiance to them-i.e., the basis for US citizenship. Over the past 100 years, however, there has been a steady decline in the teaching of history through the grades. To view the rest of the story click here.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Getting Honest About Grad Rates.
The Education Trust is a great website. The information below is part of the press release from The Education Trust to view the whole press release go to the education trust website. To view the complete report click here.
June 23, 2005
CONTACT: Nicolle Grayson
(202) 293-1217, ext. 351
Getting Honest About Grad Rates: Too Many States Hide Behind False Data
(Washington, DC) – The Education Trust released a report today that sharply criticizes the way states calculate and report graduation statistics. The analysis, entitled “Getting Honest About Grad Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose,” also rebukes the U.S. Department of Education for failing to exert leadership by demanding that states get honest about graduation rates.
The Ed Trust analysis reveals disturbing patterns: Some states rely on ludicrous definitions of graduation rates. Others make little effort to accurately account for students who drop out of school. And others still provide no data at all. The final result: Extremely unreliable graduation-rate information that erodes public confidence in schools and their leadership and threatens to undermine the important work of high school reform.
June 23, 2005
CONTACT: Nicolle Grayson
(202) 293-1217, ext. 351
Getting Honest About Grad Rates: Too Many States Hide Behind False Data
(Washington, DC) – The Education Trust released a report today that sharply criticizes the way states calculate and report graduation statistics. The analysis, entitled “Getting Honest About Grad Rates: How States Play the Numbers and Students Lose,” also rebukes the U.S. Department of Education for failing to exert leadership by demanding that states get honest about graduation rates.
The Ed Trust analysis reveals disturbing patterns: Some states rely on ludicrous definitions of graduation rates. Others make little effort to accurately account for students who drop out of school. And others still provide no data at all. The final result: Extremely unreliable graduation-rate information that erodes public confidence in schools and their leadership and threatens to undermine the important work of high school reform.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Don't Keep School Tax
The letters below appeared in the Rockford Register Star. Schools are not going to listen until more taxpayers and parents speak up. Bravo to these two Rockford residents for speaking up. McHenry District 15 residents do not forget that the school district is not going to return taxes they promised to return. Can you trust them to do the right thing with new revenues if the spring referendum passes?
Published: December 27, 2005
Letters to the Editor
Don’t keep school tax
Wake up, Rockford School District taxpayers.
The School Board asks that we vote to make a temporary tax permanent. Any time we vote for a temporary tax, it seems the taxing body gets used to it and cannot live without it.
I urge every taxpayer to vote no next spring. Many of us are just making ends meet and the reduction in taxes is considerable if this tax is not extended.
We pay some of the highest school taxes and have not received a lot in return. Yes, there have been improvements. The board wants us to believe that they are good stewards of our tax dollars.
I do not question their motives, but why is it that other districts are doing great without nearly that amount of taxes levied?
The School Board is hoping that you are used to paying and will want you to think, “I am already paying it, so it is not so bad.” Stop and think about that kind of reasoning.
We, as taxpayers, have the power to stop a tax from being continued.
Now is the time to start talking to your neighbors and urge them to vote no.
— David Draper, Rockford
Published: December 26, 2005
Letters to the Editor
Focus on education
Are junk food vending machines the schools’ most pressing issue?
The governor is concerned. I agree, as most parents would, that junk food isn’t the best for our kids. My concern is: Are we spending too much time and resources on this issue, when there are more serious ones facing our schools?
We need the focus to be education of our students, not just whether they eat a bag of chips for lunch.
— Diane Walz, Rockford
Published: December 27, 2005
Letters to the Editor
Don’t keep school tax
Wake up, Rockford School District taxpayers.
The School Board asks that we vote to make a temporary tax permanent. Any time we vote for a temporary tax, it seems the taxing body gets used to it and cannot live without it.
I urge every taxpayer to vote no next spring. Many of us are just making ends meet and the reduction in taxes is considerable if this tax is not extended.
We pay some of the highest school taxes and have not received a lot in return. Yes, there have been improvements. The board wants us to believe that they are good stewards of our tax dollars.
I do not question their motives, but why is it that other districts are doing great without nearly that amount of taxes levied?
The School Board is hoping that you are used to paying and will want you to think, “I am already paying it, so it is not so bad.” Stop and think about that kind of reasoning.
We, as taxpayers, have the power to stop a tax from being continued.
Now is the time to start talking to your neighbors and urge them to vote no.
— David Draper, Rockford
Published: December 26, 2005
Letters to the Editor
Focus on education
Are junk food vending machines the schools’ most pressing issue?
The governor is concerned. I agree, as most parents would, that junk food isn’t the best for our kids. My concern is: Are we spending too much time and resources on this issue, when there are more serious ones facing our schools?
We need the focus to be education of our students, not just whether they eat a bag of chips for lunch.
— Diane Walz, Rockford
Monday, December 26, 2005
Band, sports ready to return
The article below appeared in the Sunday, December 25th edition of the Northwest Herald. Harvard had asked for 7 referenda in a row that all failed. A referendum never passed and the school board managed to balance the budget. Bravo to the Harvard school board. But one must ask oneself did they really need the money in the past and what was the money going to be used for at that time.
Band, sports ready to return as board reinstates programs
[published on Sun, Dec 25, 2005]
By GENEVA WHITE
gwhite@nwherald.com
HARVARD – Linda Russ was pleased to hear recently that some of the items cut by District 50 were approved by the school board to be reinstated.
But the mother of two fourth-graders at Jefferson Elementary School found herself asking why the cuts ever were made.
"I have to wonder how they can afford to bring them back now," she said. "The cuts never should have been made. Some of the teachers that they've let go should have never been let go."
The school board announced last month that it would look into bringing back its most recent cuts, which included junior high jazz band, freshman sports at Harvard High School, and the high school scholastic bowl.
The school board has approved a list of recommended items to reinstate. In addition to the above programs, these include a junior high reading specialist, art consultants, a high school math teacher, and an elementary librarian.
Bringing back those programs and staff would cost the district about $195,000, District 50 spokesman Bill Clow said.
District officials this fall began meeting with groups such as the Harvard High School Booster Club and HARMONY, a nonprofit group formed two years ago to promote music and stage-performance activities.
"They were wanting to at least have the board consider this," said Superintendent Randy Gross, who recommended the list to the board, whose members approved it Monday.
"This is a good example that the board is listening to the community and doing what it can within the financial constraints for the district," he said.
District officials have pointed to a balanced budget as the reason these programs could return. The district in September touted a $19.75 million budget showing that education-fund revenues would exceed spending by about $200,000.
Band, sports ready to return as board reinstates programs
[published on Sun, Dec 25, 2005]
By GENEVA WHITE
gwhite@nwherald.com
HARVARD – Linda Russ was pleased to hear recently that some of the items cut by District 50 were approved by the school board to be reinstated.
But the mother of two fourth-graders at Jefferson Elementary School found herself asking why the cuts ever were made.
"I have to wonder how they can afford to bring them back now," she said. "The cuts never should have been made. Some of the teachers that they've let go should have never been let go."
The school board announced last month that it would look into bringing back its most recent cuts, which included junior high jazz band, freshman sports at Harvard High School, and the high school scholastic bowl.
The school board has approved a list of recommended items to reinstate. In addition to the above programs, these include a junior high reading specialist, art consultants, a high school math teacher, and an elementary librarian.
Bringing back those programs and staff would cost the district about $195,000, District 50 spokesman Bill Clow said.
District officials this fall began meeting with groups such as the Harvard High School Booster Club and HARMONY, a nonprofit group formed two years ago to promote music and stage-performance activities.
"They were wanting to at least have the board consider this," said Superintendent Randy Gross, who recommended the list to the board, whose members approved it Monday.
"This is a good example that the board is listening to the community and doing what it can within the financial constraints for the district," he said.
District officials have pointed to a balanced budget as the reason these programs could return. The district in September touted a $19.75 million budget showing that education-fund revenues would exceed spending by about $200,000.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Union leaders need to learn to behave
The Education Intelligence Agency is a must see website for those fighting for true education reform and spending reform. Intercepts is Mike Antonucci's BLOG. Mr. Antonucci established the Education Intelligence Agency in June 1997. I first spotted this article on his BLOG this article was originally posted at Inside Bay Area.
Jim, some of of our other educating reform fighting friends and I, are all too familiar with this behavior. We experienced it in Harvard, Huntley and Winthrop Harbor among other places. We are wondering just what will happen at the District 300 presentations planned for early 2006.
The article below can also be viewed at www.insidebayarea.com.
Union leaders need to learn to behave
WHY do some Oakland teachers union leaders and members have to stoop to boorish behavior to draw attention to their demands?
It's one thing for the union to renew its threat of a strike if a new contract isn't crafted to its satisfaction. Negotiations have been bitter and emotions have run high since spring, when the union rejected the district's contract offer. So, talk of a strike in that context isn't shocking.
What's disturbing, though, were the antics some union members displayed at Wednesday night's school board meeting. One teacher went so far as to compare state School Administrator Randolph Ward to Hitler and to describe him as "a bourgeois black man" who has forgotten his roots. The teacher's comments were loudly cheered as others in the audience laughed and applauded.
We realize the great majority of district teachers, even if frustrated with the pace of contract talks, are civil and care more about their students' academic progress than demonizing Ward.
By all accounts, there are legitimate concerns about health benefits in the current contract talks. Teachers are worried their family health care costs could soar to $3,000 a year under the proposed "cap" on health benefits. Negotiating for teachers' benefits and rights should be serious business, and discussions should be handled seriously, not with sophomoric stunts.
Another low point came when a teacher tried to explain to the school board his plans for a new science and technology charter school in a partnership with NASA. Members of the audience berated the teacher, punctuating his presentation with noisy boos and jeers.
Where do these so-called educators get off demeaning and disrespecting a fellow teacher for daring to propose innovative ways to educate Oakland youths? There is always room for disagreement about methods and philosophy, but any differences should be focused on a specific issue rather than resorting to bullying and heckling out of a resentment against charter schools.
When they take to the podium to speak, would some of Wednesday night's hecklers want to be treated the same way — drowned out or made fun of?
We want to respect our teachers and support them. But when they use such juvenile tactics, it is hard to take them seriously. And what kind of role model are these teachers setting for their students? Will students learn, by observing their teachers, that the only way to express opinions is by being disruptive and disrespectful, outshouting any opposing viewpoints and resorting to derogatory name-calling to make their points?
It's time for the leaders of the teachers union to grow up, tone down the theatrics and work with the administration to find the best solutions to the myriad problems facing the district.
According to teachers union President Ben Visnick, the union "has been reasonable" at the bargaining table and is ready to reach a fair contract. He says the teachers have made concessions, and the district must do the same.
That all sounds fine. If only such civility could be extended to other public meetings, there might be more movement on all sides.
Jim, some of of our other educating reform fighting friends and I, are all too familiar with this behavior. We experienced it in Harvard, Huntley and Winthrop Harbor among other places. We are wondering just what will happen at the District 300 presentations planned for early 2006.
The article below can also be viewed at www.insidebayarea.com.
Union leaders need to learn to behave
WHY do some Oakland teachers union leaders and members have to stoop to boorish behavior to draw attention to their demands?
It's one thing for the union to renew its threat of a strike if a new contract isn't crafted to its satisfaction. Negotiations have been bitter and emotions have run high since spring, when the union rejected the district's contract offer. So, talk of a strike in that context isn't shocking.
What's disturbing, though, were the antics some union members displayed at Wednesday night's school board meeting. One teacher went so far as to compare state School Administrator Randolph Ward to Hitler and to describe him as "a bourgeois black man" who has forgotten his roots. The teacher's comments were loudly cheered as others in the audience laughed and applauded.
We realize the great majority of district teachers, even if frustrated with the pace of contract talks, are civil and care more about their students' academic progress than demonizing Ward.
By all accounts, there are legitimate concerns about health benefits in the current contract talks. Teachers are worried their family health care costs could soar to $3,000 a year under the proposed "cap" on health benefits. Negotiating for teachers' benefits and rights should be serious business, and discussions should be handled seriously, not with sophomoric stunts.
Another low point came when a teacher tried to explain to the school board his plans for a new science and technology charter school in a partnership with NASA. Members of the audience berated the teacher, punctuating his presentation with noisy boos and jeers.
Where do these so-called educators get off demeaning and disrespecting a fellow teacher for daring to propose innovative ways to educate Oakland youths? There is always room for disagreement about methods and philosophy, but any differences should be focused on a specific issue rather than resorting to bullying and heckling out of a resentment against charter schools.
When they take to the podium to speak, would some of Wednesday night's hecklers want to be treated the same way — drowned out or made fun of?
We want to respect our teachers and support them. But when they use such juvenile tactics, it is hard to take them seriously. And what kind of role model are these teachers setting for their students? Will students learn, by observing their teachers, that the only way to express opinions is by being disruptive and disrespectful, outshouting any opposing viewpoints and resorting to derogatory name-calling to make their points?
It's time for the leaders of the teachers union to grow up, tone down the theatrics and work with the administration to find the best solutions to the myriad problems facing the district.
According to teachers union President Ben Visnick, the union "has been reasonable" at the bargaining table and is ready to reach a fair contract. He says the teachers have made concessions, and the district must do the same.
That all sounds fine. If only such civility could be extended to other public meetings, there might be more movement on all sides.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
All School Districts Should Follow Suit.
What a great Christmas and Chanukah present to the taxpayers aka the employers of the District 15 staff. Full disclosure! District 15 among other items will be placing full contracts including pay-tables and a full account of the budget online for all people to access. Bravo. If school districts really want residents to support a referendum let them have full access to district information truly be open and honest to the voters. What are school districts hiding that will not fully disclose this information?
Daily Herald
Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005
Dist. 15 public documents can be seen online
By Nadia Malik
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Everything from the teacher salary schedule to lunch menus to a full
account of the budget can now be found on Palatine Township
Elementary District 15's Web site.
Ever since a discussion in October about disclosing more public
information on the Web, the district has been working to rearrange
its site.
"Anything that anybody could want to know on the district is up
there," school board President Scott Boucher said.
That includes negotiated agreements with the three unions the
district works with, under the new "documents" tab on the home page,
and information on improvement plans for each of the district's 20
schools.
Much of the material has also been cross-referenced at various places
on the Web site.
The same information has also been distributed to the Palatine,
Rolling Meadows and Barrington libraries.
At the October board meeting, there was a dispute about whether the
items should be put online, but board members eventually agreed the
documents are worthy public information.
Although district officials can't monitor who is looking at the
materials, as they could when interested residents had to file a
Freedom of Information request, Boucher said they still have the
capability to track how many people view a certain section.
"It's just so we know, so we can get a better feel for what people
are looking at and if we need to make modifications," Boucher said.
The district's Web site, www.ccsd15.net, will also soon start
including the complete packet board members receive before their
meetings.
The modifications are all small steps the board has been taking this
past year to change the way it does some of its business.
School board meetings are now videotaped and aired on public access
channels in three towns.
The tapes are played at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 7 p.m. Thursdays in
Palatine, 3 p.m. Mondays in Rolling Meadows and 8 p.m. Thursdays and
Sundays in Hoffman Estates.
"It'll be interesting if we can see what kind of traffic we have and
how many people actually sit and watch (the board meetings)," Boucher
said.
The board also recently decided to have two meetings a month, with
one slated for just discussion items.
"We've decided that there's a lot of issues out there right now,"
Boucher said. "To get a full airing of the issues, the best way to do
that is to break this into two meetings."
The first meeting of the month will be mostly votes on issues and
recognition of awards.
"The other meeting will have no action taken whatsoever," Boucher
said. "Those meetings will strictly be discussion."
Boucher said the board still has to decide what format the discussion
sessions will take and if residents will have to follow the same
rules in the public comments section. As it stands now, residents can
talk for only three minutes each, and the board holds a policy of not
engaging in direct discussion with commentators.
"It's a new idea for us," Boucher said. "We've always had formal
meetings, so it'll be interesting to see how this will work."
The information and suggestions below was sent to us by Kevin Killion of the illinoisloop.org.
Reformer's challenge for the week:
Try asking YOUR district to commit to what Palatine is doing!
I can think of a few more things that full disclosure should include:
Curriculum
-- detailed curriculum standards
-- syllabus for each course
-- textbooks and other purchased curriculum materials,
by grade and subject
-- distribution of assigned letter grades (thx, Dave Carvalho!)
-- statement on commitment to intellectual diversity
Staffing
-- contracts with key administrators
-- CV for key administrators
-- breakout of degrees earned by teachers, categorized by
degree subject and awarding dept (ed school vs. others)
Meetings
-- full minutes of meetings, taken by someone other than
a school administrator or employee
-- full description and budget information on all
teacher in-service programs
Communications
-- email addresses for all board members
-- surveys: complete results, rather than carefully
excerpted tidbits
(What else should be added to this list?)
For more on meetings and public access to school information, see
Illinois Loop: Illinois Laws and Rules
http://www.illinoisloop.org/illinois.html
This includes links on the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act.
-- Kevin
Daily Herald
Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005
Dist. 15 public documents can be seen online
By Nadia Malik
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Everything from the teacher salary schedule to lunch menus to a full
account of the budget can now be found on Palatine Township
Elementary District 15's Web site.
Ever since a discussion in October about disclosing more public
information on the Web, the district has been working to rearrange
its site.
"Anything that anybody could want to know on the district is up
there," school board President Scott Boucher said.
That includes negotiated agreements with the three unions the
district works with, under the new "documents" tab on the home page,
and information on improvement plans for each of the district's 20
schools.
Much of the material has also been cross-referenced at various places
on the Web site.
The same information has also been distributed to the Palatine,
Rolling Meadows and Barrington libraries.
At the October board meeting, there was a dispute about whether the
items should be put online, but board members eventually agreed the
documents are worthy public information.
Although district officials can't monitor who is looking at the
materials, as they could when interested residents had to file a
Freedom of Information request, Boucher said they still have the
capability to track how many people view a certain section.
"It's just so we know, so we can get a better feel for what people
are looking at and if we need to make modifications," Boucher said.
The district's Web site, www.ccsd15.net, will also soon start
including the complete packet board members receive before their
meetings.
The modifications are all small steps the board has been taking this
past year to change the way it does some of its business.
School board meetings are now videotaped and aired on public access
channels in three towns.
The tapes are played at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 7 p.m. Thursdays in
Palatine, 3 p.m. Mondays in Rolling Meadows and 8 p.m. Thursdays and
Sundays in Hoffman Estates.
"It'll be interesting if we can see what kind of traffic we have and
how many people actually sit and watch (the board meetings)," Boucher
said.
The board also recently decided to have two meetings a month, with
one slated for just discussion items.
"We've decided that there's a lot of issues out there right now,"
Boucher said. "To get a full airing of the issues, the best way to do
that is to break this into two meetings."
The first meeting of the month will be mostly votes on issues and
recognition of awards.
"The other meeting will have no action taken whatsoever," Boucher
said. "Those meetings will strictly be discussion."
Boucher said the board still has to decide what format the discussion
sessions will take and if residents will have to follow the same
rules in the public comments section. As it stands now, residents can
talk for only three minutes each, and the board holds a policy of not
engaging in direct discussion with commentators.
"It's a new idea for us," Boucher said. "We've always had formal
meetings, so it'll be interesting to see how this will work."
The information and suggestions below was sent to us by Kevin Killion of the illinoisloop.org.
Reformer's challenge for the week:
Try asking YOUR district to commit to what Palatine is doing!
I can think of a few more things that full disclosure should include:
Curriculum
-- detailed curriculum standards
-- syllabus for each course
-- textbooks and other purchased curriculum materials,
by grade and subject
-- distribution of assigned letter grades (thx, Dave Carvalho!)
-- statement on commitment to intellectual diversity
Staffing
-- contracts with key administrators
-- CV for key administrators
-- breakout of degrees earned by teachers, categorized by
degree subject and awarding dept (ed school vs. others)
Meetings
-- full minutes of meetings, taken by someone other than
a school administrator or employee
-- full description and budget information on all
teacher in-service programs
Communications
-- email addresses for all board members
-- surveys: complete results, rather than carefully
excerpted tidbits
(What else should be added to this list?)
For more on meetings and public access to school information, see
Illinois Loop: Illinois Laws and Rules
http://www.illinoisloop.org/illinois.html
This includes links on the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act.
-- Kevin
Friday, December 23, 2005
EIA Exclusive: NEA's Annual Labor Organization Disclosure
The Education Intelligence Agency performs public education research, analysis and investigations. The Communique for the Week of December 12, 2005 is an exclusive disclosure of the National Education Association's (national teacher union) contributions, grants and political expenditures. Our tax dollars are used to pay teachers salaries in turn teachers use these tax dollars to pay union dues. Hundreds of millions of tax dollars are wasted each year on lobbying and union administration instead of staying in the class room. Voting yes on tax referenda will only increase the use of our own tax dollars being used against us.
EIA Exclusive: NEA's Annual Labor Organization Disclosure Report – Part Two, Contributions, Grants and Political Expenditures
Last week, EIA reported on the salary portion of the 2004-05 labor organization financial disclosure report (LM-2) filed by the National Education Association. This analysis concentrates on contribution, grants, political expenditures, and other outlays made by the union during the year.
The U.S. Department of Labor now requires unions to itemize expenditures in the following categories:
* Representational activities – NEA spent $47 million.
* Political activities and lobbying – NEA spent $25 million.
* Contributions, gifts and grants – NEA spent $65.5 million.
* General overhead – NEA spent $64 million.
* Union administration – NEA spent $56.8 million.
Each category contains details of expenditures, though it isn't always clear why an expenditure was placed in one category and not another. NEA also employed a mob of consultants during the 2004-05 school year, and space simply won't allow listing them all, or guessing at what they were hired to do.
For the complete report go to the Education Intelligence Agency website.
EIA Exclusive: NEA's Annual Labor Organization Disclosure Report – Part Two, Contributions, Grants and Political Expenditures
Last week, EIA reported on the salary portion of the 2004-05 labor organization financial disclosure report (LM-2) filed by the National Education Association. This analysis concentrates on contribution, grants, political expenditures, and other outlays made by the union during the year.
The U.S. Department of Labor now requires unions to itemize expenditures in the following categories:
* Representational activities – NEA spent $47 million.
* Political activities and lobbying – NEA spent $25 million.
* Contributions, gifts and grants – NEA spent $65.5 million.
* General overhead – NEA spent $64 million.
* Union administration – NEA spent $56.8 million.
Each category contains details of expenditures, though it isn't always clear why an expenditure was placed in one category and not another. NEA also employed a mob of consultants during the 2004-05 school year, and space simply won't allow listing them all, or guessing at what they were hired to do.
For the complete report go to the Education Intelligence Agency website.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
State urges district mergers
The article below appeared in the December 22, 2005 edition of the Chicago Tribune. Diane Rado is one of their best education reporters.
State urges district mergers
12/22/2005
By By Diane Rado, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Darnell Little contributed to this rep
Chicago Tribune
Illinois has one of the most fragmented, massive and inefficient education bureaucracies in the nation, and state officials--under pressure to put more money into schools but unwilling to raise taxes--are renewing efforts to merge school districts, the Tribune has learned.
Consolidations would not be forced. But significant changes in the law would make it easier for voters to approve mergers and allow districts to combine in ways prohibited in the past, according to a memo by state schools Supt. Randy Dunn that was obtained by the Tribune.
Lawmakers would have to approve the proposals, crafted by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's staff and state education officials.
The goal, officials say, is to free up scarce dollars for the classroom or reduce property-tax bills.
The precise savings are unknown because the amount would depend on which districts merged and other factors. But a Tribune analysis found that nearly 900 districts spent $643.3 million on schools boards and administrators in 2003-04. And the smallest districts spent three times more of their budgets on administrative costs than the largest districts.
Saving even half that $643.3 million could boost state aid by more than $200 per child, according to state estimates. That would be the second-largest increase in per-pupil aid in nearly a decade.
Blagojevich has been instrumental in increasing per-pupil aid during his administration, but he remains under pressure from schools and education advocacy groups to increase school funding even more.
Illinois has not made a serious attempt to merge districts since 1985, when consolidation legislation was approved but later gutted as districts fought to keep their students, buildings, jobs and tax bases.
Click here for the full story.
State urges district mergers
12/22/2005
By By Diane Rado, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Darnell Little contributed to this rep
Chicago Tribune
Illinois has one of the most fragmented, massive and inefficient education bureaucracies in the nation, and state officials--under pressure to put more money into schools but unwilling to raise taxes--are renewing efforts to merge school districts, the Tribune has learned.
Consolidations would not be forced. But significant changes in the law would make it easier for voters to approve mergers and allow districts to combine in ways prohibited in the past, according to a memo by state schools Supt. Randy Dunn that was obtained by the Tribune.
Lawmakers would have to approve the proposals, crafted by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's staff and state education officials.
The goal, officials say, is to free up scarce dollars for the classroom or reduce property-tax bills.
The precise savings are unknown because the amount would depend on which districts merged and other factors. But a Tribune analysis found that nearly 900 districts spent $643.3 million on schools boards and administrators in 2003-04. And the smallest districts spent three times more of their budgets on administrative costs than the largest districts.
Saving even half that $643.3 million could boost state aid by more than $200 per child, according to state estimates. That would be the second-largest increase in per-pupil aid in nearly a decade.
Blagojevich has been instrumental in increasing per-pupil aid during his administration, but he remains under pressure from schools and education advocacy groups to increase school funding even more.
Illinois has not made a serious attempt to merge districts since 1985, when consolidation legislation was approved but later gutted as districts fought to keep their students, buildings, jobs and tax bases.
Click here for the full story.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Opposition aside, levy approved
The article below was published December 21, 2005 in the Daily Herald . Mike Davitt has been the primary voice of reason on this school board. Many school boards across Illinois are partially made up of teachers, relatives of teachers, or retired school employees. These school board members are specifically recruited by teachers' unions to serve their interests and not the taxpayers interests. Many school districts have school board biographies on their websites for your viewing pleasure. This great quote from Mike Davitt appears in the article below "We have taken more from taxpayers than they were led to believe when taxpayers went to the polls in 2002," Davitt said. "In my opinion taxpayers did not authorize a blank check referendum."
Opposition aside, levy approved
12/21/2005
By Melissa Jenco
Daily Herald
The Naperville Unit District 203 school board approved a $169.4 million property tax levy Tuesday but left the possibility of a tax refund on the table for future discussion.
The board voted 5-2 in favor of the levy, rejecting several requests to lower it in light of the district collecting at least $24 million more than voters expected from the 2002 referendum request.
The levy the board approved is at least $5.3 million less than it could have asked for.
Board member Mike Davitt, who voted against the levy, proposed lowering it by another $5.8 million.
"We have taken more from taxpayers than they were led to believe when taxpayers went to the polls in 2002," Davitt said. "In my opinion taxpayers did not authorize a blank check referendum."
In the public hearing portion of the meeting, the Will DuPage Taxpayers Alliance asked for a lower levy as well. The group requested that it be lowered by almost $7 million, which would put it at $162.5 million.
"Let's make a strategic value of the district to be responsible with the money not just spend," said Kevin Hausman, a member of the group. "Spending alone doesn't improve education. Let's abate money."
Board members have expressed concern in past meetings about the effect of lowering the levy, which would essentially mean less money in following years as well.
One of the few people to speak in favor of the levy was Naperville resident David Shaftman.
"Why give $200 back to the average household income of $80,000 … and then endure a very large and growing deficit," Shaftman said. "To me that just doesn't check."
Board President Dean Reschke, Vice President Debbie Shipley and members Suzyn Price, Susan Crotty and Gerry Cassioppi voted in favor of the levy, while Davitt and Jim Caulfield voted against it.
After the levy was approved, Cassioppi suggested a one-time refund of at least part of the district's projected $5.8 million surplus.
His proposal would refund 3.4 percent of what taxpayers paid to the district in 2005. That would mean the owner of a $300,000 home would likely receive a refund of about $143.
"I think a one-time refund of (about) $6 million … done on a refund basis allows the district to take a more balanced approach, take into account the district's fiscal needs going forward," Cassioppi said.
The board will discuss Cassioppi's proposal in February.
The board will meet again for a work session at 7 p.m. Jan. 3 and a business meeting at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17.
Opposition aside, levy approved
12/21/2005
By Melissa Jenco
Daily Herald
The Naperville Unit District 203 school board approved a $169.4 million property tax levy Tuesday but left the possibility of a tax refund on the table for future discussion.
The board voted 5-2 in favor of the levy, rejecting several requests to lower it in light of the district collecting at least $24 million more than voters expected from the 2002 referendum request.
The levy the board approved is at least $5.3 million less than it could have asked for.
Board member Mike Davitt, who voted against the levy, proposed lowering it by another $5.8 million.
"We have taken more from taxpayers than they were led to believe when taxpayers went to the polls in 2002," Davitt said. "In my opinion taxpayers did not authorize a blank check referendum."
In the public hearing portion of the meeting, the Will DuPage Taxpayers Alliance asked for a lower levy as well. The group requested that it be lowered by almost $7 million, which would put it at $162.5 million.
"Let's make a strategic value of the district to be responsible with the money not just spend," said Kevin Hausman, a member of the group. "Spending alone doesn't improve education. Let's abate money."
Board members have expressed concern in past meetings about the effect of lowering the levy, which would essentially mean less money in following years as well.
One of the few people to speak in favor of the levy was Naperville resident David Shaftman.
"Why give $200 back to the average household income of $80,000 … and then endure a very large and growing deficit," Shaftman said. "To me that just doesn't check."
Board President Dean Reschke, Vice President Debbie Shipley and members Suzyn Price, Susan Crotty and Gerry Cassioppi voted in favor of the levy, while Davitt and Jim Caulfield voted against it.
After the levy was approved, Cassioppi suggested a one-time refund of at least part of the district's projected $5.8 million surplus.
His proposal would refund 3.4 percent of what taxpayers paid to the district in 2005. That would mean the owner of a $300,000 home would likely receive a refund of about $143.
"I think a one-time refund of (about) $6 million … done on a refund basis allows the district to take a more balanced approach, take into account the district's fiscal needs going forward," Cassioppi said.
The board will discuss Cassioppi's proposal in February.
The board will meet again for a work session at 7 p.m. Jan. 3 and a business meeting at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Editorial: School funding problem is spending
This editorial speaks for itself. Bravo to the editorial staff at the Decatur Herald & Review.
Editorial: School funding problem is spending
12/20/2005
Decatur Herald & Review
The Illinois General Assembly will argue again next session about how much funding should be budgeted for elementary and secondary schools.
The battle is expected to be a tough one, and in an election year, politicians will have to walk a fine line between pleasing those who don't want higher taxes and those who want more money spent on education on the state.
Some pro-education groups have proposed a tax swap: removing the emphasis for school funding from property taxes and placing more of the burden on income taxes. While that's a basically sound idea, many of the proposals carry with it a not-so-well hidden tax increase.
A+ Illinois, an education funding reform group, says the state needs to increase the foundation level by at least $1.200 per student. The foundation level is the minimum amount spent on each Illinois student, and that now stands at $5,164 per year.
Two other proposals for reforming education funding are locked up in rules committees, where a lot of legislation is shelved and then forgotten.
Much of this debate about funding would be unnecessary, however, if the state would look at the problem from the other end. The problem with education in the state isn't as much funding as it is spending. In other words, there is adequate money for public elementary and secondary education in Illinois, but the money isn't being used properly.
For example, Illinois has 894 school districts serving a little more than 2.1 million students. Texas has more than twice as many students,
4.3 million, served by 1,046 school districts. New York state also serves more students, 2.8 million, with 726 school districts. Imagine what could happen if Illinois reduced the number of school districts by even 50 and targeted those savings directly to the classroom?
Of course, consolidating and eliminating school districts is a difficult process, but the long-term effects on school spending would be well worth the effort for students, educators and taxpayers.
The number of districts is just a symptom of a larger problem. Too many Illinois education dollars are spent long before they directly impact students.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be unveiling his vision for elementary and secondary school funding to the General Assembly on Feb. 15. It's expected that the overall state budget will be tight, and schools will be no exception.
The governor could dramatically change the nature of the discussion if he were to announce that the state school system needs to focus on spending the money they have more effectively before asking the taxpayers for additional funding.
Editorial: School funding problem is spending
12/20/2005
Decatur Herald & Review
The Illinois General Assembly will argue again next session about how much funding should be budgeted for elementary and secondary schools.
The battle is expected to be a tough one, and in an election year, politicians will have to walk a fine line between pleasing those who don't want higher taxes and those who want more money spent on education on the state.
Some pro-education groups have proposed a tax swap: removing the emphasis for school funding from property taxes and placing more of the burden on income taxes. While that's a basically sound idea, many of the proposals carry with it a not-so-well hidden tax increase.
A+ Illinois, an education funding reform group, says the state needs to increase the foundation level by at least $1.200 per student. The foundation level is the minimum amount spent on each Illinois student, and that now stands at $5,164 per year.
Two other proposals for reforming education funding are locked up in rules committees, where a lot of legislation is shelved and then forgotten.
Much of this debate about funding would be unnecessary, however, if the state would look at the problem from the other end. The problem with education in the state isn't as much funding as it is spending. In other words, there is adequate money for public elementary and secondary education in Illinois, but the money isn't being used properly.
For example, Illinois has 894 school districts serving a little more than 2.1 million students. Texas has more than twice as many students,
4.3 million, served by 1,046 school districts. New York state also serves more students, 2.8 million, with 726 school districts. Imagine what could happen if Illinois reduced the number of school districts by even 50 and targeted those savings directly to the classroom?
Of course, consolidating and eliminating school districts is a difficult process, but the long-term effects on school spending would be well worth the effort for students, educators and taxpayers.
The number of districts is just a symptom of a larger problem. Too many Illinois education dollars are spent long before they directly impact students.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be unveiling his vision for elementary and secondary school funding to the General Assembly on Feb. 15. It's expected that the overall state budget will be tight, and schools will be no exception.
The governor could dramatically change the nature of the discussion if he were to announce that the state school system needs to focus on spending the money they have more effectively before asking the taxpayers for additional funding.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Schools falling down on fundamentals job
When schools fail to educate our children parents need to be there to pick up where the education system has left off. Is it better to give the schools more money with a tax increase or use that money to hire a tutor or send your child to a place like Sylvan Learning center where they guarantee results? Paying teachers more does not improve performance. Because of tenure schools can not get rid of underperforming teachers and hire teachers who may get better results.
Teachers and administrators do not have to worry about their retirement take a look at the pension calculator on The Family Taxpayers Network website www.thechampion.org. Make sure you are ready for retirement before you consider giving school systems more money that are making some retired school employees millionaires.
The editorial below appeared in full in the Chicago Sun Times Newspaper on December 18, 2005.
Schools falling down on fundamentals job
December 18, 2005
After researchers at the U.S. Department of Education set out in 2003 knocking on doors and even visiting prisons to determine how literate Americans are, they made a finding that even they found startling: College graduates, even those with graduate degrees, showed lower proficiency in English language and math skills than they had a decade earlier. Fewer of them were able to master complex literacy tasks such as comparing the viewpoints in two newspaper editorials.
Mark Schneider of the National Center of Education Statistics, which conducted the report, hypothesizes that literacy skills at the college level have declined, in part, because universities are serving a different population than they did in 1992 when the last literacy study was undertaken. "Public universities have opened their doors to an increased diversity of students," he said. "They may present new challenges the universities didn't have to face before."
If that's the case, the Education Department literacy study should force colleges to do some self-searching -- not only about the literacy skills of the students they accept as freshmen, but also about the quality of the students they graduate.
It is assumed those with college degrees have advanced skills, that they can undertake complex reading and math tasks -- such as being able to interpret a table about blood pressure, age and physical activity and being able to compute and compare the cost per ounce of food items. If these colleges are graduating students who can't understand editorial arguments or read blood pressure charts, there is something terribly wrong with our educational systems from first grade on up through college.
Teachers and administrators do not have to worry about their retirement take a look at the pension calculator on The Family Taxpayers Network website www.thechampion.org. Make sure you are ready for retirement before you consider giving school systems more money that are making some retired school employees millionaires.
The editorial below appeared in full in the Chicago Sun Times Newspaper on December 18, 2005.
Schools falling down on fundamentals job
December 18, 2005
After researchers at the U.S. Department of Education set out in 2003 knocking on doors and even visiting prisons to determine how literate Americans are, they made a finding that even they found startling: College graduates, even those with graduate degrees, showed lower proficiency in English language and math skills than they had a decade earlier. Fewer of them were able to master complex literacy tasks such as comparing the viewpoints in two newspaper editorials.
Mark Schneider of the National Center of Education Statistics, which conducted the report, hypothesizes that literacy skills at the college level have declined, in part, because universities are serving a different population than they did in 1992 when the last literacy study was undertaken. "Public universities have opened their doors to an increased diversity of students," he said. "They may present new challenges the universities didn't have to face before."
If that's the case, the Education Department literacy study should force colleges to do some self-searching -- not only about the literacy skills of the students they accept as freshmen, but also about the quality of the students they graduate.
It is assumed those with college degrees have advanced skills, that they can undertake complex reading and math tasks -- such as being able to interpret a table about blood pressure, age and physical activity and being able to compute and compare the cost per ounce of food items. If these colleges are graduating students who can't understand editorial arguments or read blood pressure charts, there is something terribly wrong with our educational systems from first grade on up through college.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Tom Cross's Letter to the Sun Times
The letter below was sent to the Sun Times in response to Representatitive Tom Cross's letter. The letter was also sent to Tom Cross
Tom Cross is right, “a bipartisan approach is essential to addressing these difficult issues to restore honesty and integrity to the process.” However, until both parties stop taking money from the primary and tertiary lobbyists, the teachers’ unions (IEA and IFT), Illinois will remain in an ethical crisis. That crisis is the under-education of Illinois children by unions that are more concerned about their pocketbooks and lining the pockets of legislators to get a Ponzi scheme retirement system that is sure to bankrupt the State. Their Mantra is underfunding, inequitable funding and unfunded mandates with no regard to actually educating our children and taking the responsibility to do so. Unions prefer the blame game and that game is to blame anyone except themselves while protecting incompetent teachers. The last three decades our K – 12 system has robbed generation after generation of children of a proper education, a greater income potential, and a future as a productive member of society.
Yes Representative Cross, lets have campaign reform. Stop taking money from the teachers union with whom the state contracts. If we solve our education problem, we will solve are social welfare problems as well. The biggest social welfare system that must be reformed is the education system and the protection of incompetent teachers and administrators and their retirement system.
Cathy Peschke
Co-founder
Citizens for Reasonable And Fair Taxes (CRAFT)
The letter below appeared in the December 11, 2005 edition of the Sun Times.
Illinois is in the midst of an ethical crisis. This crisis has shaken the citizens' trust in not only public officials, but government itself.
The issue of ethics in Illinois has now transcended party affiliation and has jaded the minds of the electorate to the point that citizens are rightly left to wonder if public service has changed to self-service.
We are facing substantial public policy dilemmas in many areas: the budget, pensions, Medicaid, affordable health care, education, economic development -- just to name a few.
However, before we can even begin to contemplate the substantive public policy issues affecting every Illinois resident, we must restore trust in our government.
Two years ago, in a bipartisan manner, Illinois House Republicans and Democrats drafted and passed a sweeping ethics reform bill. It was a commonsense package of reforms that were a long time in coming. The measure was heralded at the time as the "nation's toughest" ethics reform package.
Now, however, new issues are emerging in the areas of state contracts and hiring, and their relation to campaign financing, that are again causing an integrity gap.
House Republicans have a number of proposals to address these abuses, as do the Democrats. As we did two years ago, I believe a bipartisan approach is essential to addressing these difficult issues to restore honesty and integrity to the process.
We proved two years ago that by working together, we can make great strides. And now more than ever, we must work together to fix a system both political parties have had a hand in breaking.
Tom Cross
House Republican Leader
Tom Cross is right, “a bipartisan approach is essential to addressing these difficult issues to restore honesty and integrity to the process.” However, until both parties stop taking money from the primary and tertiary lobbyists, the teachers’ unions (IEA and IFT), Illinois will remain in an ethical crisis. That crisis is the under-education of Illinois children by unions that are more concerned about their pocketbooks and lining the pockets of legislators to get a Ponzi scheme retirement system that is sure to bankrupt the State. Their Mantra is underfunding, inequitable funding and unfunded mandates with no regard to actually educating our children and taking the responsibility to do so. Unions prefer the blame game and that game is to blame anyone except themselves while protecting incompetent teachers. The last three decades our K – 12 system has robbed generation after generation of children of a proper education, a greater income potential, and a future as a productive member of society.
Yes Representative Cross, lets have campaign reform. Stop taking money from the teachers union with whom the state contracts. If we solve our education problem, we will solve are social welfare problems as well. The biggest social welfare system that must be reformed is the education system and the protection of incompetent teachers and administrators and their retirement system.
Cathy Peschke
Co-founder
Citizens for Reasonable And Fair Taxes (CRAFT)
The letter below appeared in the December 11, 2005 edition of the Sun Times.
Illinois is in the midst of an ethical crisis. This crisis has shaken the citizens' trust in not only public officials, but government itself.
The issue of ethics in Illinois has now transcended party affiliation and has jaded the minds of the electorate to the point that citizens are rightly left to wonder if public service has changed to self-service.
We are facing substantial public policy dilemmas in many areas: the budget, pensions, Medicaid, affordable health care, education, economic development -- just to name a few.
However, before we can even begin to contemplate the substantive public policy issues affecting every Illinois resident, we must restore trust in our government.
Two years ago, in a bipartisan manner, Illinois House Republicans and Democrats drafted and passed a sweeping ethics reform bill. It was a commonsense package of reforms that were a long time in coming. The measure was heralded at the time as the "nation's toughest" ethics reform package.
Now, however, new issues are emerging in the areas of state contracts and hiring, and their relation to campaign financing, that are again causing an integrity gap.
House Republicans have a number of proposals to address these abuses, as do the Democrats. As we did two years ago, I believe a bipartisan approach is essential to addressing these difficult issues to restore honesty and integrity to the process.
We proved two years ago that by working together, we can make great strides. And now more than ever, we must work together to fix a system both political parties have had a hand in breaking.
Tom Cross
House Republican Leader
McHenry District 15 Referendum
This post will be used to discuss the District 15 referendum. The post will be moderated and offensive comments will be removed. Further information about the referendum will be posted in the form of comments.
Naperville 204 has a great forum as well as Winthrop Harbor District 1. These blogs and forums are great for those who are afraid to speak out about upcoming referenda.
Bravo once again to Marla. We know how difficult it can be to speak out.
Don't punish the kids
[published on Sun, Dec 18, 2005 in the Northwest Herald]
To the Editor:
Re: Tracy Simon's Dec. 2 letter, "Two separate issues."
I did vote for the McHenry District 15 referendum the last two times it was up.
You are saying we should continue to vote for the referendum because the district needs it to run the schools; I agree to a point.
You also said I should not take it out on the children. The voters voted the referendum down at least twice previously, and yet the district is going to take it out on our children if it is voted down again.
So who is in the wrong here? The administration that punishes children for their parents' actions or the parents that expect the administration to run within its means without giving themselves yearly pay raises?
We are being bullied, and I stand by my statement that the administration is holding our children's education for ransom.
I think each board member should take a 10 percent pay decrease and reinvest it in their company, "our children," for one year.
Then maybe some of the other parents who voted down the previous referendums might see that our board does believe in our children. Then maybe the parents can believe in their board.
Marla Pfleger
McHenry
Naperville 204 has a great forum as well as Winthrop Harbor District 1. These blogs and forums are great for those who are afraid to speak out about upcoming referenda.
Bravo once again to Marla. We know how difficult it can be to speak out.
Don't punish the kids
[published on Sun, Dec 18, 2005 in the Northwest Herald]
To the Editor:
Re: Tracy Simon's Dec. 2 letter, "Two separate issues."
I did vote for the McHenry District 15 referendum the last two times it was up.
You are saying we should continue to vote for the referendum because the district needs it to run the schools; I agree to a point.
You also said I should not take it out on the children. The voters voted the referendum down at least twice previously, and yet the district is going to take it out on our children if it is voted down again.
So who is in the wrong here? The administration that punishes children for their parents' actions or the parents that expect the administration to run within its means without giving themselves yearly pay raises?
We are being bullied, and I stand by my statement that the administration is holding our children's education for ransom.
I think each board member should take a 10 percent pay decrease and reinvest it in their company, "our children," for one year.
Then maybe some of the other parents who voted down the previous referendums might see that our board does believe in our children. Then maybe the parents can believe in their board.
Marla Pfleger
McHenry
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