Tonight the MDUSD Board gathers to begin discussions of a rather hefty amount of cuts over the next three years , part of the State’s sissy gift to counties and cities. In this case the district must cut $17 million in the next three years BUT that is based on a pre-January 12 Governor revised budget that has, in the past, almost always resulted in addition doom and gloom. You can watch live at the bottom of this post.
The Board will gather to ratify the teacher unions agreement to a 3 year salary freeze which will offer them a measure of protection from most cuts short of receivership – not that abstract a reality given the state of things. Already parents are up in arms, angered at the teachers, angered at the board, especially for their recent shoot yourself in the foot timing in renewing certain staffer contracts with pay raises, regardless whether they were indispensable. And truthfully, no one is that.
Nonetheless, and more disturbing is the fact that what had started out as a positive parent/district relationship post McHenry, has rapidly soured into the usual “us versus them” mentality of finger pointing and accusations, calls for a recall of the lot and worse.
The real problem, however is not those things. It is a failing state that is dragging every single person down with it. There is no magic to fix this mess if the root cause is not addressed. All the school districts are doing at this stage of the game is throwing as much furniture overboard to slow the ship sinking. It is a losing proposition. The ship is DOOOOMED under the current insane manner we do businesses. An excellent article from England details the slow death of the Golden State HERE. Of course, what do the Brits know?
Really, people, we treat education worse than we treat our criminals. Our best resource for a future that could be strong, a company that can compete and we do not invest in it? Instead we invest in our prisons, lots of prisons, lots of prisoners with no end to prisoner rights.
So tonight the Board is considering ratifying the teacher contract freeze. In my opinion, it is a mistake. With the Governor’s January Ulcer rapidly approaching it seems to me that the information that will come then should be first received before a board that is already bogged down can decide on the validity of a freeze.
One thing is certain, until the state can stop the flow of debt and budget failings can be repaired, which will mean, among other things and end to the two-third voting requirement, nothing will change; instead it will continue to get worse until it totally falls apart. Can the state file bankruptcy? Technically not, I believe; isn’t the obligation of the state to operate within its means? So all the programs will go away leaving just the bare bones supported by the revenue available.
Of course, we the people should unload every single member of the state government along with their salaries.
So tonight I hope that the MDUSD Board of Education will defer any decisions until after the Governor has finished stabbing the budget. Any action now will make no difference in the long run and only raise the ire of one group or another. Instead, a better course of action is to develop a collaborative game plan that involves the parents and stakeholders, not unlike the way in which the last election was run. It takes this village to come up with a decent idea. It takes an idea and not a shouting match to see any relief at all.
The old way of education is dead. Special groupings whether it be union groups or Special Education groups are in trouble. Mainstreaming is a failure in my opinion – a waste of funding that could have been better applied were we not so preoccupied with sparing the feelings of the children who today just do not give a damn. No Child Left Behind left them all behind. Scores and AYP growth markers are a poor way to find some standardized measure of success. Looking good on paper is not the same as quality graduates that do not need remedial college education. And in the process we have allowed teachers to be skinned and forced to teach in bite sized bits of pre-digested content that still has difficulty being swallowed. Is it any wonder that even Einstein claimed that Education got in the way of his learning?
And finally, those board members who are paid a pittance for the thrashing that they have taken over the years need more than verbal abuse – the impossible situation demands a unity of all members of the community, especially those who claim to be in defense of their child’s education. We elected the board, still a mix of views and opinions. And soon a new superintendent will step in (how lucky can he get) to face this ever increasing hole with angry faces encircling it, and somehow make it all better.
I used to watch a TV show called Banacek with George Peppard (best remembered for the A Team TV show.) As a Polish P.I. he would pepper his cases with favorite old Polish sayings. I only remember one: When confronted by a fox, take time out to offer it a raisin cookie; but don’t stay long enough to bake a cake. Think on that one as the water level rises about your feet.
MisterWriter
[Update: 8:55pm – The board agreed 3-1 (Mayo absent) to table the discussion of ratifying the teacher contract until January.]
As we end this fine, fine year of 2009, I would like my final post of the year to share a letter that arrived today. It was from the National Union Fire Insurance Company out of Florida letting us know that our insurance coverage lapsed “because we didn’t receive your premium payment by the date indicated.” The good news was that we could still save our policy by bringing premiums current. At the bottom of the letter was a bill and instructions to remit payment to the National Union Fire Insurance Company.
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