"Washington Learns", Mrs. Gregoire's purportedly bi-partisan effort to examine the state's education system, releases its final report Monday. Task force Republican member Rep. Glenn Anderson released a Minority Report yesterday with a statement:
While we spent this year working in a bipartisan manner to achieve the goal outlined by the 2005 legislation (SB 5441) authorizing the Washington Learns task force, unfortunately the final report did not address what I believe to be the most critical element to solving our education system shortfalls - funding our K-12 education system with a stable and reliable budgeting mechanism.Anderson issued with a later statement claiming that Mrs. Gregoire "suppressed" his dissenting report and won't include it with the final report.
So it goes with one-party rule by the big-government tax-and-spend pimps. And it'll soon be worse. Read Anderson's report, here.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 10, 2006 12:11 PM | Email ThisThankfully, alternative media is growing, but it will still be a while before the average Joe is not easily misled or not lead by the newspapers and television.
Remember during this campaign season, we often heard cries from the left that "Dissent is Patriotic." That's only true when the media and the left leaning politicians in Olympia agree with the dissent.
Even though it requires a personal struggle on my part to foot the cost in addition to paying taxes to fund the public schools, my kids are going to private school so they will have the advantages that are missing from WA public schools. For discerning educational consumers, if you are not aware of the differences, shop around. I did so recently, and it's quite obvious that public schools are lacking when you compare them side by side with private schools.
Posted by: Jeff B. on November 10, 2006 12:46 PMGood comments from #1
Posted by: Marge on November 10, 2006 12:56 PMSo Mr. Sharkansky, are you going to say with a straight face that The Republican Party wasn't "one-party rule by the big-government tax cut-and-spend pimps"?
Or do you use the tired old line about the Iraq War making things different?
Republicans have no problem spending like Drunken Sailors as long as some Corporation makes a profit. Tax payer money is treated as a source of income.
Money for Aid to Families with Dependent Children is bad. No bid contracts to clean up Katrina are good.
Money for veteran's hospitals to help wounded soldiers is bad.
Money for weapons systems we do not need is good..
In short, Corporate Welfare is good.
Individuals on welfare bad.
I wanted to ask her if she thought, perhaps the criminals or their parents ought to share a bit of the responsibility - that perhaps holding little Janie or Johnny accountable as a child could have made a difference - but those thoughts fly in the face of the current agenda.
Posted by: Julie on November 10, 2006 02:12 PMIt's been 20+ years since the Republicans had control of the state and during that time the only significant 'improvement' in public education has been to put our teachers' salaries and benefits near the top in our country.
The democrats have during this time relegated Education to an afterthought when it comes time for budgeting. They have placed their political importance on fattening up state employees (including the teachers union), increasing social spending, etc. while forgoing the requirement in our state constitution that education is the paramount duty of our state's government.
Note Anderson isn't happy that I-728 hasn't been fully and properly funded, no doubt he is angry as I am that the WEA managed to get the legislature to fully fund their salary initiative, giving up on fully funding I-728 which would have given the school districts the options to reduce class size or expand student learning.
I would love to have implemented his idea for having the ESD's provide shared counseling services for smaller school districts. Too often the counselors only use their education for one quarter of their job and get stuck doing mundane administrative or secretarial work. When those counselors are protected species under WEA contracts, that costs the school districts huge amounts of money in this state. Anyhow I can go on and on on these things, but Anderson's report is in the right direction.
If the republicans want to take the state back, they really should start campaigning now on how horrible the democrats have been for education in this state. But in order to do that some of us will have to get off our high horse and understand that there is a place for public education, as long as it isn't ruined by the teachers union.
Posted by: Doug on November 10, 2006 02:21 PMI like the performance based compensation aspects, but disagree with eliminating incentive compensation for attaining higher education degrees. Teachers earning masters and PhD's will only help the level of competency of the instructors, which in turn will help students. Removing the incentive to earn these degrees will result in fewer teachers with those designations.
This state also spends alot on special education programs, at the expense of the primary class instruction in my opinion. I have no problem with programs for kids who have learning problems or other special needs, however there should be a way whereby the parents of these kids have to contribute more monetarily to these programs, with exceptions below a certain income threshold.
Posted by: Palouse on November 10, 2006 02:39 PMI think that eliminating extra pay for Masters and PhD.'s is by design and a good thing for two reasons:
1) Merit and Performance should always be the biggest factors in determining pay. The higher level degrees might be a factor in determining who can teach what and qualifying one fore a higher paying position based on the skill set, or on one's experience, but there should never be an automatic pay grade without a basis.
2) If anything, the more time someone spends in the ivory tower, the more likely they are to become indoctrinated with the socialist, statist, leftist mindset that is the second largest problem that the US faces. If anything, there should be some kind of mental delousing program to clear the socialism, Marxism, and other collectivist ideologies from the Masters or PhD. student's head before they are allowed out of the ivory tower and back in to the real world.
Posted by: Jeff B. on November 10, 2006 03:32 PMOgg,
That is why Republicans threw out the big taxers and spenders in this last election. You see Ogg, Republicans hold their elected reps accountable, unlike brain dead Democrats who simply look for the (D).
Posted by: pbj on November 10, 2006 03:48 PMI cannot argue with point number 2, only to say that I worked for a while in the private sector prior to getting a masters degree, which helps with your socialism resistance ;-) I think hiring more teachers who have experience in the private sector is a good thing.
katomar, I have not done research into the numbers of how our state compares to others in terms of spending on special education programs, but did see the raw numbers once and it looked high. Special education kids deserve a fair education, and the money spent on them should be allocated fairly as well. I would like to see some sort of system where parents contribute more to their programs and some of the state money is put back into the primary classrooms.
Posted by: Palouse on November 10, 2006 03:54 PMThe irrevelance of your positions hit a new low after the election. It was known that your views are those of the minority...but the unbelievably poor Stefan-results from the election makes your arguments those of the very few and far between.
This posting shows it. Anderson, an extreme even in the eyes of other extremes, has positions that are so incredibly far out of the mainstream...they are not worthy of inclusion. It's not true that every crazy extreme scheme should be given equal weight in the debate.
Given the election results, I presume this will be self-evident to you (and your extreme minority positions, as shown by facts, figures and election results).
Posted by: Realistic on November 10, 2006 04:18 PMIt's entirely wrong and bad in a capitalist system to assign salaries by title. That's the reason why the public sector is so screwed up. Everything is based on seniority, union affiliation, nepotism, etc. There's no need to turn a profit and no incentive to higher truly capable people, so instead, false mechanism's like degree or title are used to assign value rather than real, concrete, market driven value. Good teachers will be worth more in a market driven system.
And even if we decide as a society that there is some value in a public school system, the more that we compete with it via private schools and encourage competition amongst the teachers, administrators and schools, the more that the public school system would actually be good.
Take away the incentive, and who's going to bother. Just look at today's tenure system in universities. Parasites like Ward Churchill with pretend degrees and pretend absolute moral authority based on pretend race are allowed to fester.
In a private university, a lying pile or trash like Churchill never would have been hired in the first place, and if he was hired by accident, he wouldn't last a week before someone figured out that he was not adding any real value.
There are plenty of people who did not even graduate from high school that add more value to our economy than even the most schooled PhD. Let the market decide.
Posted by: Jeff B. on November 10, 2006 05:19 PMTop notch compensation/fringe benefits only comes with accountablility.
Teachers made a fatal error some 40 years ago when they decided they were no longer professionals, and became victims requring a union. Fools.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Posted by: Hank on November 10, 2006 05:58 PMStill, we wont ever go back to the public education sector. Not a chance... we'd rather pay double for education.
Posted by: Lauri on November 10, 2006 11:24 PMwww.wheresthemath.com
I will tell you, Glenn Anderson deeply understands K-12 education in this state. He takes the time to actually read and educate himself on the various and trendy fads our education establishment has embraced. He has spent countless hours with us and has offered sound advice. The other politicians in this state have only used education to get votes. We have seen many recent bills written by politicians leading up to the election and wonder where their ideas for change have come from; certainly wasn't from the evidence.
I was recently contacted by a well-liked House Representative and told I should support the Democrats math bill because they (dem's) hold the power. So, even though Glenn Anderson has written the better legislation that will truly help the kids of WA State, I should support the Dem's side with their misguided efforts that will only cause more failure.
Posted by: Shalimar on November 11, 2006 06:49 AMYup, tax and spend Republican pimps... But this is a different game...
Did you actually read the report, idiot? I doubt it. All this guy wants to do is spend.
I got A BETTER IDEA. Why don't all you urbanite assholes spend a little less money on junk and time on TV, ballgames, and everything else frivolous and educate your kids yourself?
They're getting the education their - and your - attitudes deserve.
Posted by: Playin' Possum on November 11, 2006 09:33 AMTry to be up to date C.O.
Posted by: Bwana on November 11, 2006 07:46 PMThe kids are smart, I'm not so sure about the adults who run the anti-academic public system. Sometimes I really wonder, what do these Terry Bergesons, Christine Gregoires, and union leaders get out of turning out thousands of Washington students who can't perform at a basic academic level? What is the payoff for them? Can they possibly be so well-meaning in their hearts that their emotions and motives outweigh measureable, verifiable results, track records?
My youngest daughter's private school, at $6k a year in her senior year, tested the students twice a year, every year, for the previous 11 years, using the SATs. I was pleased to see this school used rote and memorization and drills extensively. Something my older three children NEVER received in their public schools. My older children also noticed the gaping differences between the public schools, and this private school.
The cultures were completely different, too. That is why I call the public school system the anti-academic culture. The tools and skills given to my youngest child in private school are denigrated by the public educators. Hard-core academics were despised in the public schools my older children went to.
I was always in conflict with the teachers, and that is when I learned the new education systems despised time-honored, track record proven methods of teaching. I was reprimanded by those teachers that my expectations were too high for my children, and I just needed to let them be children, and that they "would get it" (education) when they were ready. As a result of my experiences with the public and private school systems, the public education shakers and movers have absolutely zero, zilch credibility with me.
Bill Gates also acknowledges that this is a broken system, and he cares enough to put his money where his mouth is, unlike the union leaders, members, and other anti-education stakeholders who do everything within their means to prevent the needed changes, "for the children". Humph!
I hope if there are parents reading this who really do care about their children's education, they will make the necessary financial sacrifices, do their research, and get their kids into a good private school. And don't wait too long. In the private schools, the kids are educated so early in the basic core academic subjects that by 5th grade a public school educated child cannot perform the same work.
We saw a number of students come in from the public schools. These kids were not used to the self-discipline required to spend alot of time studying. They also did not have the basic core skills needed to perform the everyday work. And you do work in private school. So, it really isn't fair to the kids to let them slide in the free schools to save their parents some money the first few years of schooling.
Private schools can be very reasonable in costs, and have payment plans, which most parents have to use. And the benefits farrrrr outweigh the financial sacrifices. I know. I've tried both ways.
I have a step-grandson of above average intelligence in 4th grade public school who cannot read using phonics, and his sight reading is so poor that when I took him to a book store to purchase him a book, he became very panicky saying the books I was looking at were "chapter" books, and he wasn't at that level!!
Contrast that with my private school child who was reading within weeks of first grade. ALL OF THE KIDS WERE. Chapter books...within the year. They had to memorize 18 phonics charts by the end of March, and their graduated reading books were synchronized with the charts, further enforcing their newest memorized chart.
Because the system was so simple, easy, logical, the students were uniformly successful. With this success came TRUE self-esteem (from acquired skills, not empty praise), and the motivation to keep learning. I see the opposite results with the other systems being used in the public schools, where the teachers are not even concerned about a student's inability to read in 4th grade. "They will get it, when they are ready," or as my grandson's teacher says, "He is very popular with the other kids". I could tell lots more stories, but have been too wordy already.
There simply is NO! comparison between a privately-schooled child, and a publicly-schooled child. For the caring parent, I recommend reading "The Well-Trained Mind" and "The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had" both by Susan Wise Bauer. Now these are enlightening!
Last thought: Take responsibility for your child's education...Because it is your's, and not the government's. You not only will not regret it, you will be blessed, and liberated. And so will your child, and their future.
Bill Gates knows the system is broken. Are you willing to consider what he knows?
corporate leaders fall on swords or get ousted for minor ticks in share prices & for much less. "we need more $$" or "let's invent some new programs." all the while implying it's not my fault or the buck stops here. lefties do the blame game & 'buck stops here' all the time for a current President for every ill in the country, yet never hold the top educator to task. why?
have her get bold & declare that half her salary will be forgone/donated if she does not meet certain overall student metrics in performance & improvements. risk brings rewards. you'd see change in an instant.
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on November 13, 2006 11:05 PM