Does It Really Have To Be That Complicated?

Evaluating teachers is what's "in" today.  Determining teachers value.  Making sure teachers make a difference.  Identifying the good teachers from the bad.

The other hot topic is evaluating teachers based on student growth.  Using test data to determine how much on an impact teachers have had or are having with the students in their classrooms.

In our state we are required to make student growth a "significant" factor when evaluating teachers.

How hard can it be?  Give a couple of tests, look at the results, plug all that into a formula and there you have it.  An easy way to evaluate the impact of a teacher.

The New York Times had an interesting article that spoke about the teacher evaluation system in New York City.  This article suggests that evaluating a teacher is harder than it looks.

The article is a good read.  It provides some perspective on a really complicated issue.

Homework Isn't What It Used To Be

When I had math homework in high school, I dutifully took my book home and worked on the problems.  If I had a problem I usually waited until the next day in class to ask a question.

Now, students can access a variety of sites - like this one - where all you need to do is plop in the problem and it spits out the answer.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

It seems to me that it helps students who want to take shortcuts find those shortcuts.

In the end, students will need to be able to demonstrate their knowledge on tests where presumably they will not have access to programs like this.

It does seem that while this is a nifty site it complicates the task of teaching and learning.

Pom Pon Halftime

The varsity Pom Pon squad invited their middle school teammates to perform with them tonight. Great job!

Grand Ledge Boy's Basketball

Tonight the Grand Ledge boys battle Everett in basketball.

Is education more important than film tax credits?

Last night a rally was held.  The Free Press reported that people came to plan a strategy to save Michigan's film tax credit.  I think that is wonderful!

But, where are the rallies in support of education?  The Governor has proposed slashing spending on schools by $470 per student.

That's a lot of money.  In Grand Ledge it would be about 2.3 million dollars.  That's 2.3 million dollars less next year than we have this year.

How would we cut that much money from our budget?  It would be very difficult.  Almost impossible.

Yet I have not heard of rallies planned to protest this proposal.  If we believe that public schools are worth saving then we need to fight this proposal.

A Call to Action

The Governor has made his proposal.

Now it is our turn to act.

The Governor suggests that school funding can be cut by $470 a student.

I would suggest that it cannot.

In Grand Ledge, a $470 per pupil cut equates to a cut of over 2.3 million dollars.  

Just this past year, we cut over 2.6 million dollars from our budget.  We eliminated over 35 positions.  We reduced our costs for athletics and transportation.  We received concessions from our employee groups.

The Governor seems to believe that we can be more efficient?

Our administrative costs, according to Bulletin 1014 which ranks Michigan school districts by selected financial data, are among the lowest in the state.

In our district we have a hard cap on health insurance.  Increases in premiums are paid for by the employees.  In addition, staff members pay between 28% and 34% of their health insurance premium.  

The Grand Ledge Public Schools have done much of the hard work needed to manage these difficult financial times.  

While we appreciate the Governor’s attempt to tackle the complex and challenging problem of the state’s financial situation, his education cuts are an attack on K-12 schools.  Governor Snyder’s proposal will not only damage Michigan’s future but will also damage our community’s present.  His proposed $470 per pupil reduction in state aid is unacceptable.

How will we cut 2.5 million dollars?  Should we eliminate busing, which costs over 2.2 million dollars each year?  Should we eliminate athletics, on which we spend about $525,000 per year?  Should we forgo buying classroom supplies or textbooks?

I agree that balancing the state budget is necessary, but I do not feel the Governor’s attack on education is the right approach. However, the Governor and the legislature could use the state’s financial situation as the opportunity to reform funding for and spending on public education.  There are serious reforms being proposed that could save money and create a more equitable school funding system.  The Practitioners’ Summit to Reform Michigan Public School Funding champions such reform (http://mischoolfunding.blogspot.com ).  So does the Citizens’ Research Council of Michigan, which has published reports on both the revenue and governance of public education (www.crcmich.org ).

Those of us who care about public education need to act.  Please communicate with the Governor and our state legislators.  Ask them to reform the funding of public education.  Contact information for the state leaders representing all of us that live in the GLPS district can be found on our district website – www.glps.k12.mi.us under the Board of Education tab and the Capital Connections link.  Please join us in protecting our students and our community.

Girls Varsity Basketball

Tonight our Grand Ledge Comets host the East Lansing Trojans. Tonight is also Coach Jones' birthday.