|
TABOR: Education reform by necessity?I reported this weekend on the Maine Education Association's full-court press to defeat Question 4 on the Nov. 3 ballot, the proposal for a so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR. The 25,000-member union is railing against what it sees as a major threat to public school funding. Proponents of TABOR, which would require that state and local governments hold referendums each time spending increases beyond a prescribed amount, say the initiative would have no effect on school budgets. That's because school budgets go through separate approval by town meeting and referendum in each district. TABOR wouldn't change that process. But "education is 40 percent of the state budget," Maine Education Association President Chris Galgay told me. "How can you say you can shrink the state budget and have no effect on our schools?" To be sure, TABOR itself doesn't shrink the state budget; it prescribes the degree by which it can increase. But union officials worry that TABOR would limit the state from investing more money in schools during revenue-flush times. TABOR is surely a measure that seeks to keep government's size in check. But amid the debate about endangering public school spending, there's another philosophy at work. "The data is very clear that there is not a strict correlation between per-pupil spending and student performance," said Stephen Bowen of the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center, the organization that drafted the TABOR measure. "We have to start being much more careful with how we're spending that money." And if Maine's public education system needs to be more careful with the funds it has, Bowen told me last week, the caution could spur some needed reforms. "Are we really being as creative as we could be with how we do school today?" he asks. Creative approaches to schooling, he said, can lead to savings. For example, according to Bowen, "the whole idea of grades ... that's an antiquated notion." And it's an expensive one with no obvious benefit, he says, citing multi-age classrooms as a creative, money-saving solution. "Here's a chance to say, let's liberate teachers. Let's let them do innovative things," Bowen says of TABOR. "Let's look for ways to find efficiencies that empower teachers." In other words, TABOR, in the eyes of some, can drive education reform by necessity. Bookmark/Search this post with:
|
Reporter Matthew Stone covers education for the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Stone is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. TagsAmerican Federation of Teachers Arne Duncan Augusta Insider Back to school Center for Education Reform charter schools community colleges cost-sharing cost-shifting Education Committee errors escape clause graduation requirements innovation Legislation Lynne Williams Maine Education Association National policy Newell Augur non-conforming units No on 3 penalties plan amendment plan revision Pownal Preti Flaherty Question 3 Race to the Top reform reorganization Richard Pattenaude School district consolidation School funding School lunch Skip Greenlaw Sun Journal teacher pay teachers' unions Testing University of Maine System |
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Propeller
Reddit
Magnoliacom
Newsvine
Furl
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
Icerocket
Twitter
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
Comments
As a teacher of 20 years, here we go again! People telling us that we are being "empowered" as teachers if TABOR passes. The big money from in and out of state are trying to take away the rights of teachers and citizens in having a say in educaton.
First comes the push against the repeal of the consolidation law. The Maine Coalition to Save Schools raises around $8000 to repeal the law and relies on grassroots activities to get the word out. They can't afford advertising and are trying to spread the word using verifiable facts.
The Governor starts making a few phone calls around and before you know it has hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting off consolidation repeal. The PAC that is pushing the anticonsolidation campaign hires a PR person to handle the issue and advertises on TV.
They also feed us lines like towns "must cooperate" and if the law is repealed your property taxes will rise. Or the fact that most school districts in Maine are in compliance with the law despite the majority of students in Maine schools living in districts that were not required to consolidate due their size or exemptions. School districts voting on consolidsation plans also had to vote under the threat of a penalty in state aid.
As districts grow bigger and become more consolidated, the voice of citizens and teachers are lessened and diminished. Having a Parent Advisory Council for a school that can only ADVISE on the needs of a school is not the same as having a local school board.
The push for tax caps and the push for the consolidation of administration takes away our say in government and our say in spending. When a bigger and less funded bureaucracy is created for for schools, then it is more likely to be dictated from the top down. Maine doesn't need this.
Efficiencies need to be found. Spreading half truths and saying that tax caps will "empower teachers" and consolidated school administration will leave us with a voice in education is a lot of bunk in this teacher's book. Less say in school government and less control over taxation centralizes power and bureaucracies. It also leads to more "top down" government. Teachers and citizens are not being "empowered" but we are losing our liberties. The old adage that "we must fight for democracy" comes to mind. Come election day with Tabor and School Administrative Consolidation, "democracy is ours to lose!"