Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled discussed whether the recommendations of the Governor’s Education Reform Commission to change how schools are funded and how teachers are paid make sense. Here is a sampling of comments:
Fal: Some districts will spend it at the central office level, not the school level.
Dg: I'm not saying changes aren't warranted, but just consider: We haven't funded the formula we have now in over a decade — even when times were good. State Sen. Fran Millar basically told educators to get used to the new norm. I am disappointed someone who swore to uphold the constitutions of the United States and the state of Georgia would short-change a state constitutionally protected mandate — public education.
MaryElizabeth: The political forces in Georgia that refuse to expand Medicaid as a part of Obamacare are the same political forces that will not support public education as they should in Georgia. They try to minimize the "intrusion" of government, as they see it, to our state's detriment and to the detriment of the very people who vote them into office.
Rik: Funding what we have at a higher level wouldn't give the kids the education they deserve, though it would be good for the people who work in education. Spending more would be fine if we could rethink the ways we educate. Public schools need restructuring so kids receive the education they are equipped to handle. The teaching profession should be equal in pay and prestige with the legal and medical professions, at least. It should be hard to become a teacher, with stiff requirements for admission to the profession. We need to rethink the whole system.
News: So school spending has increased and not made a difference. Here is what has changed: the family. Review stats from the early 1900s regarding intact families, and you will find a big difference. Families are too busy and indifferent to support their child's education at home. Spending more money will not improve family participation in education.
Lori: When you never fund schools the regular way the funding was intended to be, how can you say the current plan needs overhauling?
Kay: (We have had) over a decade of "austerity" cuts, massive underfunding of our schools, unvetted tests with high stakes (that lead to unhealthy stress for teachers and kids), a hypercritical evaluation system for teachers (who are leaving in droves as the reformers intended), a charter amendment that permits more profit-seekers to take advantage of children, a forced choice situation whereby every district is encouraged to throw out whatever laws in Title 20 they would like to ignore, and a reform commission to roll out the red carpet so several districts will risk changing how they pay teachers all at once. Fulton set the table on this "compensation reform" but has been working hand-in-hand with the state to get others on board. Now, the entire state is ready to decimate a profession and, ultimately, the public schools.
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