Some recent committee decisions being handed down by our elected
officials are sending a very troubling and disheartening
message:
Olympia Doesn’t Care about Education
Olympia Doesn’t Care about Teachers
Olympia Doesn’t Care about Students
In a
recent Kitsap Sun article, Rep. Kathy Haigh was reported to
have introduced two bills into the State legislation that would
further suspend two spending initiatives that had received
overwhelming support by WA voters back in 2000.
Initiative 728 allocated money to reduce class
sizes, provide training for teachers, and offer helpful resources
for some pre-kindergarten children. I-732 provided
annual cost-of-living raises for teachers.
Included in I-728 was funding for an annual stipend allocated to
teachers who successfully passed the arduous National Board
Certification process.
And now, thanks to our elected representatives, our class sizes
will increase, making it more difficult for our kids to receive the
personal attention they deserve. Greater demands will be placed on
our teachers, but without compensating them for more work.
And already, it appears that this seemingly ‘temporary’
suspension will most likely become a permanent change in the years
ahead:
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jan/18/house-committee-doesnt-object-to-suspension-of/
Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, and a professor of
public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, recently
made the following observations:
“Over the long term, the only way we’re going to raise wages,
grow the economy, and improve American competitiveness, is by
investing in our people — especially their educations.
Yet we’re falling behind. In a recent survey of 34 advanced
nations by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, our kids came in 25th in math, 17th in science, and
14th in reading. The average 15-year-old American student can’t
answer as many test questions correctly as the average 15-year-old
student in Shanghai.
Considering the increases in our population of young people and
their educational needs, and the challenges posed by the new global
economy, more resources are surely needed.
State cuts in public education have been under the national
radar, but viewed as a whole they seriously threaten the nation’s
future. Already, 33 states have sliced education budgets for next
year, on top of cuts last year. For example, Arizona has eliminated
preschool for 4,328 children, and cut funding for books, computers
and other classroom supplies. California has reduced K-12 aid to
local school districts by billions of dollars and is cutting a
variety of programs, including adult literacy instruction and help
for high-needs students. Colorado and Georgia have reduced
public-school spending nearly 5 percent from 2010, Illinois and
Massachusetts by 3 percent. Virginia’s $700 million in cuts for the
coming year includes funding for class-size reduction in
kindergarten through third grade. Washington suspended a program to
reduce class sizes and teacher training incentives.
Why have we allowed this to happen? Our young people — their
capacities to think, understand, investigate and innovate — are
America’s future. In the name of fiscal prudence we’re endangering
that future.”
I urge our elected government representatives to reconsider the
suspension of these two voter-approved initiatives, and make the
necessary budget cuts in other areas that do not adversely affect
our kid’s education.
