Tens of thousands of teachers on strike in the city of Angels , to " fight " for the students........lol , yeah right !


Teachers doing what they do best .........teaching students how to throw a fit if they dont get what they want

Miz was a teacher for 35 years. She taught children to read.

You poor thing, Auntie Gov. You must've had a miserable childhood. Were the teachers mean to you or what?

Did you look at the list of demands made by the LA teachers? One of them was smaller class sizes. Apparently there are some classrooms with 30, 40 and 50+ students.

Here's an idea! Why don't you write a letter to the LA Times editor and explain how you would effectively teach in a classroom that has numbers of 30+. I'm absolutely sure your vast wisdom and knowledge in the area of education would help these folks solve this issue.

Like I said before, you wouldn't last a day in a room of 7th graders attempting to teach any subject matter. Not with 50 students, not with 40 students, not with 30 students. You couldn't handle 20 7th graders for a day.

Auntie Gov, your worst nightmare would be you teaching a classroom of 30 7th graders and 20 of them have IEPs. Oh, that would be lovely to watch.

So share with us how you would effectively teach in a classroom of 40 students. I'll take notes and pass 'em along!

All they really need is more Spanish teachers to teach American kids.

Well, there it is! Maybe Help Wanted flyers posted around Madrid will solve the issue, eh?

If you want to help educate students, the first thing that should be done is to outlaw public sector unions.

Now why didn't LA think of that? You guys are geniuses!

Let me guess, school board members? Or just bar stool whiners?

I only see one whiner here. All others are common-sense suggestions.

Just not a genius leftist like you Muskrat. I see this strike more about the teachers pocket book than the students education.

Please share what you know about the teachers pocket book in LA.

Muskrat,I always think the same thing when when some of the guys whine about everybody they see as not just like themselves-somebody must have hurt their feelings and made them feel bad when the were kids.
And you can certainly tell, when anything involving public ed. comes up, many have absolutely no clue. Not that that would keep the blow-hards from running their mouths- many of the same mind set are the ones who have kids who have kids with the IEPs because of behavioral ussues that come from the parents lack of respect for education..... The dumb breed the dumber.

Education equals elitist.
Education equals liberal.
Teachers-bad.
Mailman-bad.
Not like me-bad
Government-very bad.

It's obviously not fat enough for the teachers. The articles I've read say that teachers are on strike demanding higher pay, smaller classes, and more support staff. Obviously the pay check is of great importance or that wouldn't be part of the demand. I expect that pay is most likely their greatest demand.

I’m not a teacher but common sense tells me that 40 kids in a classroom is not a great learning environment. Common sense also tells me a vast majority of those teachers voted for lib politicians that got them in the position their in. Last time I heard the numbers the average NEA employee was making 90k a year and the average teacher was making 40k a year. Maybe they should call the union office for extra funding.

I wonder how many of those students are non-citizens.

Grackle my niece is a teacher. This blow hard will keep on talking but I got to get to working. Y'all leftist have a good day.

Do you think that make it easier for the teachers to do their jobs?

Do you think that make it easier for the teachers to do their jobs?

?...I'll say it slower,..I wonder how many of those students are non-citizens?

Colleges have figured out how to teach hundreds of kids at a time in one classroom. Then again, the kids are paying to be there so that is a bit different.

You cant just shrink class sizes without having more classrooms and teachers unless you want to have more study halls during the day to soak up the extra students. One day people will figure out that there isnt enough money to sustain public employees. Unfortunately that day will probably come after everyone is paying 70% or more of their paychecks to taxes.

15-20%?

mnsota, It's nice to know that you wonder that. Do you think your statement was a question?
My post was a question. Yours was not-no matter how slow you are.

Oh,I see,...How many do you think are non-citizens?...Better?

My son is a physician's assitant. He diagnoses illnesses, stitches cuts, delivers a baby once in a while, etc.. Does that mean I know anything about those things.

Certaily makes more sense than your last post. Maybe you be learnin'?

Certaily makes more sense that your last post. Maybe you be learnin'?


Now yur just messin'!..no englie?

Yep. Sorry 'bout that.

One study show that 1 in 8 Calfornia public school students have undcumented parents.
I would think that is to be expected when you allow sanctuary cities in your state.

I suspect many of us are non-essential.

One study show that 1 in 8 Calfornia public school students have indcumented parents.
I would think that is to be expected when you allow sanctuary cities in your state.


Could be, I would of guessed the number higher.
Mute point now, as CBS just made it a race issue.

I always thought teacher strikes were a stupid way for teachers to better thier "environment" Be it pay, class, size, help. I completely agree smaller class sizes would be better, everybody deserves better pay, and a full staff to cover all the jobs. The problem with the teachers striking is when they don't go to work they push the effects to everyone with kids. If my kids arent in school someone needs to take care of them, which means either a parent stays home or we find daycare. If I don't work or I have to pay someone to watch my kids, I'm not gonna have any sympathy for the teachers. I don't get enough pay either so I don't know where they think more money is gonna come from without those of us with the kids getting more.

If you look up the average teachers salary in California, you'll find it about equal to average household income for that state. It's the second highest in the nation. Twenty percent of the kids are busy learning to speak English. You can't blame parents for wanting to put their kids in charter schools, you can only blame them for voting for more of the same.

I agree that most teacher strikes shoud be the last option used to settle a contract.

When I was in school 30 kids were not a big deal, of course there were consequences for not acting appropriately in the classroom.

I bet there are 1,000s of workers that would like less workload and more money. lol

They also want someone to ban charter schools ( non union ) ...........that one is prolly being pushed by the teachers union

Teachers striking is a major disservice to the students

No argument there.

40 kids wouldn't have been a big deal back in the day.

Today's classroom? Respectfully, most of you have no clue what the dynamics are in today's classroom. What worked for teachers back in the 50s/60s would get them fired today, or possibly in jail.

Been in a Walmart lately? Multiply the rug rat bad behavior you see there by 30 or 40 and there's what teachers today are dealing with.

Still waiting for your words of wisdom Auntie Gov.

This is the only country where teachers whine about teaching. Class room sizes aregreater everwhere else

Its a ploy to extort more money from taxpayers........and only working 3/4 time for full time pay

Overcrowding, lax discipline, parents and baby-momma/daddies who don't value their offspring's education, poor teachers who only stick with the game for the pay are the biggest obstacles to the learning of all students.

While I have no horse in this race, I would think to comment on the subject of education, one would want to do a thorough spell check before posting. Groeny Rocks!

Are you pulling a Trumptoid here?

Now what they're doing is putting the kids in Jail.

I can't believe you all you all fell for this idiotic trolling post.

My granmother started teaching in a one room school house in 1914 was she was 14 years old. She had around 20 kids most years and she taught all grades from one through eight. She had to leaver her job at 18 yrs old before she was allow to accept an invitation to go on a date with my grandfather. Things change in education just like everything else in life.

Californians just need to get Scott Walker out there vote him in as Governor. I heard he is looking for work and know how to deal with rowdy teachers and their unions.

Maybe the governor should just shut their whole state government down? Maybe call the teachers strike a state emergency demand get them what they want! Show them parents and people their not messing around..

Come on Muskrat you know that is how ya fix things.

Mac

Ok, I’ll bite. Was just reported on the news that the district the striking teachers are marching in, is 70% non-white. The reporter was adamant about the fact that this 70% get their meals at school as well as their education. The reporter then went on to wonder out loud, if the 70% were white, if indeed the district could and would find money to meet the demands of sriking teachers. So, you see my left leaning fellow trappers, the education system has indeed become a major part of the welfare system.

5 to 600,000 students in LA AND 30,000 teachers, you think a math teacher could figure out how to split up the kids for smaller class sizes. The US spends more money on Ed. than any country in the world, more money is not the answer.

Yup, figured.

https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/class-size-around-the-world/

Bring back the lash.For students,and teachers that get out of line.

‘Here we are on a rainy day, in the richest country in the world, in the richest state in the country, in a state as blue as it can be and in a city rife with millionaires, where teachers have to go on strike,” United Teachers Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl declared Monday. Here we are with another teachable moment in the failures of public union governance.

The 33,000-strong L.A. teachers’ union went on strike Monday as the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) slouches toward insolvency due to unaffordable labor contracts. Despite a putative $1.8 billion reserve, the district is spending about $500 million more each year than its annual revenues and will be broke within two years, which could prompt a state takeover and bankruptcy.


Los Angeles teachers earn on average about $75,000 per year—about $6,000 less than the statewide average—though compensation including health and retirement benefits exceeds $110,000. One problem is the region’s high housing costs make it harder to retain teachers while more and more money is diverted to benefits and pensions.

Health benefits consume about 15% of the $16,000 or so the district spends per pupil. Teachers can retire as early as age 55 and don’t have to pay a dime for health insurance until they qualify for Medicare and then receive subsidized supplemental coverage. Few government or private employers anywhere provide this perk.

Nearly all California school districts are also being squeezed by rising pension payments that the state Legislature has mandated to shore up the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (Calstrs). School district pension costs have more than doubled since 2014.

Recall that in 2012 public unions and Democrats championed a tax referendum to soak the wealthy—putatively to raise money for schools. Voters in 2016 extended the tax hike through 2030. Well, state K-12 spending has increased 70% since 2012, yet pensions have swallowed the tax windfall.

Thus, school districts across the Golden State are scrounging to keep the lights on. Last year San Francisco voters approved a $300 parcel tax on each home to fund schools. Sacramento City Unified warns it could go bankrupt this year barring cuts to worker benefits. Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal last week would provide schools with modest relief by making a $3 billion payment to the Calstrs pension fund on their behalf.

But as LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner notes nearby, schools can’t spend money they don’t have. LAUSD has offered teachers a 6% raise over two years and to hire 1,300 teachers and support staff. The union is demanding that the district spend more no matter the district’s finances. Once higher pay and spending are in place, the union will then lean on the politicians to lobby for another tax increase via referendum in 2020. The tax-spend-tax-spend union ratchet never stops.

The union also wants to curb the growth of charter schools, which are a refuge for low-income and minority students. Only 22% of fourth-graders in Los Angeles scored proficient in math on the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress compared to 31% in other large cities. A 2015 Stanford study found that students at charters in Southern California on average gained more than 50 days of learning in math and more than 40 days in reading each year over their counterparts at traditional schools.

Three years ago, former Democratic state Senate majority leader Gloria Romero launched a charter school in Santa Ana, which last year led the state in math academic improvement. She plans to open a charter in Los Angeles this year, but the union wants to stop her lest she embarrass the failing results in union-run schools. Behold the new regressive progressivism.

Appeared in the January 15, 2019, print edition as 'Unions in La-La Land.'

https://www.wsj.com/articles/unions-in-la-la-land-11547511666

The problem was integration. "Can't have a white teacher disciplining a black student". That was the beginning. Not that we should be segregated just these things should have been addressed before hand. Teachers need to have order and the authority to maintain it. When you are in a group no matter what they are doing, individualism should be reserved for your time.

Alaska has one of the worse public education systems in the U.S. IMO it would be criminal to send your children to it. People choose to do it everyday.

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse.

"A national oversight body has revoked the accreditation of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s teaching degree programs, throwing the viability of hundreds of aspiring teachers’ degrees into question and casting an unflattering light on the university."

It sounds like it's all about the teachers and nothing about the students. Teachers are already receiving great pay and benefits unheard of in most other career fields but still want more, more , more. Meanwhile, they are apparently failing at their primary mission to educate kids to where they can be proficient in math and reading.

Non-union charter schools have always achieved better results than union-run public schools. Dumping billions more into public education does absolutely nothing for students. It just gives teachers higher salaries and better benefits.

But hey, "We're fighting for the students."

This is the part I always wonder about. $16,000 per student. Put 20 in a class room and that equals $320,000 per year. Give the teacher his/her $100,000 for 9 months of babysitting. Where does the other $220,000 go?

The "class size" issue is a joke.
A union teacher friend of mine told me everyone knows there will never be enough teachers to reduce class size to say 20 or less students.
It's just a ploy; teachers want to be paid additional money per student if their classes are larger than a predetermined size. More or less on a prorated basis. They don't really want smaller classes, the unions just want more money.

Hahaha ADC, that's exactly what I was thinking. This topic comes up about every month or so. It's interesting to hear everyone's opinion but in the end the conversation concludes like every other one.....lots of opinions, no solutions. Beatin' a dead horse here.

Here's a solution. School vouchers.

Special ed. laws have made it so that most schools have many students in classes with single digit numbers while others have 30 or more in most of theirs.

Yes. You shouldn't be forced to send your kids to failing public schools. Taxpayers are footing the bill and should have a say on where their money is being spent. Then there's the issue of public education churning out budding socialists.

School vouchers and the parent required to cover the transportation to the school of choice outside of home district.
One year commitment minimum to the school of choice.
An end to all school sponsored athletics.
Vocational exploration for a minimum of 1 year before tenth grade.
Alternate education, separate from general ed school for repeat disciline problems.
Career exploration centered ed in years 100 and 12.

Now, how to pay for this?

NEA position on vouchers from their website

"The Case Against Vouchers




The Educational Case Against Vouchers
Student achievement ought to be the driving force behind any education reform initiative. See what research says about the relationship between vouchers and student achievement.

Americans want consistent standards for students. Where vouchers are in place -- Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida -- a two-tiered system has been set up that holds students in public and private schools to different standards.

NEA and its affiliates support direct efforts to improve public schools. There is no need to set up new threats to schools for not performing. What is needed is help for the students, teachers, and schools who are struggling.

The Social Case Against Vouchers
A voucher lottery is a terrible way to determine access to an education. True equity means the ability for every child to attend a good school in the neighborhood.

Vouchers were not designed to help low-income children. Milton Friedman, the "grandfather" of vouchers, dismissed the notion that vouchers could help low-income families, saying "it is essential that no conditions be attached to the acceptance of vouchers that interfere with the freedom of private enterprises to experiment."

A pure voucher system would only encourage economic, racial, ethnic, and religious stratification in our society. America’s success has been built on our ability to unify our diverse populations.

The Legal Case Against Vouchers
About 85 percent of private schools are religious. Vouchers tend to be a means of circumventing the Constitutional prohibitions against subsidizing religious practice and instruction.

The Political Landscape
Each year, about $65 million dollars is spent by foundations and individuals to promote vouchers. In election years, voucher advocates spend even more on ballot measures and in support of pro-voucher candidates.

In the words of political strategist, Grover Norquist, "We win just by debating school choice, because the alternative is to discuss the need to spend more money..."

Despite desperate efforts to make the voucher debate about "school choice" and improving opportunities for low-income students, vouchers remain an elitist strategy. From Milton Friedman's first proposals, through the tuition tax credit proposals of Ronald Reagan, through the voucher proposals on ballots in California, Colorado, and elsewhere, privatization strategies are about subsidizing tuition for students in private schools, not expanding opportunities for low-income children. "

The problem is there are two solutions, the financially impossible solution and the politically suicidal solution. The third solution is only viable for your own children.

One of the biggest problems public schools have is that they are public. All students, with very few exceptions, of an age, can attend. Public schools get stuck with the problem students, who are disruptive, unmotivated, who have learning disabilities, who can't speak the English language and who have low intelligence, that private schools can refuse to take in. Public schools, of course, also get normal and some higher quality students too.

I think assuring that children receive a great, quality education is one of the most important things that government can do. Unfortunately many parents won't or can't put the time and thought needed into educating their own children or arranging for someone else to educate their children, so the government has to do it.

I think it is of great benefit, to the American populace, that the population is educated as much as is reasonably possible. I think teachers should be paid a decent, if not extravagant salary. I don't believe that bad teachers should keep their jobs. Teachers should be easy to fire. Tenure should not exist in government jobs. Teachers need to be evaluated frequently and poor performing teachers should be immediately let go. Class sizes should be small enough, that the students in them, can receive enough attention, to help them reach their potential.

If you have read many of my posts, you know I am fairly conservative. I don't think that liberal educators have any place in the US educational system. That said, I don't think children should be brain washed into being conservatives either. Children should be taught facts and how to analyze them, so they can form their own opinions. If that happens, I have no doubt they will grow up with common sense, conservative values.

Keith

I remember when I was getting school vouchers for 1/3 of what was spent on publicly educated children. The great part was how elitist I felt.

P.S. we didn't spend a half of the third.

She was one of the good ones. Sadly, not too many of them left anymore.

Trapper7, how do you know so much about the education system in this country?

Well put Keith C. I agree with your thought path. Now the real question is how is this done? As you mentioned, the public school system is a recipient of all students; low ability, average, and high flyers. A huge percentage of dollars and time is funneled to those students that are special ed, insubordinate, or low ability. As a teacher I can tell you that 80% of my time is spent with 20% of my students. Unfortunately that group of students seems to continuously be growing. So what do we do with that group of students that's eating up the largest percent of our time and money? They do need the time, they do require 1 on 1 staffing at times. If not given these things, we are basically pushing them onto the streets, into welfare, or into our prison system. They don't have a chance.
School staff have lost the authority to look at a kid the wrong way, make them feel bad, or touch them. It's very hard to discipline a child at school that has no discipline at home or consequences from actions at school once they get home.
I'm all for dumping tenure, unions, etc. if it helps the problem at hand here. I believe the problem is a macro cultural problem and schools can be part of the solution.

That would be a great place to start. Knowing your being held accountable for results is a great motivator.

I have absolutely no problem with that, Catch 22. There aren't too many professions out there where workers don't have to be held accountable. So then the question becomes, what is the standard that teachers are held accountable against? Is it state and federal testing scores? High school graduation percentages? Number of students from a classroom that are sent to the office or calls home to parents?
How would it be fair if the best teachers had to teach the low performing and special ed students of a school in their classroom because they know how to handle them? Now their classroom test scores will not be near the scores of the teacher next door that has the "high flyers." Should these special ed teachers be paid more for what they have to deal with or be paid less because their students don't score as well on tests?

I still maintain that the core issue here is how soft, complacent, and entitled so many children today seem to be. And at times the mental health needs that students have. It's hard to find a kid with grit. Great things can happen with a little motivation but much time is spent in the classroom just trying to motivate students or redirect behaviors and not actually teach academics. Maybe we take public education money and use it in a more preventative manner? Put it into the betterment of mental health in our society? Or parenting classes? Put a halt to many of these issues before kids get into the classroom? I'm all ears.

"It’s called decision by committee, in which decisions are made based on input from a large group of people – people who tend not to agree. Over the years, decision by committee has been considered a time-waster. Sure, every committee member has the right to an opinion, but not all opinions are equal. In fact, many uninformed opinions are dead wrong. "

Great post atrapper. I agree with all you said and yes, I think a lot of your suggestions need to be incorporated back in to teaching. Getting rid of the unions imo is paramount to seeing better test scores along with a lot of other things. Another thing would be to train the teachers to be un-biased in there teaching. No more bringing their own agenda's and ideologies in to the classroom, teach both sides of the coin and let the kids decide where they want to land. Get the Gov out of education and give back curriculum control to the municipalities. There are a lot of things imo that fall on the teachers themselves but I know that Gov interference and poor parenting are factors too.

Catch22 I'll give you $16,000 a year for each of your children to spend on their education. Good luck! KISS

Dirt, who would this committee consist of? School employees such as peer teachers and administrators? Parents, community members, school board members? All of the above? How do you get on the committee? Whose opinions hold the most weight? In theory this seems like a good idea. The obvious fear would be that those committee members that garner the most power would be bias toward an employee for various reasons or not be well informed enough of the employees day to day work load, class test scores, classroom demeanor, or relationships with students.

As it stands now in public education, in Minnesota anyhow, that person that must have knowledge of an employees work load, class test scores, classroom demeanor and management, and relationship with students is the school principal or superintendent. For the first three years of a teachers careers, they are scrutinized, observed, met with, and held accountable by the principal and/or superintendent as well as a peer mentor (in most cases). If that teacher doesn't meet the needs or standards of that principal or superintendent for any reason during those first three years of employment (including district budget cuts), they are let go. I am one, know many, and have met many teachers that have been let go by districts for one of the above reasons. In essence, this three year trial period is a way for districts to see if you cut the mustard and gives them flexibility from a financial standpoint to adjust class sizes and put personnel where they're needed most. As most know, the largest benefit from a longevity standpoint here is that if you survive the first three years at a district and are tenured, you're pretty well good to go and it's very difficult to get rid of you.

Answer= homeschooling. The only way to know what your children are learning. Although some states are trying to not allow homeschooling, wonder why that is?

Catch 22, first lets stop and think about what state and federal testing is and does. It's a way to line every kid up side by side and compare their ability to answer a math question, read and comprehend a story, or read so many words correct per minute. But do we want every kid to be cut from the same mold? Don't we want kids to find their passion in life and pursue a career in that or hone whatever skill it is that they're best at and take that skill to find a career in? So then why do we need standardized state or federal testing?
Now, if we can't hold teachers accountable based on test scores, what should we do?

My point is that yes, even if it is tenured teachers or unions that are creating complacent teachers, there still needs to be a consistent and logical way to hold teachers accountable and I don't believe standardized testing is it. It's a cultural or maybe system wide issue that needs to be addressed first. Our education system should be teaching to students abilities, not to a standardized test that declines students their individual interests and diversity. However, in order to do that, you'd better have a heck of a lot of classrooms or at least a heck of a lot of teachers because right now many elementary classrooms have 30 students in them and are struggling to teach to a standardized test let along trying to diversify and teach to individual students skills and abilities. Our society needs to put more emphasis on work ethic and let that lead students to careers that may include skilled trades OR college.

As far as the argument for teachers not bringing their own agendas into the classroom....good luck. In a perfect world, this would happen but whether you're a teacher or not it's human nature to preach what you believe based on your personal experiences and opinion. It's my opinion that teachers already have their hands tied with what they can't and can do in the classroom and I believe this is what's partly to blame for so much of the insubordination that's seen in classrooms today. Teachers aren't supposed to talk about God or religion in the classroom either and look where that's gotten us. I don't think that more regulations are needed in the classroom. All that said, I agree that these young, impressionable mind should be left to make their own decisions when it comes to politics.

Reasonable but I'd adjust the athletics - End all school funding athletics. Go ahead and have the gym teacher or someone else coach the football team and play games at the school field. Kids pay for their gear and transportation. No building multimillion dollar athletic centers.

Much more emphasis on vocational education. College is great for some, not for all and not necessary. From what I remember Germany has a very good program. By 10th or 11th grade you're put in a vocational pipeline.

bleeohio, you're right. Home schooling is the only way that parents will know what's going in and coming out of their child. I admire any family that is financially and intellectually able to home school their children. The problem is that because of the way our society has transformed, it's very difficult for middle class families to only have one working adult and still be able to provide for the family. It also takes a special parent to stick with their child through the home schooling process from an academic standpoint and find the time to allow that child the social interactions that they need.
I'm a 3rd grade teacher. In my 10 years of teaching, I've had 4 kids enter my class that were previously home schooled. They came to public education because either the parent just couldn't do it anymore emotionally or the child was low academically and the parents were at a loss of how to reach their child. These students had a very difficult time acclimating to the social atmosphere of being in a classroom with 20 peers. The social aspect is the biggest thing that home schooled children miss. If they are home schooled until 12th grade, now they are having to enter society as an 18 year old that has had very little interaction, confrontation, or conflict resolution with peers. This doesn't always bode well when it comes to getting and sticking with a job in the "real world." I'm not knocking home schooled children here because some of the very best students I've known were home schooled and had more grit and common sense knowledge than many I've seen in the classroom, but there are many things to consider when home schooling.

How is that gong to help when the home is the problem in the first place. I know when I was a kid if I got in trouble at school I was in trouble at home no questions asked period. I have a daughter-in-law that is a teacher, junior high. A girl in one of her classes called her a b---- preceded with a agitative. Off to the office she goes. When the girls mother is told what her daughter said, the mothers remark was she probably derserved it. There is only one way to correct that kind of behavior and it has to be a home, and in most of the behavior problems that is not going to happen.

You have to ask yourself just how healthy an environment public schools are when we see the motivation for curtailing our gun rights driven by kids killing each other in public schools.

Say you got two kids and choose to homeschool them. You can buy plenty of educational material for both with $4,000 and you or your wife can keep the extra $28,000 tax free so one of you don't have to work.

Classroom size will be 2 students per teacher.

Posco, I asked myself and then I found the answer right above your post. You nailed it teepee2. Young people need direction from their home. If they're to the point of bringing a gun to school then there has been something absent from home. The closest thing to an adult in public schools that can define, interfere, and work a student through these types of mental issues is a school counselor....and by the way, there's about 1 counselor for every 400 students. At best! These students need a stable home life before they can function properly at school. Or again, maybe we need to be proactive and take some of this education money and focus it on mental health and proper parenting techniques.

Dirt, I wish more parents cared enough to actually consider doing this. It would be a huge step in showing their child that they come before themselves and that education is important.

It's hard to attack public education without teachers feeling like they are the ones being singled out for attack.

I believe the institution itself was corrupted long ago.

I'm trying to make it lucrative. One of mine was ADHD. It was a struggle educating that one.

I hear ya Posco. Constructive criticism is important in all facets of life, it's what makes improvements. As a teacher myself I try hard to not take things personally and to be able to use others opinions, perspectives, and criticisms to improve how I affect students. It's your taxes that are paying me so I sure as heck better be able to take what the public is saying and use it to give me direction in the classroom. But when you spend more time with some of these kids in the classroom than you do with your own kids and put your blood, sweat, and tears literally into their education, it's hard not to take some comments personal.

Dirt, my brother is ADHD. He's probably the reason I became a teacher. You know as well as any the dedication and patience it takes to bring a special needs student up the right way. Doesn't matter if it's home schooled or public education, it takes an angel of a parent to do these children justice. These kids absolutely are as and in many cases more talented than "normal" students, it's just that their avenue to understanding and delivery is unique.

My wife started out her working career as a public school teacher. Being fresh out of college, she found herself too close in age to those she was teaching and bailed on the profession.

Education became politicized somewhere along the line and it was used as a vehicle for political/ideological advancement. Unfortunately and from my point of view, it is dominated by liberals. That's why you see so many conservatives lashing out at it in the age of Trump.

No offense Posco but I'm assuming that you're a few years older than me. I'm 33. I see what you're saying. Education is dominated by liberals. My wife is a teacher too and she makes me look awfully conservative. I can only speak from my years on this earth and experiences in those years. I go to work and try to do my best to give my students what they need to success in life. I guess I'm still young and naive enough to think that our education system is working for our students and not a political party. At least I hope that's the truth. And if it isn't, then at this point I guess my best efforts are spent making change in those students that I teach directly in my classroom every day. And for those that don't like the way our public education system is moving, they should get into education and put their fingerprint on the future. If it's too late to cross the political isle and shake hands on a proper education system, maybe we need a grassroots effort to make thing right?

I don't think there is a political agenda so much in K through 12 education. In collage that might be a different story.

It would appear the NEA is not in our corner there atrapper.


"The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate family, with all expenses being borne by the parents/guardians. Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used.
The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools.
The Association further believes that local public school systems should have the authority to determine grade placement and/or credits earned toward graduation for students entering or re-entering the public school setting from a home school setting"

"Google" the name John Dewey, that's where the slide began. Undermining traditional American values starts in preschool.

In my school district in rural southeast PA the teachers do a pretty good job of educating our children. They make a decent wage and have better perks than most private sector jobs but I don't begrudge the that. My problem is with the powerful state teachers union and their ownership of our elected state officials. It has resulted in insanely high school property taxes in my area.

The game here is to hire an administrative superintendent with a track record of unnecessary spending. Ours was hired for a six-figure salary (in a fairly rural district). He lied to us about an approaching "population bubble" and used it as an excuse to ram a new, unneeded, $34,000,000.00 (thirty-four million) high school down our throats. The population bubble never materialized. The old high school now houses the middle school students but the entire upper floor is empty.


He also created an athletic director position (we don't even have a football team) and later an assistant athletic director position. Those two positions cost the district over $100,000.00 annually.

He stuck another feather in his cap and moved on to some other district where I'm sure he commanded an even higher salary to screw the local citizenry.

He left us with the highest school taxes in the County. An average 2,000-2,500 sq.ft new home will run the unlucky owners $9,000.00-$12,000.00 in annual school real estate taxes.

There is plenty. It doesnt take much digging to find it.

There are numerous liberal agendas, brain washed into K through 12, in many public schools.

Children are frequently taught to fear and hate firearms. Even pointing your finger like a gun and saying bang is grounds for punishment in some schools. Bringing toy guns to school is often grounds for suspension and expulsion. Teachers, police officers stationed in schools and school nurses have been asking children about firearms their parents own.

Little boys are severely punished for kissing little girls in some liberal schools now. Children are forbidden to hug and hold hands. Boys are taught that they are the cause of many of the world's problems.

Children are taught in many liberal, public schools that homosexuality, cross dressing, bisexualism and transgenderism are normal and to be accepted and even flaunted. Some liberal, public schools, as someone posted on here a few months ago, actually have drag queens come to schools, dress young children up, read them stories about their lifestyle and then the children perform in drag shows.

Many liberal public, grade schools have a strong anti-white curriculum. They teach false history, like that Egyptians were negroids. They teach that Native Americans were pacifists. They teach that whites are the cause of most of what is wrong with the world.

Some liberal public grade schools teach that Islam and other non-Christian religions are better than Christianity. They make children learn and recite passages from the Quaran.

Liberal grade schools frequently don't let sports teams keep score. They won't say who won. They give participation awards.

Keith

Even if you homeschool, your educational material and curriculums will have left wing crazy ideas, animal wacko crap, environmental nut job stuff, historical rewrites, etc. Those people have pretty good control of the textbook industry.

Agreed but at least with home school, you have a chance.

Teepee, I can't argue with your point, I agree. In my opinion the problem homes are the ones that look at public schools as a babysitter for five days a week.

I did it. It takes commitment and a lot of time. But I found that a lot of the elementary things can be taught on the actual trapline. Also, living in the woods gives enormous opportunities for science projects .....things that no school setting would have the time to do. Not only can kids get the "book learning" but in many instances they can apply that learning in hands-on projects that are required in that environment

It was more than forty years ago when my sophomore Social Studies teacher suggested the US Constitution was a "living, breathing document". That's how he phrased it, verbatim. I wasn't much of a political animal at that point in my life but my gut instinct was to challenge him and his ideas. That's just what I did.

I developed an acute eye and ear for parsing liberal jargon early on.

During Leonardo di Vinci's youth that's how he gained most of his knowledge.

He was dong ride-alongs with White during that time.

And it doesn't show at all.

You got kids that can't even get a bowl of cereal at home and you want them to get motivation.

He left us with the highest school taxes in the County. An average 2,000-2,500 sq.ft new home will run the unlucky owners $9,000.00-$12,000.00 in annual school real estate taxes.[/quote]


holy molly....that's more than the house payment

Yeah, school taxes here can be as much as a mortgage.

Holy moly lug,people around here constantly complain about our property taxes. I don't know anyone who pays 10k. I pay a little over 4k for 2 house and a little over 100acres. School taxes have held for several years but the county raises theirs all the time.

The southeast and southwest corners of the state are hardest hit with insane school taxes. The tax amounts I quoted are for new construction. My modest home on three acres here in southeast PA costs me over $4,000.00 annually. My camp on five acres in north-central PA costs me about half that.

The farm adjacent to my southeast PA property was sold about ten years ago. It was subdivided into 11-20 acre lots, little farmettes for the horse lovers. A friend built a story-and-a-half home there and pays a little over $10,000.00 per year in school taxes. It's like an 1,800 sq.ft. house!

Folks in the rest of the state din't it quite as bad as we do in the southeast or southwest corners. That's why we run int resistance when trying to pass the Property Tax Elimination Act. We've (various groups I belong to) been trying for almost thirty years to get it passed. The current bill is HB 1776. Two years ago we came very close, a tie vote in the House. In such cases the Lt. Governor casts the deciding vote. Governor Wolf's lap dog Mike Stack had a disgusting smirk on his face as he killed the bill. Governor Wolf is owned by the Pennsylvania State Education Association as evidenced by his announced dumping of millions more into our already bloated, top-heavy education system and his unwillingness to address property tax elimination or even reform.

Both my mortgages are paid but I don't own my properties, the state does. If I don't shell out in excess of six grand annully, they will take my properties from me and sell them at auction.

No tax should have the ability to leave you homeless.

Property taxes. and taxes in general statewide, have been a problem since long before Tom Wolf.
Remember that corbet was the fool that raised our gasiline tax by 37 cents per gallon-the highest in the country! If I fill up once a week,that tax costs me over $400/year. I voted for that fool the first time but why are so many in my party afraid to admit the guy was terrible? Is it republican tax-good, democrat tax-bad?

Exactly right.

Don't you ever get tired of beating that dead horse? You just couldn't help yourself could you? You had to get a good point in for the Dems while taking a swipe at Reps.

Do your own homework grackle. The R's have been pushing for property tax elimination for at least twenty years. Guess who's been blocking it?

That's what they keep saying. One thing we do know for sure, our last republican gov didn't hesitate to raise taxes for every citizen of the state that drives. Where was the outcry from the good conservatives in my party?---Probably working against a severance tax placed on the out of state interests that paid to put tommy corbit in office. He played his party loyal for fools and it worked.

I'd love to see my property taxes gone or at least lowered. If that happens where will the money come from to pay for the things it is used for now?

At the very least, property taxes should cease on a persons primary residence when that person reaches retirement age. Local government has a lot more latitude to screw you over than the federal government ever dreamed of.

I thought Corbett (our last R governor for out-of-staters) was an A-hole. But this thread is about teachers striking and school taxes.

The plan is and always has been to eliminate the school tax altogether, no reform because we all know that will be temporary. HB 76 has always been about total elimination. The state sales tax would be lowered to 5% and applied to items not currently subject to sales tax; mostly food and clothing. Feasibility studies have shown repeatedly that this will completely fund the state education system.

Currently in Pennsylvania, only homeowners and those owning real estate are taxed with the responsibility of supporting our education system. Nobody else pays into the system. Under the new plan, anybody who buys any product in PA helps to fund the education system. The tax base would be greatly expanded. It is a far more equitable plan than burdening a relatively small segment of our population (home-owners) with the sole support of education.

Of course the PSEA, various teachers unions and advocacy groups (lobbies) oppose it. Primarily because there would be oversight where none currently exists. No more unneeded high schools or multi million dollar sports stadiums. They (the Pennsylvania State Education Association ) want to continue to milk that cash cow unimpeded.

They don't give a crap how many senior citizens are kicked out of their homes or have to decide between paying their school tax and buying food or medicine.

Just a troll being a troll, never fails as they change the subject just to get ya going.

Pretty hard to get a raise from a sales tax, schools just ride the local Gov. wave of assessed value.

I do feel I did a better job than the public schools would have done at a better value. Then again, we have poor schools that are really expensive. I am elitist in that I only care about my children's education.

X2 Dirt !!

Exactly why we've not had an elimination bill passed in twenty years of trying!