Reply #269: You want to give them educational resources, then start fully funding public education

[MadHound]

Our current funding model for public education has finally broken. Relying on the property tax base of a district, with decisions placed in the hands of the voters and having the electoral process stacked against education by requiring a supermajority of voters to approve and educational funding decisions is a certain recipe for disaster, as we're seeing.

Rather than basing funding upon the districts property tax base, we need to have a more equitable distribution of education funds. We need to take funding decisions out of the hands of voters, and stop allowing those who aren't experts in education, who have a political agenda (I'm talking of the Christian right who've taken over many school boards) to direct how our schools are funded and the direction our schools take.

Oh, and we need to inject more money into education. You want the best teachers, then you've got to start paying for them. You want the best facilities, you've got to pay for them. We've spent the last forty years trying to run our education system at the least possible cost, and when the predictable problems arise, we blame teachers, students or administrators rather than they politicians who actually set policy.

Charter schools and private schools are simply another assault on public education. They continue to drive down the wages of teachers, drive down the amount spent on facilities and infrastructure, and ultimately drive down the quality of education.

This arises from the misguided notion that we can run education on a capitalist model, turning out students like widgets for the lowest possible cost. This simply doesn't work, students aren't widgets and schools are factories. In the top rated education countries we don't see this. Schools in Japan and Finland are fully funded, teachers are well paid and respected, which draws the best qualified teachers.

Following your economic model is what got us into the mess we're in. Continuing to follow such a failed model only guarantees that our children won't get the full education they deserve.