A recent article in the Tribune about class size in schools caused me to remember the year I had thirty-two 5 year olds in one of my kindergarten classes. Remember, every Kindergarten teacher has a morning and an afternoon class. So I taught another 30 children in the afternoon. Whew! We all survived. I was young and I was pedaling as fast as I could all year. In my heart I knew that my students were not getting all they needed from me. They were getting all I had, but not all they needed. Even reducing a class size by one student in the elementary schools can make a tremendous difference. Don't let anyone tell you differently. I taught school for thirty years. I experienced it.
Here's the link to "Will Salt Lake Shrink Class Size?"
Does class size make a difference in your child's education? The answer is such a big YES that when ranking state education systems against each other, the critics give a separate grade for "funding class size reduction". I repeat FUNDING CLASS SIZE REDUCTION DIRECTLY is part of the reason we are ranked so low in the nation.
In last year's rankings, Utah was 38th. SLCTrib article
"The report dinged the state for not limiting class sizes, not offering state funded teacher training and not paying teachers salaries equal to those earned by people in comparable occupations, among other things."
So....
The Legislature is unwilling to make education a priority and target funds to public schools for specific purposes. I am willing to work toward changing that.
How is it that Charter Schools reduce class sizes?
Charter school teachers are paid less than other public school teachers and they have no retirement program (unless it is self funded). That saves Charter Schools enough money that they can do some things that regular public schools cannot. They also have the luxury of capping their enrollment. If a regular public school has 32 kindergarten students, that is too many for one classroom teacher, but not enough for two teachers. There simply isn't the money. You get one classroom of 32 kindergarten students. Charter Schools can say "We are only accepting 20 kindergarten students." and turn away the other 12. Those 12 students are then picked up by public schools. Charter Schools are not the bad guys here. They have created some excellent learning environments and customized education to meet the needs of many children. But, something is wrong with this.
Who is paying the price for large class sizes in Utah? It's not Utah Tax Payers. Answer:
Here's the link to "Will Salt Lake Shrink Class Size?"
Does class size make a difference in your child's education? The answer is such a big YES that when ranking state education systems against each other, the critics give a separate grade for "funding class size reduction". I repeat FUNDING CLASS SIZE REDUCTION DIRECTLY is part of the reason we are ranked so low in the nation.
In last year's rankings, Utah was 38th. SLCTrib article
"The report dinged the state for not limiting class sizes, not offering state funded teacher training and not paying teachers salaries equal to those earned by people in comparable occupations, among other things."
So....
- Our children deserve smaller class size
- Our teachers should be paid a fair salary
- Our teachers should be paid for teacher training
- Utah's economy is missing out when companies decide not to locate here because of poor funding for Education
The Legislature is unwilling to make education a priority and target funds to public schools for specific purposes. I am willing to work toward changing that.
How is it that Charter Schools reduce class sizes?
Charter school teachers are paid less than other public school teachers and they have no retirement program (unless it is self funded). That saves Charter Schools enough money that they can do some things that regular public schools cannot. They also have the luxury of capping their enrollment. If a regular public school has 32 kindergarten students, that is too many for one classroom teacher, but not enough for two teachers. There simply isn't the money. You get one classroom of 32 kindergarten students. Charter Schools can say "We are only accepting 20 kindergarten students." and turn away the other 12. Those 12 students are then picked up by public schools. Charter Schools are not the bad guys here. They have created some excellent learning environments and customized education to meet the needs of many children. But, something is wrong with this.
Who is paying the price for large class sizes in Utah? It's not Utah Tax Payers. Answer:
- Your children pay the price when they are working in large classes.
- Their teachers pay the price, work harder and earn less money than "people in comparable occupations".
- Charter school teachers pay the price when they are paid even less than regular public school teachers and go without retirement plans.
- Utah's economy pays the price when we are ranked so low that corporations scratch us off their list of possible places to locate.
Make class size reduction a priority next Legislative session! Our children are our greatest natural resource!
No comments:
Post a Comment