Until this Port Angeles school tech levy election is over on May 20, I will continue to send updates to you that will hopefully assist you in making your decisions. I hope too you will discuss this information with your friends and neighbors.
Today I learned about a $13.2 million grant which was awarded to Washington state schools...only to be lost due to our teacher's union rules.
Some months ago, I listened to a radio interview with a Washington teacher who stated that the single biggest obstacle to our children receiving a world class education in Washington is the WEA (Washington Education Association).
Fifty per cent of the check you write for your property taxes goes to education; and a big portion of that DOES NOT go to educating our children.
According to the following article which appeared in today's Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2004394554&zsection_id=2003749464&slug=grants06m&date=20080506
The National Math & Science Initiative wanted to disburse this grant by paying teachers directly. But Washington's teacher's union's collective-bargaining laws require that teacher pay (a small portion of the grant) be negotiated between unions and school districts.
"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided $10 million for the effort, was disappointed that Washington state couldn't find a solution, noting that some of the other states involved have teachers unions, too.
"Honestly, I can't figure out why they couldn't solve this," said Steve Seleznow, the foundation's program director for education.
But Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association (WEA), said that outside groups can't just set up a new system for paying local teachers.
"That's not how it works in our state."
The WEA, he said, was particularly concerned about tying teacher pay directly to student test scores."
That last statement from the spokesman for the WEA is very telling. In other words, the teachers' union doesn't want anything tying test results to teacher performance. They want to avoid accountability at any cost. Even if that means denying our children a multi-million dollar grant.
Here's a video report from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation with an eyepopping interview of its CEO on the loss of this grant and the role the WEA paid in losing it (the comment by a teach posted at the end is very interesting indeed):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqiJGyMe7I
(Note: the EFF was the organization that challenged the WEA and won the Supreme Court case which foiled the WEA's attempt to use non-union teacher dues for the WEA's own political causes.)
And here's another wasteful fact: teachers who are awaiting hearings on various complaints - which could range from a minor infraction to assault - are assigned to what teachers call "the rubber room" where they must report daily, sometimes for years, to await a decision. Here they read magazines, play cards and nap....all at full pay, all at taxpayer expense - as dictated by union rules.
The Seattle School District paid $2 million to teachers last year while they await administrative hearings. Two million dollars of our taxes going to teachers who must sit and do nothing. Okay, so some of them may not be "fit" to teach, but surely they can be given some job in the school system to make them useful to taxpayers.
There are so many many ways our government run school system is wasting our hard earned tax dollars and failing our children (and why home schooling is on the increase). Changing the state constitution to allow passage of school levies by a simple (as opposed to super) majority, further removed our schools' responsibility to accountability.
Today's PDN front page story tells of the PA School Board's cut to this year's school budget (partially achieved by job attrition and declining enrollment). But the School District will go ahead with our Legislature's mandated (but unfunded by the state; translation: to be funded through property taxes) all-day kindergarten. If you are interested, I can point you to reports which state that this approach to learning does not necessarily help our children learn and in some respects can actually hinder it.
Also interesting to note in the PA School budget trim: $14,000 saved by turning off computers during evenings, weekends, and school breaks. Stoopid question of the day: how many years has this been going on and why didn't the school board think about saving us that $14,000 in energy costs before now? I won't even go into green issues with this one - not to mention wear and tear on the computers - which we are being asked to replace.
All something to think about when filling out your ballots.
Shelley
P.S. I would certainly understand if some of you were so angry at this that you felt it necessary to write a letter to the editor of the Peninsula Daily News.
P.P.S. Please do not construe the statements above as our being opposed to education or taxes for education. We are NOT! We simply want our tax dollars spent wisely, our children to receive a world class education, and the state of Washington, the WEA, and our schools to put the children first.
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