Question of the Week

Comments

1. Ken Mortland says:
   November 24, 2009 at 3:10 am

   Oregon may be able to reduce the number of school days, but Washington can’t. We have a mandated 180 day school year. Savings will have to be found in another area.
2. Jody Granatir says:
   November 24, 2009 at 3:17 am

   Reducing or eliminating kindergarten is a false solution to the budget problem. Why target our youngest students for these cuts; it is just as unfair as reducing high school to 5 periods (which was done in some Washington districts faced with double levy failures). Cuts should be made across the board and away from the classrooms, if possible.
3. randydutton says:
   November 24, 2009 at 4:16 am

   Budget crisis is WORSE than predicted. Nearly all education money should be shifted to schools, and reduce state capital control. Let principals do the hiring/firing, and administration.

   All classtime should be used to teach. All school days should be full days – no half days. Don’t show unrelated cartoons or movies as a substitute for teaching. In our area, the local high school has 24 half days. These should be combined into 12 full days, or if it is absolutely necessary to keep, use the second half of each of the 24 days to show educational informationm, which doesn’t require significant supervision.
4. Chris Enslein says:
   November 24, 2009 at 4:17 am

   I am outraged at the lack of public outrage regarding the state of our public school. A cut that “hits home” may change that dynamic. Seems to me the lesson from the Kent teachers strike is class size is a hot button. Superintendent in my district has already said it will be impossible to survive another round of cuts without negative impact on class size. The impact of kids will be negative but there simply is no where left to cut that does not impact the classroom.
5. randydutton says:
   November 24, 2009 at 4:19 am

   Take control of your union. Teachers should insist the union help administration get bad teachers dismissed. This opens up room for good teachers to be hired. Don’t keep bad teachers on the rolls. Don’t let the union force bad decisions on the taxpayers, on the students, or on the parents.

   If the union isn’t helping reduce the cost of education, they are part of the problem.
6. David J. says:
   November 24, 2009 at 5:35 am

   “Recent polling shows that 60 percent of Washington residents don’t believe our state is facing a budget crisis..”

   LOL. I don’t see a cite for this poll and can’t find anything like this via a Google search. Where might I find out more about this poll? (Remember, “47.3% of statistics are made up on the spot!”, so show your work please.)

   I’d almost believe that statistic given the clueless parents at the education meetings I’ve been to recently. All these parents (and lawmakers and lobbyists) in attendance called for more spending on education, more taxes, higher (or no) levy lids, No on 1033, a state income tax, paid family leave, etc. It was like an echo chamber! Not a single one of them proposed cutting spending in other (non-paramount duty) state programs to leave a bigger slice for education. They just wanted to squeeze more blood from the turnip during an economic downturn.

   As for the question asked… Yes, they should consider it, along with many, many other options having nothing to do with education. Should they enact either of those alternatives? I would certainly hope not.
7. Jeff says:
   November 24, 2009 at 9:35 pm

   In response to the question asked, if I were to choose between full time kindergarten and shortening the school year by a few days; I’d choose to shorten the school year. I do think that a shortened school year would send a clear message to our public about the budget crisis. The way that the budget crisis has been addressed so far has hidden the cuts in K-12 from the public. Critical K-12 programs are receiving less funding yet are expected to operate as if fully funded. I believe in investing in our children and believe that early learning is a wise investment. Yet, I know that families who lack resources will not be able to provide quality camps or programs to their children if the school year is cut short. All children deserve full day programming for a minimum of 180 days; frankly, I’m in support of a longer school year with shorter breaks throughout the year rather than the current school-year calendar.
8. Ryan says:
   November 25, 2009 at 10:34 pm

   “Teachers should insist the union help administration get bad teachers dismissed.”

   Speaking as a local president, the Administration is more than welcome to get rid of “bad” teachers. I just ask that they follow the process and do their due dilligence.

   In most cases I’ve seen, bad teachers hanging on has far more to do with administrative blunders than it does with the union getting in the way.