cmondieyoung said:
All it takes is a quick glance at the US News & World Report studies on high school test scores to determine that by and large the best performing public schools are those in predominantly white middle to upper class communities---communities that can afford to pay higher taxes required to attract dynamic teaching faculty, and have the socio-economic demographic common to high performing students.
I think your logic is backwards. I bet those same communities have lower juvenile crime rates, lower teen pregnancy rates, lower drug abuse rates, as well as lower rates of broken families, etc. So why wouldn't their test scores be higher?
Cortez, Colorado in Montezuma County has a beautiful new multi-million dollar high school and recreational facility, yet they aren't even in the top 500 public schools in the nation. Why? Because state subsidies go to poorer districts whose citizens can't afford (or don't WANT to afford) taxes to support their public schools.
You're kind of making my point here. However, I realize the prob is rather more complex. In California Prop 13 was passed by taxpayers in the 70's which limits property taxes to 1% of their assessed value. Those areas that have wealthier residents and thus higher prop values do have their tax funds redirected through an imperfect and political methodology to those communities in need.
My kids church school pays teachers a slightly higher starting wage than does the local school districts do. However, after a few years of tenure, the public school teachers wages and benefits far outpaces what our school can afford. I don't begrudge this a bit. I believe that, in general, public school teachers are talented, dedicated and hardworking people who are trying to do a largely unrecognized job that is loaded down with burdensome legislative and judicial requirements and working with school districts bureacrats that are seemingly more interested in protecting their own political turf than in promoting the educational needs of the students entrusted to them.
Public schools are required to meet costly ADA construction and access requirements. Private schools do not.
California public schools are madated to have integrated programs/campuses for developementally disabled students. Different schools do this in different ways but often elementary school teachers have several developmentally disabled students integrated into their regular classes. Imagine having 20 students and three of them take 95% of your time simply to try and meet minimum legislative requirements. What do you think happens to the students who are simply doing OK or could excel?
Public schools also have mandated special programs to meet the educational needs of everything from juvenile delinquents, pregnant teen mothers, drug rehab, school police forces, etc.
When you combine these issues with bloated, self-perpetuating school bureacracies, unsupportive and dysfunctional parents, is it any wonder that those communties with a higher percentage of costly demands suffer educationally? What teacher would want those burdens regardless of pay?
It's not simply paying teachers more money...
Private schools do not face these costs and limitations. Those going typically have supportive families interested in supporting and promoting education.
Sure, there are exceptions, but by and large the counties (and states) that have sustained Republican leadership have poor public schools. Would YOU send your children to a public school in rural Mississippi over a public school in suburban New York? Scarsdale, NY (the area where I grew up) consistently has one of the best high schools in the nation. They also have THE HIGHEST paid public school teachers in the nation (when I was in 8th grade, the starting salary for a music teacher was $65,000). They also have high taxes to support this...
By your logic LAUSD is the best school district around (democrat) and Orange County is crap (republican). It's interesting that what makes sense in NY doesn' hold true in CA...
My family recently moved to Charlottesville, VA.. not a poor area by any means. However, Republican Gov. John Warner continues to cut funding to UVA (where my father is a professor) and the surrounding public schools
I'm crying here, really...
My sister attends a private school there because the public schools just plain aren't up to snuff (standardized test scores, AP courses offered, etc etc). Many middle-upper class families are forced to do this if they want their child to do well.
I see. Your sister is being forced to attend private school due to a republican conspiracy...
It's an issue that is getting glossed over with this Iraq nonsense. Americans continue their path to general ignorance, unfortunately. We're more worried about eliminating bilingual education for Chicano/Latino students then whether or not our children even know what the capitol of Mexico is.
I realize that life is simpler looking down at the rest of us from the "groves of Academe" and wishing everyone was as intelligent and wise as you.
