In 1965, The Four Tops released a follow-up to their hit single, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" with a number called "It's the Same Old Song." It was, actually, nearly the same song as "Can't Help Myself," admits singer Abdul "Duke" Fakir, as he and songwriter Lamont Dozier were in a rush to produce something and "reversed [‘Can't Help Myself'] with the same chord changes" to write "Same Old Song."
In Arizona, we're hearing the same old song about more money for education, now in the form of continuing the "temporary" 1 percent sales tax.
The Arizona Education Network says, "Studies show Arizona continually lags among the bottom of all states in terms of public education funding and academic performance," as though speaking of money and student achievement in the same breath will somehow link them together.
As history shows, increases in education funding do not lead to higher levels of student achievement. In fact, education funding has been on the rise for decades with nothing to show for all that additional money.
Between 1985 and 2007, federal school spending increased 138 percent, and per-pupil expenditures around the country have more than doubled since 1970, says Stanford University's Eric Hanushek.
In Arizona, reading scores for fourth-graders on the Nation's Report Card have changed little in the last decade, despite a 47 percent increase in total spending per pupil between 2000 and 2009. Interestingly, even when funding ticked down 4 percent between 2009 and 2010, not only did that make but a small dent in the earlier increases, but scores did not change. Suggestions that Arizona's low achievement levels are a result of funding levels ignore these findings.
Lawmakers should follow Gov. Jan Brewer's lead and mark Arizona as the nation's leader in education reform, as the East Valley Tribune reported last week, and keep the state committed to sound fiscal practices and a balanced budget.
Jonathan Butcher is education director for the Goldwater Institute.
mesateacher posted at 8:40 pm on Thu, Jan 12, 2012.
So Mr. Butcher is an expert in education. He has the answers and unfortunately, too many right-wingers listen to buffoons like him. Yes, we spend a lot and it hasn't seemed to help much. But look at it like this: the spending has prevented things from getting much, much worse. Go to any public school today and see what the hard-working, under-paid teachers are dealing with. Large classes, poorly maintained buildings, old text books (if any at all), ancient technology (again if any), increased work load in terms of curriculum mandates, testing, and more. Unruly, badly mannered, disruptive, lazy students. Administrators who seem to only care about PR and sports. I hear from teachers everyday who are quitting and getting out of education (or at least Arizona) as soon as they can. They're fed up with the low support of education. Mr Butcher, you should quit your cushy, high-paying Goldwater job and go teach in a public school and see for yourself what teachers are dealing with. I'll bet you wouldn't survive one month. Teaching is hard work, and you and your ilk should be doing everything you can to support teachers, and be d am n ed glad that there are some people out there willing to do the work knowing their total earnings for their entire working career will be less than one month's salary for someone who plays football, baseball or basketball.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:04 pm on Thu, Jan 12, 2012.
Our poor, overworked, underappreciated, Mesa teachers. Well, I don't blame you seeing the millions and millions of dollars being spent on Mexican, Honduran, El Salvadoran and Guatamalan children filling your classes and cafeterias to ...OVER-CAPACITY. I am so glad that the Teachers of Mesa will be asking...no..."DEMANDING"...that the Arizona Federation of Teachers Union stand up to the "Open Border" Obama Administration's Pro-Illegal Alien Amnesty decisions.
Yes, now that the Teachers of Mesa are behind the efforts of Governor Jan Brewer, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and sadly, our re-called President of the Senate, Russell Pearce. Yes, "MESATEACHER"...THINK OF ALL THE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS THAT WILL GO TO RAISING YOUR SALARIES, BUY "NEW" TECHNOLOGY, "SPIFFYING" UP MESA'S SCHOOL BUILDINGS, AND WHO CAN BLAME YOUR FOR ....JUMPING UP AND DOWN WITH HAPPINESS AT SEEING ALL THOSE THOUSANDS OF ILLEGAL ALIEN STUDENTS THAT WILL BE SENT BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM AND YOU CAN GO BACK TO TEACHING ONLY YOUR......AMERICAN STUDENTS....IN THOSE DRASTICALLY "SMALLER" CLASS SIZES OF THE PAST.
YOU SHOULD ALL WEAR YOUR ....."SAVE $7,670.00 PER ILLEGAL ALIEN STUDENT PER YEAR" .....TEE-SHIRTS.....TO SIGNIFY THAT YOU ONLY WANT WHAT SHOULD BE COMING TO YOU IN THE WAY OF HIGHER WAGES AND SMALLER CLASS SIZES..........WHEN YOU SIGNED UP TO BE A TEACHER...YOU DIDN'T SIGN UP TO TEACH ..."FOREIGN"...STUDENTS....NOW DID YOU.
Rich posted at 10:12 pm on Thu, Jan 12, 2012.
"...the spending has prevented things from getting much, much worse." Nope, it's made things worse, much worse.
"Large classes, poorly maintained buildings, old text books (if any at all), ancient technology (again if any), increased work load in terms of curriculum mandates, testing, and more. Unruly, badly mannered, disruptive, lazy students." Oh come on, every other bond is for something maintaining schools, if it isn't fixed by now it isn't going to be. Old text books? What? Did 1+1 change while we weren't looking? My son saw the dawning of technology in education had to buy him a fancy graphing calculator, along with teaching him long division myself, probably because the teacher didn't know it. Increased workload? Let me cry for you, it's still the best paying part time job in creation. And if you can't maintain discipline teaching children, get out of the classroom, you haven't got what it takes to do the job.
"Teaching is hard work..." No, it's not. And nuns who lack a high school degree have proven much better at it than the crybabies doing it now. It's just a government job, overpaid and underproducing.
davidflucier posted at 6:02 am on Fri, Jan 13, 2012.
"Lawmakers should follow Gov. Jan Brewer's lead and mark Arizona as the nation's leader in education reform...and keep the state committed to sound fiscal practices and a balanced budget."
Right...sound fiscal policy: structural deficit, sale/leasebacks that are the financial equivalent to Pay Day loans, endless rollovers, billions in cuts to education while increasing the prison budget and reducing health and safety expenditures to the point of systematic failure such as Child Protective Services or non protective as the case may be as the bodies stack up at the front door of CPS.
Arizona has decided that education is "too expensive", so it appears they are going to try ignorance for a while...that ought to save some money!
WOW! Where does the Goldwater people come up with such tripe. Perhaps Mr. Butcher is willing to let our "fiscally responsible" political leaders negotiate his next home loan.
VofReason posted at 1:32 pm on Fri, Jan 13, 2012.
Interesting discussion. I think there are very good teachers out there who have a very tough job. Problem is, I like the writer don't belive that more money will trickle down to them or the classroom in a way that will change much. More money generally means more administrators and laptops for poor students to "prove" they are doing something. Remember in 2000 when we voted for more money for enducation? What happen to that? Why do school building seem to deteriorate so much faster then all the other buildings around. I keep asking this, why can you send a kid to private school for less then what is paid per student in public schools and get much better outcomes?
VofReason posted at 1:34 pm on Fri, Jan 13, 2012.
Maybe it is becuase the people spending education money don't do it very well. If true, why do you expect a different outcome with more money? If you send your kid to the mall with $50 to by new shoes and he spends it on everything but shoes, do you send him with $100 next?
Mike McClellan posted at 8:51 am on Sat, Jan 14, 2012.
Butcher is the perfect "education expert" from the Goldwater Institute: choice over money, even as his institute campaigns for more money for charter and private schools.
Nice.
Anyhow, as to his claim in the column: if he's visited some of the older schools around the state, he'll notice the disrepair some of them are in. Why? In part because years ago the state took over the financing of school repairs and construction. And lately has eliminated funding for that, including in this year's Brewer Budget proposal.
At the very least the state should provide funding for needed repairs, like for leaky roofs and outdated wiring.
As far as "history shows," one of the supposed shining stars in education reform has been Florida under former governor Jeb Bush. Before Hatcher makes that claim about "history shows," he better consult with his fellow Republicans who extol the success of Florida education reform. Because Florida under Gov. Bush yearly increased education funding, to the tune of almost $1 billion annually.
Was that the only reform? Nope. But Governor Bush understood that Florida's overcrowded classrooms, particularly in poorer districts, were a detriment to learning. The Florida voters and legislature agreed.
concernedcitizen posted at 9:52 am on Sat, Jan 14, 2012.
mesateacher, thank you for your points of view.
Leon, thank you for the reminder of how much schooling illegals takes from our state coffers. (Thank federal law for that)
Rich, if you haven't been an educator, then you know nothing about what you are saying. Yes, there are bozo teachers who get by with doing hardly anything (you have that in any business), yet the majority of the teachers out there are working their tails off in order to make a difference in the lives of future adults, future tax-paying citizens who will be paying your social security wages someday. Your comment about nuns is out-of-context. Nuns don't have to follow laws as much as regular teachers do in regards to discipline. I blame administration that is over-bloated and that does not support teachers. Thankfully my district seems to have less of this than other districts. Buildings falling apart: because districts are required to take the lowest bid for building a new school, they are created not with quality in mind but "how much can I get away with without the inspector noticing so I can make the most money?" That is why buildings need repair so much and so quickly after being built, we have to go to the lowest bidder. One thing you said that is true: if you can't handle disciplining kids, get out of education. That is true. It does take time and practice, but if you don't have it after 3 years, find a different career. We need teachers who are not going to be lazy or inefficient when it comes to teaching students.
VofReason: My solution is to give each district a percentage of money for admin and a percentage of money for teacher salaries, so if $7000 is given for every student, maybe 15% of that goes to admin and 85% goes to teacher salaries. If it is legally designated that way, then teachers will get the pay they deserve.
Everyone: There needs to be accountability. What needs to happen is an independent firm audits 3 large districts, 3 medium districts and 3 small-town districts and looks at actual costs and what can be reduced/downsized. Then a plan needs to be developed with the legislators so that we do as I stated above, only give a certain percentage for administrative costs. One local district's superintendent pay has gone up almost $40,000 in the last 5 years, yet the district is one of the smallest of the large districts in student population. Something doesn't sound right there, especially since they've laid off so many teachers in the last 2 years. They have laid off tons of administrators as well, but who knows if that was just for show or if they really were doing "what was necessary." That is why we need a greater system of accountability when it comes to money, and if there are different accounts for administration and for teacher salaries, that will go a long way to helping with this.
As for myself, I am earning a lot less this year with budget cuts as a teacher, and I feel like I'm working harder than ever in order for my students to succeed. I don't worry about the money (except for when I can't provide well for my family, oh wait, that is all the time), what I do worry about is the quality of education I give my students. I work twice as hard as most people do in their jobs, I put twice as much into my "8 hours" (insert the 1-3 hours per night I have to spend on paperwork and other tasks in order to stay caught up and in order to teach effectively) as anyone else. On top of that I'm raising a family, several kids we adopted through foster care so we could give them a better life. Last night was the first time my wife and I were able to go out on a real date for months and just enjoy our time together. I've forgotten what that was like. I make great sacrifices in order to teach todays' students effectively and efficiently, many of which could care less about consequences and "getting in trouble" at school; they're more concerned about how they look for their friends. Yet I still, amongst all my other duties, try to instill values of hard work, honesty, kindness and integrity in my students so they can become good citizens as adults. I expect 100% in everything. There is a lot more to teaching than just "imparting knowledge." It truly is an art, and anyone who has not been involved in it should not be making policies in regards to education. Just my 2 cents.
Rich posted at 9:36 pm on Sat, Jan 14, 2012.
"Rich, if you haven't been an educator, then you know nothing about what you are saying." If you're asking whether I have been a teacher, yes, I have been. My wife as well, and her background as an elementary school teacher in Ocean Hill/Brownsville in Brooklyn rather trumps anything that goes on in Arizona. As I said, a typical government job, overpaid and underproductive.
mnjcpa posted at 10:55 am on Tue, Jan 17, 2012.
My high school English/debate teacher was awesome and taught me that if I can't argue the points, to pass. It's interesting that it's the teachers in this column are the ones that can't argue the points with folks like @Rich and @VofReason and resort to name calling.
No one argues that you work hard. Guess what? That's life - I haven't worked less than 60 hours a week in 25 years. Something you come to expect and love as an entrepreneur. What conservatives have a problem with is your boss - Big Government Education.
Everything from the food the kids eat, to what they study, to how you can address them or not - our humanity is being stripped away in the attempt to make everyone the same. And it's interesting that the cry is always about the poor teachers & police - but it's completely okay to fire 80,000 in the military. Why is that? The only difference is you've got a union that funnels money back to the Democratic party.
Argue the points.