This was in the paper today…
“From budget cuts to lawsuits and political unrest, 2010 is likely to be a challenging year for Orange County schools.”
“Adding to local schools’ financial burdens are a series of national education reforms being pushed by President Obama, including a plan to tie teacher evaluations to their students’ performance. California is racing to implement those reforms right now and get as many school districts as possible on board.”
Read the rest of the story here
Reminds me of an article I read last year by Bill Ferriter, Teacher of the Year 2005-2006, Wake County, NC. It was called A Review of Readicide.
“I’m going to admit something to you that I probably ought to keep to myself: I’m ashamed of who I am, both as a reading teacher and an outspoken member of the Teacher Leaders Network. You see, over the past five years, I’ve changed my instruction in an attempt to see my students score better on standardized reading tests despite a strong belief that what I’m doing is bad for kids.”
Another good reason to support organizations like Childlight. In my humble opinion, they’re on to something big. They’re starting with the child in mind; the child as a person… imagine that.
Someone recently asked me if I get subsidized by the state for schooling at home. They were shocked when I said no. I explained I could be, but that the whole reason I choose to homeschool is so that I don't have to be accountable to the state. I can do what is best for my kids, not what some politicians think is best.
I am so incredibly thankful we live in a place where we are free to do this. This is a great reminder of that.
Greta
I was drawn by the money once, enough to look into the charter option, but you're right, we would be made accountable to the state and the ultimate hand-off that I just couldn't bring myself to was to give up authority for their education to the state. I couldn't be happier with my decision. Some of those tax dollars we pay for the education they don't receive from the state would be helpful if they could be applied to our legally sanctioned homeschool. According to Jen, the average cost per student for public school students in LA is around $10,000 – wow, the things we could do and the places we could go! Don't see that happening anytime soon though, considering the state of the budget in California.