I have known Cindy Bennet for a while now, and while we may not always be on the same paragraph on things, I admire her as she’s SMAHT, is aware of what’s going on in a whole range of issues, is thoughtful and great to talk to. She also has a YouTube channel here.
The money line from below is that “the main problem with the current education system is that we give a lot of money and we don’t get very good results.”
She’s right, and if you want to pick a fight with me over that, first do your homework and tell me the following things about your District:
- What is your current direct/indirect labor cost ratio (e.g., by headcount and total burden cost, the number of “everyone else”/”those that are teachers”)
- What is the rate of increase in the District’s cost to taxpayers?
- Look at your NAEP scores and tell me the IMPORTANT measure (or should be) of “student achievement” is: what are the percentages of BASIC, Proficient, and Advanced student groups in your District?
- And given those answers, are you happy over that achievement (or lack thereof) at the level per child you are paying?
I dare say most of us SHOULD be saying no and demanding higher standards from those we employ in our education staff.
And for full disclosure, I am friends with both Jodie and Ian Underwood and have been for many years (and I wouldn’t want it any other way). And, while Jodie is an occasional contributor here (I wish she’d write more – hint, hint), Ian has been a Grokster for years after I had read his Second Amendment testimony to the Democrat-controlled NH House – he made my head hurt, but I LEARNED another viewpoint that I hadn’t before contemplated. Since then, I have bought stock in aspirin firms because he keeps doing it (only kidding, only kidding – but still appreciating his “out of somewhere” take on things that ONLY make sense if you are willing to think his reasoning through as then it starts to make sense.
Back to the book – should our education system ONLY be judged on how much we spend, or is it about how much students actually achieve? Are we placing the right emphasis on the right things? What Ian has taught me is that the answer is no – we aren’t, especially with Wokeness sweeping through our schools and taking attention away from academic rigor and replacing it with topics that should be left in the hands of parents (as you all well know from my “…Stack of Stuff” posts).
Bare Minimum Books is here – go take a gander at the rest of the books! The Croydon Budget Battle can be found here or on Amazon.
And no, this is not a paid ad; I just want him to write here more often (smirk).
HT | School District Governance Association of NH
