Blog

“To be blunt, money does matter. Schools and districts with more money clearly have greater ability to provide higher-quality, broader, and deeper educational opportunities to the children they serve. Furthermore, in the absence of money, or in the aftermath of deep cuts to existing school funding, schools are unable to do many of the things they need to do in order to maintain quality educational opportunities.” Bruce Baker in Revisiting that Age-Old Question: Does Money Matter in Education? http://www.shankerinstitute.org/images/doesmoneymatter_final.pdf...

 Our governor wants to proceed with third grade retention for non-proficient readers, despite evidence that holding kids back often does more harm than good, as part of an initiative to raise fourth grade reading scores, and he’s going to fund it by cutting . . . early childhood education programs. Here’s a new entry in the “we can’t make this stuff up” file. This is another Florida Reform initiative we’d like them to keep in Florida. http://www.khi.org/news/2013/feb/04/brownback-reading-initiative-questioned-education/#continued...

“We are going to try to cover your back . . . [i]t is just the beginning of a lot of tough votes.” House Speaker Pro Tem Peggy Mast urging freshman legislators to vote with them on the so-called Payroll Protection Act. But aren’t they supposed to be accountable to their constituents? Aren’t they supposed to be covering our backs? Which other tough votes do you think they’re talking about (maybe a couple of consitutional amendments)? Something is terribly amiss when our legislators are being told, vote the party line and we’ll try to protect you from “them”...

 Here’s more info for Sen. Smith and others who think funding doesn’t matter. This piece points out that in NJ, MD, CO, MA and elsewhere, “increased spending on basic educational resources has led to demonstrated improved achievement. Despite vast differences among states, courts enumerated a remarkably consistent list of necessary inputs, including: high quality preschool, small class size, additional services for at-risk students, supports for teachers such as professional development, curriculum supports, supplies, equipment, adequate facilities, and adequate books and other learning tools.”  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/25/how-grossly-underfunded-are-public-schools/...