Back to School and Lying to the Public!

[cjbgreen]

According to the Sacramento Bee "Last year, public school districts started the year with fewer teachers, bigger classes and reduced resources." According to The Bee, "This year it is worse"."
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/22/2974315/school-year-starts-with-bigger.html#ixzz0xPQkQQsgwhen
But according to Arne Duncan and fellow reformers, parents needn't worry about their child's performance. Unless of course in a year their child's test scores do not increase. Parents will also find that they will need to pay for their children to participate in after school sports programs. Many high school students will take courses online.

Still we hear from reformers "that children come first, and they can't wait and all it takes is a great teacher. Students in Sacramento are not unique. Blame the teacher is a smoke screen. Our children deserve great schools and the truth.

[sandnsea]

1. There was increased federal funding last year

Besides RTTT.

And there is increased federal funding again this year.

Yes parents may have to pay for after school activities. We've been doing it here for over ten years.

Students who fail classes are allowed to do make-up classes online. We consider that helpful.

If I recall, California said they were going to use the federal school money to cover other budget shortfalls. Maybe California needs to get the money into the schools that the schools are supposed to have.

[cjbgreen]

2. Increased federal money

Increased federal money?
Are you stating that this federal money is an increase that is equitably distributed across states and school districts? Is this money that is supporting the charter school movement (part of RTTT)? Class size is now no longer economically viable in many states. Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, and New York are a few examples. When schools fail teachers are blamed and schools are closed and so it goes. http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/articles/despitestatesubsidiesclasssizesbegintoriseagainincaliforniaschools

[MadHound]

3. This is an epidemic across the country.

One of the local middle schools didn't replace a Social Studies teacher, instead dividing up the students between the other two. Which means over thirty kids in a classroom meant to hold twenty five, twenty six at most. There isn't enough room for more desks, so some of the kids are going to have to sit on the floor. Is this how we want our kids to learn?