Dispatch and Education

Julianne:
There are mixed opinions about the proposed budget cuts for charter schools around Ohio. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Governor Ted Strickland has proposed a 20 percent cut in funds for these schools. The cuts will carry through this year but within the next two years the budget will increase, not reaching the original figure though. Strickland’s head education advisor, John Stanford, believes that schools not only need to be grateful for the money being given to them but also should be able to manage their schools with whatever funding is being given.

There is always going to be issues about insufficient funding from schools. The government will continue to lower these funds and most of the time there is nothing we as educators can really do about it. Educators can ask for more money from tax payers but that seems to be a failing issue as each election passes. Petitions can be sent to local representatives, but that seems to be getting nowhere as well. Therefore, what else can educators do? I find myself thinking about this idea, and have not reached any well educated conclusions. The only thing I feel educators can do is to accept what is being given and to wait and see what comes next.

At the very end of this article, there are a few words about Strickland wanting to put an end to paddling in schools. This shocked me. Not only was it irrelevant to the main article, I was surprised to find that they were still punishing students this way. With how strict and law-suit oriented our society has become, I am in disbelief that paddling is still allowed as a form of punishment. This may be because my parents negative feelings towards hitting children has rubbed off on me, it is beyond me that teachers are allowed to be using physical means as punishment.


Cathleen:
Less money for stabilizing the state’s budget and school construction would flow into Ohio under the Senate version of the stimulus package that emerged over the weekend. Sherrod Brown currently remains a supporter of the stimulus package, while Senator George Voinovich remains a non-supporter. $16 billion in school funding for construction would be cut under the senate version. Ohio would have gotten $561 million for it in the first version. There have been mixed feelings about both sides of this bill, and I personally do not appreciate what Brown is supporting.

I’d like to think we as educators have some sort of say in what is happening with this senate version of the stimulus package (or any other educational matters for that matter), but there really isn’t a whole lot we can do. I noticed the article gave a lot more devotion to Sherrod Brown’s opinion of supporting it rather than Voinovich’s. Brown thinks it will “quickly pump dollars into the ailing tax economy.” I understand that we must cut somewhere, but schooling is not the place for that.

Petitions can be sent to state and local representatives, but how much good to these petitions actually do? It’s sad to think that government thinks it’s okay to cut money from education in order to invigorate a failing economy. What about cutting small amounts from high-salary jobs on Capitol Hill? It might not be that much of a change, but in an economy like this every little bit helps.

Jessica:
Education and schools are always in the media. Articles can be positive, such as community service activities. Sometimes they are unbiased, such as sports reports. Most of the time, they are quite negative. Teachers being forced to take administrative leave for various reasons, students getting suspended, or even expelled, for fighting, and one of the biggest is funding for education. The focus should be shifted to the positive because the negative things do not happen as much as the media proposes.

When the story is positive, it does not stay on the front page for long or a long clip on the news in the evening. Students have organizations like National Honor Society, CACY, and others that do not get the coverage they deserve for the good works they do. Most of the time, if at all, when the story is in the news it is only a short 30 second clip or on page 5C of the newspaper.
When the story is negative, it is front page and interviews are conducted. Stories of fights are in the news and students get suspended. A teacher says something inappropriate and it is on the front page of the newspaper for the entire week to follow the story. Recently, in Mansfield City Schools, a teacher was put on administrative leave for inappropriate comments to students. The story began with the story, but it then went into detail of her teaching style and classroom management. Recently, in the same school district, a story of a fight is now being followed. There was even video and it was posted on the newspaper’s website.
In order for schools to be more positive and successful places, students need to see the good things occurring in schools on a regular basis. This could be volunteering, school plays, or even success by students in other areas. Sports are an important extracurricular activity for some students, and it is usually reported fairly. Other things could be reported as well that reflect well on teachers and the school district. Students participate in music programs as well as other clubs and organizations. National Honor Society works repeatedly with places to volunteer and organize donations. These are the things that should be focused on, not only the negative. Negative things can be covered in the news, but they should not be the priority when it comes to student success and producing quality citizens for the future.