End Prey for Profit - Education "Reform" as an Example

Prey for Profit:
The exploitation, bullying, marginalization, and/or abuse of people, animals, the environment, economies, and/or countries for profit and/or power.

Example:
Education "reform" for the purpose of the privatization of public education and increase of corporate profits and power. Who is exploited and/or abused? Students and teachers.

The Story:

Some corporations, CEO's and millionaires/billionaires are using their power and money to abuse children, marginalize teachers, destroy unions, take away people's rights, and exploit democracy (Citizens United, etc.) for power and profit. First, they purposefully compare test results between the entire and extremely heterogeneous and higher rate of poverty, huge COUNTRY of the US with the more lower rate of poverty and homogeneous CITY of Shanghai and small country of Finland and in order to be able to say Education in America has Failed. Then, they use EVERY opportunity to scapegoat and demonize teachers and say they, especially the more experienced teachers, are the problem. I especially love their central propaganda piece, "Waiting for Superman," in which they come in to "rescue" our country from our horrendously incompetent teachers and school systems. Next, they lobby and create laws, policies and regulations, while they put their corporate reform minions in place as School District Superintendents, School Board Trustees and Federal and State Legislators to help usher in their reforms, budget cuts, vouchers, co-locations, merit pay, common core standards, increased testing, union and collective bargaining busting, as they erode public education and teacher's rights. Finally, they get their desired results: increased corporate profits for charter and private schools...testing and remediation companies...textbook publishers, etc.; dis-empowered or broken unions; low-salaried, at-will employed teachers who have no due-process rights and for whom they no longer have to pay much in benefits. Notice that there is not one mention of students in this scenario? Of course there isn't. Children were never really their concern. They threw teachers under the school bus while they used public-school children and education reform as the cover for their battle for power, control and profits. Shame on the corporate "reform" people for using our nation's children as human shields. End the Use of Children as Prey For Profit. 

Teachers in the Trenches!

When good teachers get tired of being demonized and scapegoated, their collective bargaining rights attacked or shredded, and are so adversely impacted by salary, benefit and retirement cuts they leave the profession, that negatively impacts education. Teachers can't pay their bills or live on their goodwill towards their students.

Lots of teachers in my district have retired or quit in the past few years. Many of them have left the state. Even more teachers are thinking about retiring or quitting, and many of them want to leave Nevada. Teachers have been surplused, RIF'd. The Clark County, Nevada unemployement rate is about 14%, and we are #1 in the nation in foreclosures. Teachers are a part of these statistics, too. There are teachers living on food stamps. Teachers are also now homeless.

After our salaries were frozen for the past couple of years, my school district has now decided to unilaterally cut our salaries beginning this month, going against our negotiated contract. They also want to get rid of our health trust in favor of a less-expensive (for them), lower quality of care provider. This will increase my monthly premiums to almost match my mortgage payment! I'm unable to afford this, so if they get away with this, I'll be joining the ranks of the tens of millions of medically uninsured Americans.

Teachers have to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in school loans for our education degrees. We also pay thousands of dollars to acquire the additional education credits mandated by our state in order to maintain our licenses. In addition, we pay thousands of dollars out of our own pockets for additional education in order to meet the non-funded No Child Left Behind federally-mandated requirements in order to reach Highly Qualified status. We pay thousands of our own dollars in education to move over in salary scale so that we can finally attain a living wage. We supplement the education of our state's children out of our own pockets when we buy classroom supplies, and books for our classroom libraries. Food, energy and other prices have skyrocketed around us. Yet, we found we had no choice in good conscience but to agree to freeze our own pay for the past two years, due to State and District budget constraints, so that WE could save other teachers' jobs in order to keep our students' class sizes lower. Oh, and we also pay for our students' education with our own tax dollars. Then, we get asked to "share the sacrifice?" Really?!!!

If Nevada's Governor Sandoval and state legislators really want to attract new business to our state in order to diversify and improve our economy, look at how you're negatively impacting educators and education. Your bottom line shouldn't include cutting our children's education and their future by slashing their education funds and attacking their educators.

To all educators:
When people get pushed up against a wall, and they want to survive, they'll find any way they can to get around, under, or over the wall. Hopefully, they'll be smart enough to join together, help each other, and lift each other up to find a way to survive. When we all work together, we can accomplish miracles. When we fight each other, only a few win, and we create a lot of losers. It is when there are too many losers that organizations, societies and governments fall. History tends to repeat itself. Let's work to lift each other up for ourselves, our families, and our students.

The War on Education

The New Math for Teachers: teachers / (POLITICIANS + MEDIA + PARENTS + CHILDREN) = Failing Students
Politicians and media don't treat teachers with respect, so parents and children assume they don't have to, either. Teachers across the country constantly hear the mantra that they are failing to do their jobs. Teachers have been made the scapegoat for the ills of society, including the widespread problem of lack of parenting, while dealing with disrespectful and sometimes violent parents and children. If a parent can't control their own child (and many parents cannot), how do they expect teachers to control that one child in addition to the other 18-40 or so other students in their classroom, some just as defiant, or even violent? As for the parents who do care to actively participate in their child's education, often can't because, in Nevada, they often have to work at least two jobs. Oh, and of course, teachers still have to find the time to actually teach the ever-expanding and changing curriculum that skims, instead of delving into more subjects than are covered in either Japan or Germany (countries with whom our test scores are compared - apples vs oranges). Then, once again, teachers are told they're no good and it's ALL their fault when students don't "make the grade."

In Nevada, teachers earn far less money than do people in other professions who have comparable educational and professional qualifications, have a health care package that offers even less coverage than the package available for support staff, and have only received a 4% increase over the past 2 years (Clark County police officers received a 28% increase in one year). Yet, Governor Jim Gibbons has proposed a 6% cut in teacher salaries. Nevada State Senator Nolan, met and discussed the 6% salary cut with Clark County School District Certified Employees (teachers and future administrators). He said, 'We hear you loud and clear. We don't need our offices flooded with e-mails and we don't need anyone else calling.' He then stated that 'we all need to do our part and give back' to our state. Teachers 'should just feel lucky to have their jobs.' I wonder if all Nevada State Government officials, including this Senator and Governor, have already voluntarily reduced their own salaries by 6% to help the state balance its budget? Leaders should not ask sacrifices of their employees, when they won't make the very same sacrifices themselves, first. After all, they too, should feel lucky to have their jobs!

Nevada's Governor, in addition to reducing teacher salaries by 6%, also wants our already underfunded school district to reduce its budget. This will more than likely cause class size increases, a decrease in per student funding, and a significant reduction in every school's budget so they will be short on supplies. Brilliant move! This is the optimal strategy to use to retain your best teachers and increase student achievement. Governor Gibbons, and all other politicians and media, don't forget to blame the teachers, again, when student achievement drops. Keep this up and they'll all quit. This, of course will go over well with corporations contemplating relocating to Nevada. So much for Nevada's future. So much for "children are our future." Actually, the title of this post could also be The War on Children.

ADDENDUM
Governor Gibbons, in his State of the State Address on 1/15/09, said that reduced hours and salaries have contributed to our state's economic downturn. In the light of his own logic, how does reducing teacher salaries help our economy? If he reduces teacher salaries, many teachers will be forced into bankruptcy and/or foreclosure, and they most certainly will be spending less, contributing to the downturn. Has he thought about couples who are both teachers losing 6% of their entire family income? What about the teachers who have just completed their Master's Degree to acquire the "Highly Qualified" status required by No Child Left Behind, who now must pay off $15,000-30,000 worth of school loans? Oh, by the way, since when can a Governor break a labor contract? I also didn't hear him asking our police (remember the recent 28% increase?) or firefighters to take a 6% pay cut (not that they should have to, either)! Nothing like being equitable! By the way, why is it that traditionally female occupations are always picked on first?

How about asking our power companies to lower their profit margins and decrease their rates? Instead, they want to increase their rates, so that our many citizens who are already struggling to pay their bills, will now be forced into foreclosure and/or bankruptcy.

By the way, he did say he would reduce his salary by 6% and asked other constitutional officers do the same. I wonder how many will actually do it?

Dr. Ruffles, in his reply to the Governor's address, stated he didn't believe the 6% cut and the freeze on step increases is possible because of existing contracts.

Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid stated the Governor is putting the onus of fixing the State budget on local governments and that the State Government should live within its means.

Speaker Barbara Buckley also disagreed with the education cuts. She stated that these cuts would take us to the bottome of per pupil funding in the entire country: #50, baby. Yes, Governor Gibbons, something of which you can be proud - great job!

John Ralston - why don't you take a pay cut, too?

Finally, I believe that Governor Gibbons is absolutely anti-education! In his post-address press conference, he said, "I will not stand in the way of the will of the public." Well, let's see if the public starts putting their "money where their mouth is" and continue funding education and paying teachers a fair wage. If Governor Gibbons wants to make us "The Renewable Energy State," he'd do better to think about how he was planning on educating the folks he expects to be working in these industries. No teachers = No education. Maybe state citizens should think about recalling our Governor.