Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
The Fordham Foundation’s Checker Finn looks at the budget austerity facing U.S. schools in the new Education Gadfly, and the conventional wisdom that any reductions are bound to damage the quality of schooling. He lays out and skewers a half dozen arguments typically used to combat cuts:
We see signs of the “Washington Monument gambit,” i.e., the threat by the National Park Service that, if it doesn’t get more money, it won’t be able to keep one of the Capital’s foremost tourist attractions open for visitors. Its counterpart in public education is to say that, if we have to cut our budget, we’ll have to (take your pick) eliminate sports, increase class size, abbreviate the school year, scrap gifted education, end after-school programs, curb college counseling, close the school library, etc., etc. That’s how school systems think about budgets: in terms of “programs” and “services,” not efficiencies, productivity, or such tradeoffs as personnel versus technology.
The kicker comes at the end, when it’s revealed that Finn’s essay is a barely updated version of a previous piece he wrote five years ago–the last time there were widespread budget cuts.
Did you mean “Bury the Lede”?
That’s precisely what I meant. Curiously, everytime I’ve ever spelled it l-e-d-e among educators (as opposed to among reporters and writers, where I spent the bulk of my career) I’ve always been asked why do you spell it lede? Figures that just as I get tired of explaining it as a newsroom convention, someone corrects me.
I’d be happy to invite Finn out to CA to give us some concrete suggestions on what to cut in next years budget…
We could certainly become more efficient if we stopped filling out accountability reports for the state — School Accountability Report Cards every year, last year an Local Education Agency Plan for the district, school Site Plans every year…
But somehow I don’t think that’s going to be one of the options that seem viable.
Seriously — pundits keep insisting that schools are full of waste, but I’d like some specific suggestions about what our district doesn’t need to do. Bonus points if it’s something that doesn’t directly effect students, and isn’t mandated by law.