Monday, January 02, 2017

Teacher Unions should be conducting their own research and presenting it to their local Boards of Education.

Teachers are professionals that can bring greater understanding to local school boards through academic studies specific to local school boards. The state wide testing does not indicate local public school issues.

Through local specialization of testing the school board can make better decisions regarding it's budget and addressing trouble spots.

In eliminating state wide testing in public schools there will be better sourcing of education and more money to spend on local educational issues.

It is time for teacher's unions to improve the quality of education at the local level and end generalized conclusions that do not apply to all school districts.

Federal dollars to any state usually doesn't exceed 15 percent of the entire state budget. 

“Charter schools started off as an innovative idea. They were designed as an entrepreneurial model that emphasized experimentation and innovation. The idea was to see what might be applied to public schools as a whole.”

December 24, 2016
By TJ Pyche and Brian Dusape

...“Parents have become much more interested (click here) in having a voice in where their child is educated,” said Eldridge, who calls herself a proponent of school choice, which ties into the growing popularity of charter schools.

One thing about charter schools that Eldridge said is important: school board governance.

“There is a lot to be said for a school board monitoring the situation in charter schools.”

A majority of the area’s the charter schools — 11 of the 20 — are in Alachua County. Marion County, the region’s largest county, has three; Putnam County has three; and Madison and Columbia counties each have one. Six of the region’s eleven counties do not have any charter schools.

Similar to the trend statewide, seven of the charter schools saw a drop in the school grade. Four charter schools, all in Alachua County, bumped up grades.

Charter schools in the area, as a whole, fared better: half of the charter schools received A or B grades, compared to 32 percent of traditional public schools.

A school is required to test 95 percent of its students to receive a grade, so two of the charter schools and five of the traditional public schools did not receive grades after not testing enough of students....