What would it take to have good public schools?
1. Funding cannot depend on property taxes.
The amount of money the state provides is not enough to run a school. It shouldn’t be the case that one district is rolling in money simply because the people living there are richer.
2. Hire more teachers and paraprofessionals
Teachers cannot teach 30 children in a class. They cannot teach 40.
Update your worldview: kids no longer sit in chairs. There is no “put on a movie to catch up on grading”. If you’ve got 4 screaming kids throwing stuff around and running laps, there is nothing you can do about it.
3. Pay teachers and paraprofessionals living wages
Do you want the professionals taking care of your kids to be happy, healthy, and minimally stressed?
Would you rather them never take a sick day, be on the very edge of quitting, and have to work a second or third job?
4. Cellphones are banned during school hours
Teaching and learning suffer when students are constantly texting and calling each-other, and their parents, during class. It just doesn’t work.
5. Get rid of expensive, ineffective tech
Get rid of junk Chromebooks that are constantly broken and incapable of holding a charge. Get rid of the junk software that is serves as noise to staff and students. Get back to basics: pen and paper.
6. Schools must have a building sub
What happens if a teacher is absent? You’ll need a sub. Where do you get a sub? You don’t, who wants that job for that pay?
Instead, other teachers give up their plan periods to cover their coworker.
If a school had a building sub:
- The kids will be familiar and have rapport with them
- The sub will be familiar with the school’s procedures
- The sub will likely be available, which is perhaps the most important point.
7. Staff and students shouldn’t fear violence
This is a problem with America that can’t be solved easily. All schools should have highly trained School Resource Officers who are a part of the local community.