Okay, maybe I'm not a rocket scientist when it comes to math but is anyone paying attention to these numbers?

• The governor has proposed cutting $4.4 BILLION from education in the state budget.
• The governor and the state superintendent are putting 96 (so far) school districts under sanctions.
• Some districts, including the largest non-unified elementary school district in the state, Bakersfield City School District, "will be allowed to choose an assistance provider to create a plan of action that the district will have to implement."  These "providers" must be paid for out of the districts' already cut and limited budgets.
• The governor "intends to commit" (don't hold your breath) $45 Million ("to help?).
• My calculations show that 96 (so far) school districts dividing up $45 million equals less than $500,000 per district.

Considering the fact that Bakersfield City School District is anticipating a loss of $19 Million from the state and the prospect of paying out dearly for expert "providers" required by the state as mandated through the No Child Left Behind Act, that $500 K must look pretty paltry to Teri Schallock.

What I don't understand is what factors are considered when schools come under scrutiny? I get the feeling that teachers and administrators are being made scapegoats for conditions they can't control. Economics, culture, lifestyle, parent participation, the kids' diet---the list could go on---have much to do with academic achievement.

I realize that simple ideas are forbidden in legislation, but...they work pretty well in education.  You can spend billions upon billions of dollars on new curriculi and reading programs that exist to further limit the scope of education by providing a list of testable works and creating bilingual education plans that have no prayer of actually making kids bilingual.  You can do all of that.  IT WILL NOT CHANGE THE OUTCOME!  Why?  Because, those programs lose the base purpose for having schools in the first place: To provide an education to the CHILDREN.   It seems like we spend billions of dollars educating the adults in the system and lining the pockets of publishers and programmers all so that our teachers can have knowledge of one more program that will be antiquated and rendered ineffectual by the time they get back to the classroom.  You can't legislate an improvement in education.  You have to start by legislating improvement in families and children and early intervention and children's health care.  Until you do that, the programs like No Child Left Behind will continue to leave children behind.  Kids do not require fancy programs and computer tests and points to read a book.  They require a book and a concerned and dedicated adult....and, the book is optional.  Pen and paper.  Love it.  Learn it.  It's cheap!

Catpaw:  Good observation.  Your "feeling" is shared by many in the educational community.

Possummomma:  May I nominate you for State Superintendent of Schools?

Don't think the idea hasn't crossed my mind on occasion, McDougle. ;)  Thanks for the vote of confidence.  I guess I'm more than just a tad invested (having three kids in school and one about to start).  The stories I've collected since my eldest started Kindergarten contain the good, the bad, and the "Holy crap! How did these people get the authority to make decisions?"  Education has ceased to be about education.  It's become a game of political influence, money making, and pandering to the lowest common denominator.  So many educational decisions are made without any common sense.  I could list those things, but...I honestly don't have enough confidence in the system to believe that anything would be done.

I get the feeling that teachers and administrators are being made scapegoats for conditions they can't control. Economics, culture, lifestyle, parent participation, the kids' diet---the list could go on---have much to do with academic achievement.

Catpaw, I think that you're half-right.  Teachers are the scapegoats...the administration?  Eh.  Not so much.  In the nine years I've had a child in the Bakersfield, public ed system, I've seen some of the most assinine choices made by administrators.  And, I've seen how the administration has absolutely no problem trying to blame the teachers or implicate that the teachers had power where they didn't.  The first example that comes to mind is the allocation of twenty minutes per day for ELL instruction: wherein, there can be no core curriculum taught to the English speaking children, because of the idiotic logical assumption that teaching the English speaking kids would violate the civil rights of the kids in ELL.  When my husband and I, and other parents, responded with protest to these programs, we were, without fail, told the teachers agreed with the program as instituted.  This was a deceptive statement.  The teachers were given a choice between bad and worse and they chose bad.  That's not a choice.  In a public meeting (for which the interested parents WERE NOT notified, but we found out from a teahcer about the meeting), an ELL specialist stood up with indignation and told the concerned parents that were lucky to be "listened to" since they didn't have to listen and it was never common practice or done before.  That's right, folks!  When 100 minutes a week are diverted to a program that serves a small population of students, leaving the other students doing filler work, you - according to the specialist - have no place complaining about that wasted time.  The same meeting brought forth commentary that was directly and emphatically contradicted by the teachers.   Administrators were trying to influence parents by claiming to have the teachers on their side.  I don't know about you, but when the teachers call you and say, "Please, please go to this meeting because they're doing this whether we want it or not.", I don't see the teacher support. 

I've seen books purchased for millions of dollars, only to be discarded within two years because a new educational theory/fad came along.  I've seen classrooms wherein an entire quarter grade was based on ONE test and ONE assignment because the teachers had to cram in ELL time, computer lab, fund raiser time, Accelerated Reader time, transitions, and so many other disruptions that I'm impressed we don't have an entire generation suffering from ADD.  It's hard to convince a child to focus when the adults in charge of their education (at a public level) need Ritalin for themselves.  It's tough to convince kids that education has value and worth when learning is so carelessly pushed aside to make room for tests that test nothing and activities that constantly undermine the educational goals and purposes. 

What's unfortunate is that this problem becomes volatile when you add in an unconcerned parent or a parent who's struggling so hard to live that they actually believe that the school is doing the best for their child.  At that point, you've got a child depending on a system that has reduced their value to a daily dollar amount or points on a test.  But, don't worry...these kids will only be expected to run our country when we're all in rocking chairs and Depends.  If you're not worried about the education your child is receiving, then you're clearly not paying attention.  Sad, but true.

I am confused on why they hand out grades, I have 2 children who have and are going through the school system, what happens when a child gets an F?  They send them on, 2 or 3 F's? They send them on, in my book, if a child gets an F they should stay in the same grade until they can pass all classes. When it is time for a child to graduate from 8th grade, and the child has received 2 or 3 F's, they don' t let them participate in graduation ceremonies but they let them continue on to high school. That is setting them up to fail. I cannot figure this rule out, I thought it was only 1 school district, but when we switched the next district had the same policy....

Folks should understand the sanctions as not only being placed upon the school, but upon the community.  Bakersfield has allowed academic achievement to fall to the wayside as a goal.  I've read so many folks claim that kids can go to work in Bakersfield without finishing high school and that is ok for them; however, that is a very low bar to set and Bakersfield's children deserve better.

Educational indicators demonstrate that the local schools are scraping the bottom in measures of achievement.  Whether one looks at graduation rates, college going rates or measures like subject tests and SAT scores, Bakersfield's consistently near the bottom.  The poor performance is not because the city's students are less intelligent than their peers elsewhere.  Nor is it because their teachers are less competent.

I think that the teachers should be the last ones to be blamed.  It's the community who fails to show children how important education is.  The community creates the social factors that drag down educational attainment - the poor economic factors, the culture of ennui, the low rates of parent involvement.  Bakersfield suffers from double the state average poverty rate and has half the educational attainment - folks need to see the link.  It's the community who votes in inept administrators who run the school boards in order to further particular agendas rather than focus their time and efforts on school improvements.

If these sanctions help to highlight to a greater number of folks in the community the current problems within Bakersfield public education, then they are a good thing.  If they force the administrators to stop making irresponsible decisions regarding how school funds are spent, then they will be an improvement.  Bakersfield needs a wake up call. 

But that is the one good thing about being at the bottom.  Things can't get much worse.  The sanctions can't really do much harm.  Bakersfield has two choices: continue to wallow in failure by making excuses or have the community commit to the hard changes that can help to support improvement. 

My opinion, if the children do not have passing grades, then they should not be passed on to the next grade. If that happens then we might not be looking at sanctions and the children might have better scores on their STAR testing....

Ladyracer, just to fan the flames, here's something I "borrowed" from a blog comment on another topic:

 "When middle schools/junior highs in Bakersfield City lowered graduation requirements to an overall 1.5 GPA (that's a D+) including all subjects (which mathimatically means they can flunk nearly every solid subject, get a D in one and A's in P.E. and one other subject)....absolutely no parent called any principal to protest this lowering of standards.  BTW, only grades for the eighth grade count.  A student can fail every class in the sixth and seventh grade in a middle school and still graduate if a 1.5 GPA is "accomplished" in the eighth grade.

When the same school district virtually removed the graduation requirement that a student display a basic knowledge of the U. S. Constitution......no protest, no newspaper report, nada."

If we allow failure, we support failure.

Parents need to bite the bullet and not allow the school to promote to the next grade if their child has failed a class.... Because the school just herds them through pass or fail.