Punoqllads…thank you.
Slightly off topic, but not entirely. I think Silenus would be best able to answer this, but how is it that the education budget for california allocates over $10,000 per student in funding yet they still need to do all these fundraisers? Link to the governors report and education budget, http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fr/eb/govbud05preview.asp
I’m asking in all seriousness because I don’t understand it.
Is it perhaps that the money isn’t properly allocated? I mean, I know that my highschool had classes of well over 40 students (including my AP classes); in fact, in just about every class I had during highschool, there was a kid or two that had to sit at the teacher’s desk or the counter. The school NEVER had paper or money for paper, so instead of getting handouts we’d either have to copy everything down by hand or bring class donations of paper for the teachers. Oh, and our history books were so old that they talked about the mighty Soviet Union- of course, I only knew that when we had enough books to go around. Did I mention that I was in AP, so I was getting the “good” materials?
Yet, at the same time, the nicer parts of town had all brand new books, desks, and small class sizes. I had a strange experience because I actually lived over by the “good” schools, but decided to transfer across the town (great engineering program, strangely). So, I’d always hear and see my friends and neighbors going on and on about their new books, etc and so forth.
And I went to high school from 2000-2004.
Raw budget numbers can be misleading. You have to follow the money trail, and see how much gets siphoned off for pet projects, categorical projects, Federally-mandated projects, and an infinite number of layers of bureaucracy. By the time it gets to the individual districts, it’s a fraction of that, and then you get to play the “local politics” game. Some of the money is in categorical areas, meaning it has to be spent in certain ways. A few years ago, our high school got a refit of the gym and a new dance/wrestling studio built, at the same time we were screaming for money for books. But the gym was being done with categorical money, and it couldn’t be shifted. Then you have to account for everybody in the district wanting a raise, or at least COLA, pet projects by un-needed administrators, NCLB fix-its, etc.
It isn’t the amount of money in our schools, it’s how that money is spent that is the sin. But like most bureaucracies, the PTB believe in the “throw money at it” approach. In a perfect world, we would shoot most of the bureaucracy as a lesson to those that are left and let the teachers and site administrators do the budgeting.
I’m not holding my breath.
Wouldn’t most of the difference between low income and high income area schools mostly be affected by local funds? Based on the numbers in the report, 71.18% of the funding is federal or state level, so that should be at least $7177.79 per student and then any local funds. So I can see where that could be an issue for low income or areas where local funds aren’t as available, but even working in some rather well off areas we still have this issue.
This could turn into a GD I guess and I know I’m not equipped to participate at that level. I fully realize that I’m less than proficient in school funding issues having never had it be part of my life so that’s why I’m asking these questions. Thanks for the reply Diosa, that does make some sense.
Thanks Silenus, I figured that bureaucracy was probably most of the problem. I was half afraid to even ask this for fear of being shouted down as a stingy child hating scrooge. 
I suppose I should do some more research on this topic.
I could be completely wrong on this, but I think that with No Child Left Behind, schools are financially penalized for poorly performing kids. If the school isn’t up to par, part of their funding is removed. This was always a huge problem with my high school, because a good chunk of the kids didn’t even speak English (or, if they did, it was broken at best and at the literacy rate of a 5th grader).
Can anyone speak to that matter (with more authority than my wild ass theories :D)?
As far as “rich” schools still fundraising- well, maybe they just feel like it’s what they have to do? Just one of those, “The kids have to earn what they want” sort of thing?
I for one like the wild ass theories, since that’s really all I have to offer in this discussion as well.
I can’t speak for the left-coasters, but in NYS, the distribution of state funds is laughably politicized. When Frank Marino was Senate Majority Leader, the school distict in which he lived received, IIRC the third most state aid, despite the fact that it was in an upper-middle class suburb.
The important money goes to make sure the textbooks show the correct number of handicapped kids in the pictures. Even when the textbook companies use able bodies models to play the role of the disabled child.
One thing you need to remember is that $10k per child average is just an average. It doesn’t mean you are actually spending that full amount on each child’s education.
At least in Massachusetts, the local school system is required to pay the full costs of educating children with physical/mental/emotional disabilities to the maximum degree of care that can benefit them.
When I was in High School a family moved to our little town (population about 6000 then) who had three children with various degrees of mental/emotional problems. Two of the children were able to be ‘mainstreamed’, at least in the sense of attending the town schools. But each had to have a paid assistant with them the full time or else there was no way the teacher would have been able to do any teaching at all, let alone devote any time at all to the other children in the class.
Ten thousand a year is way, way below the salary & benefits of trained assistants, but they were cheap in comparison to the third child. He could not possibly be in an ordinary classroom – he had learning disabilities (among other problems) and when he got frustrated he often reacted physically, smashing things and hitting out at anyone nearby. So instead he was picked up each day by a van that drove him nearly 50 miles to a specialized school, and then driven back each night. I don’t know what the cost of the van plus driver plus aide (who traveled with him to prevent his distracting the driver and thus maybe causing an accident) came to, but the tuition fee for the school was breathtaking by itself. Not that it wasn’t justified, I’m sure. Specially trained educations, ‘classrooms’ of just one student, more aides to cover during lunches and give the others breaks…
I was told by a friend who worked in the town hall financial office that the special costs for those three children, over and above the per pupil share of the costs of running the usual classes and such, was in the neighborhood of $150,000. So you subtract the alloted $10k per child from that total, and you’re scratching for ways to cut $120,000 from your overall budget.
Which is one way that you can be spending $10k per pupil ON AVERAGE and still not be able to keep the school library open, or offer art classes, or buy text books as often as you should, or have a paper supply for xeroxing handouts. 
I love this and salute you!
I also love the idea of a virtual Dinner. I just may print out this thread ( or parts of it) to punt into the PTO box at school. I don’t want to actually organize the thing.
Shirley, the law governing special-needs children is federal. Here is the Wikipedia article about it.
You’re right, though. The financial and other costs to providing required services can be a challenge, especially to smaller districts, and districts that don’t receive a lot of funding.
Robin
Sorry. The above post was addressed to StarvingButStrong. I need to put my glasses on.
Robin
I agree in theory, but the second a child walks in the door with a long sheet of paper printed in a grid, and tells me ( as was mentioned already in this thread ) that I am to provide the names and addresses and phone numbers of all of my friends and relatives, that’s it.
That’s when I take the papers ( and did for years ) out of child’s hands and throw them out and type out a terse letter to teacher, informing them that Son or Daughter is not permitted to bring in personal information, and will not be returning any of those papers.
It only took one note. Teacher got it, really clearly and left my kids alone. You want to try to make my kids pimp useless wrapping paper and stupid tchotchkas, fine. Let em try to sell to me. Not everybody I’ve ever met in my life.
As a side-note, but folks have mentioned Girl Scout cookies, a guy in town with a small mail-it type store ( Mail boxes, shipping, faxing, etc. etc., eBay, etc. ) was selling cases of his daughter’s Girl Scout cookies on the shelf. Is this now permitted? I thought it really had to be the kid, out there, flogging away. Or, the parent, flogging co-workers with order forms. By god, I thought some flogging had to take place !!! 
Mama Zappa, the school photo scam kils me too. i’m a photographer and cameraman, I take a mean fuckin’ beauty shot. Now, if we don’t like the first try at school, we return the whole schmeg. Their HS, like many, requires photo ID’s, so their photo must be taken so that their photo ID can be issued. That, I am fine with. But I am not gonna shell out my money for a lousy photograph of my adorable kids. I ain’t !
Cartooniverse
I’ve never been able to understand this. The kids aren’t doing well enough so lets take money away from the school so they can make the school do better with less?
You mean, your good friends Ben Dover, Oliver Clothesoff and Amanda Hugankiss don’t want to be contacted?
Better yet, just copy the school’s staff directory onto the sheet. If you have the time you can even look up the home numbers of administrators and school board members.
Same here, the few times I did any fundraising in school it’s been completely a “student body” thing; the school as a legal entity wasn’t involved at all. Oh wait: they were involved in letting the “student coop” use a meeting room, that’s all.
I don’t like most US sweets. Too sweet for me, sorry. Many a co-worker has been angry at my rejection of Girl Scout cookies, but what can I say, I’ll buy them when they don’t remind me of over-sweet, mushy, sticky concrete.
Yes !! That’s it exactly !! over-sweet mushy sticky concrete. Mmmmmmmmm. Yeah !
Ahhh but in the perverse and unpredictable world of school rules and politics, that would result in my child being expelled for the year because there is a Zero Tolerance Policy in place and this would clearly be an invasion of the privacy rights of each and every teacher whose name was on the list. Police would be called. Investigations would be launched. :rolleyes:
On the other hand, it would be considered vaguely Un-American to refuse to surrender names and addresses and phone numbers to fundraisers from our family phone book. After all, what am I hiding? Why am I so secretive and private? What are those foul-smelling cauldrons in the woods behind my house? Why do no birds chirp in the morning where I live? Perhaps there is a dark and insidious reason why I’m unwilling to give up private information about everyone I’ve ever met to a marketing firm whose sole purpose is not to sell cookies, candy or wrapping paper but is in fact to sell lists of information to other companies !!!
** AH HAH !! WE’VE FIGURED IT OUT ! **. The products are a ruse, the real scheme here is Data Mining ! GOD DAMN THEM ALL !!!
Yes, I have a life-sized epoxy-resin replica of Karen Silkwood, dressed only in a 1970’s era bikini, in my work shop. What business is that of yours, Agent McClosky?
