ASU economists say we'll grow when our leaders stop looking stupid" (Phoenix: 2014, homes)
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I've lived in several states that Californians thought were great places to move and each of those states are worse off today then they were before the influx of Californians occurred. I for one am glad if Arizona isn't a magnet for Californians who are fleeing the mess they have created there. Once this happens, only the Californians can afford to live in these places as the cost of living shoots through the roof and there is a ton of competition for the limited jobs in the area. The jobs that are available are low paying jobs servicing the Californians that moved there and took the high paying jobs. It is no surprise that Mike Orr (a real estate guy) favors Californians moving here that would jack up the housing prices and put higher commissions in Realtors pockets (all the realtors will soon be former Californians) while forcing everyone else to the far corners of the valley and elsewhere where they can afford to live.
I have a family member that works for a valley school district and I'm very involved in the goings on in the school district. The problems in the district are self created by liberal policies that try and cater to minorities and they spend their resources on programs that don't enhance the education kids receive but make things easier for the low income minorities in the district. They definitely don't get the most bang for their buck with the dollars they have. I'm appalled when I listen to how the school board is going to spend funds that could be used to enhance the education level but instead are wasted on programs that only serve a small portion of the district and have nothing to do with educating students. This isn't a Arizona problem, it is a problem created by poorly run school districts who waste their limited resources.
Better run districts all around this low performing district find ways to excel since they have school boards that are not dominated by minorities that make decisions only to the benefit of their minority class and give little thought to the overall education provided in the district.
Some of you need to quit blaming the state for the poor education performance and need to go to a school board meeting and see the level of people running these school districts. You will be as shocked as I am. I attended a school board meeting where the entire board said they needed the minutes of the board on paper because they didn't know how to read the minutes on a computer (results in an employee being paid over-time to hand deliver the minutes to each board members house instead of a simple email). At a meeting to determine how to address the falling attendance in the district the board voted that the most pressing issue in the district was that the district needed a new logo. Tell we what parent decides where to educate their child based on a logo? Heck, I don't think I've ever noticed the logo in any district my kids have ever attended. Yet these are the people running the district and deciding where to spend our tax dollars and limited education resources. I overheard another administrator state that they will be busy from now until school ends for the year because they have to figure out where to spend "millions" before the end of the year and they lose these funds. Where they are dumping this cash has nothing to do with educating students.
I moved here from another part of the country and I think the increased publicity on the heat, dust storms, drought, crime, illegal immigrants, scorpions, snakes, coyotes, etc. has much more to do with less people wanting to move here than the stats that Mike Orr is touting. Look at this forum, much more concern from outsiders considering moving here about my list of "concerns" than the schools and politics of the state.
Sure, there is an economical factor. If you're 19, a high school dropout with two kids it's almost impossible to make it regardless of race. And the children often repeat the cycle.
Now, if the problems of kids having kids/drop out rates were equally spread across racial lines it might be easier to discuss.
However, it's not and off-limits to any politician who wants to stay in office.
It is also due to taking a look at socio historical realities that serve as the root of the issue in terms of the breakdown of the family as well. It actually goes back much further than people think and other social aspects just accelerated the issue as time went on during periods in between.
I
I moved here from another part of the country and I think the increased publicity on the heat, dust storms, drought, crime, illegal immigrants, scorpions, snakes, coyotes, etc. has much more to do with less people wanting to move here than the stats that Mike Orr is touting. Look at this forum, much more concern from outsiders considering moving here about my list of "concerns" than the schools and politics of the state.
Now go on the C-D MN forum. "Which school is best" is a dominating topic. MN has it's drawback too (snow, bugs, cold, etc) and they LOVE to tax. Yet they attract a very technical workforce (4.8% unemployment rate).
Now go on the C-D MN forum. "Which school is best" is a dominating topic. MN has it's drawback too (snow, bugs, cold, etc) and they LOVE to tax. Yet they attract a very technical workforce.
The article posted in the OP says that Mike Orr is advocating that we change how we look at the "average Californian" and he said "we need to realize that right now we are not portraying ourselves as a place Californians would be proud to move to.". He is also blaming the school problems on the state and the reason we are not attracting businesses. If people would get involved and not just listen to talking heads like Mike Orr (he's a Realtor and has a vested interest in Californians blowing up our housing market again) they would see our education problems are not because of the funding by the state but by the way the administrators and board members waste the money they do have.
Things like switching the entire school district from cheaper windows based PC's to all Apple products that are much more expensive and require much more IT resources to get them to work with every piece of software the district uses which is all windows based software because there is not an apple version. Millions of dollars wasted on this conversion and they still waste money fighting all the problems this conversion created. The public doesn't know about this waste because they are not involved and just listen to the mouth pieces that spout talking points that benefit their special interests.
We are growing but we could grow faster if politicians were more careful to think things through and maybe test ideas out with test groups before they run with an idea that will make themselves and our state look foolish.
The other issue is timing, good ideas proposed at the wrong time are less likely to be received, for example do not put something controversial out there right before a major event like an election or a big company making a decision to come to AZ.
One of the few bright spots in education in AZ is the community college system. It is funded by special districts and is not beholden to the whims of the legislature. So it has continued to grow and serve the residents of the state while the legislature has slashed K-12 and university funding.
I would also say that charter schools and some of the online programs are a bright spot as well since some states like New York are very hostile to charter schools
The article posted in the OP says that Mike Orr is advocating that we change how we look at the "average Californian" and he said "we need to realize that right now we are not portraying ourselves as a place Californians would be proud to move to.". He is also blaming the school problems on the state and the reason we are not attracting businesses. If people would get involved and not just listen to talking heads like Mike Orr (he's a Realtor and has a vested interest in Californians blowing up our housing market again) they would see our education problems are not because of the funding by the state but by the way the administrators and board members waste the money they do have.
Things like switching the entire school district from cheaper windows based PC's to all Apple products that are much more expensive and require much more IT resources to get them to work with every piece of software the district uses which is all windows based software because there is not an apple version. Millions of dollars wasted on this conversion and they still waste money fighting all the problems this conversion created. The public doesn't know about this waste because they are not involved and just listen to the mouth pieces that spout talking points that benefit their special interests.
Someone I know is a teacher and the administration piece of schools are ridiculous. She couldn't understand why a superintendent was being paid six figures for two elementary schools. What needs to happen? Schools and school districts need to be outsourced. All these accountant jobs need to go bye bye. All individual schools still need their office staff to handle day to day operations, but the school district can outsource most of it's jobs. IT and maintenance should be the only things left at a school district. I guess maintenance could be outsourced as well, but IT with the sensitive data that's out there I'd be scared to outsource it.
I am with LBTRS on the waste in IT. Why are schools not using Linux? The state would save millions in software and hardware costs by switching. They wouldn't have to upgrade every few years and support packages are extremely cheap in comparison to Microsoft or Apple. Word processing, world wide web, and other technical access can be done through linux. The only issues that would come up is with classes that involve drafting type software and some other specialty. But you could still buy 5 or so computers specifically for that class. Still saving millions. All this freed up money could be use for special projects or programs.
I call BS on this article...If business owners only went into business based on what people thought about them, there would be way more professors and far less successful businesses in this world...Morons.
Re: waste. It happens in private industry as well as in school districts. When you spend someones else money and not on yourself, you are always going to have a certain level of waste. It's amazing how much less I spend when I owned my own business. Hence, every single solitary school district across America and is going to make decisions that people are not going to agree with.
The bulk of expenses are the staff (by a long shot) and buildings. Computers as a percentage of overall $$'s are in the noise. In my world, I'd fire anybody with two words in their title (Director of Communications, assistant principal, etc) . IMHO, that's where the waste is located and it adds up quickly. But I'm not going to vote no on referendums if I think they are running fairly lean. If I am shooting for perfect efficiency, that's never going to happen.
Someone I know is a teacher and the administration piece of schools are ridiculous. She couldn't understand why a superintendent was being paid six figures for two elementary schools. What needs to happen? Schools and school districts need to be outsourced. All these accountant jobs need to go bye bye. All individual schools still need their office staff to handle day to day operations, but the school district can outsource most of it's jobs. IT and maintenance should be the only things left at a school district. I guess maintenance could be outsourced as well, but IT with the sensitive data that's out there I'd be scared to outsource it.
I am with LBTRS on the waste in IT. Why are schools not using Linux? The state would save millions in software and hardware costs by switching. They wouldn't have to upgrade every few years and support packages are extremely cheap in comparison to Microsoft or Apple. Word processing, world wide web, and other technical access can be done through linux. The only issues that would come up is with classes that involve drafting type software and some other specialty. But you could still buy 5 or so computers specifically for that class. Still saving millions. All this freed up money could be use for special projects or programs.
Even when you outsource it, you're still paying for the work to be done. Where you may save some is on the elimination of future pensions.
My question would be why does Phoenix have 17 school districts. They could all be combined into one city school district, and each surrounding county could have its own school district. There is great savings in size, For example, now you have 17 different superintendents. 17 fleets of school buses. 17 cafeteria operations, 17 IT operations. Etc.
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