Compromise on Prince George's County School Takeover Bill Passes

[AeroGuyDC]

6 out of 8 Board of Election members don't even have a college education.

LOL

PG can't even get the basics of leadership right. How in the world can we expect it to get the nuts and bolts of education figured out when the leadership itself is deficient?

LOL

[EHCT]

Originally Posted by justinsays

Money is not everything, but...
FY2013 Per Pupil Expenditures*4
Arlington County: $18,675
Alexandria City: $17,024
Falls Church City: $16,612
Montgomery County: $14,880
Fairfax County: $13,564
Prince George’s County: $12,296
Loudoun County: $11,595
Manassas City: $11,478
Prince William County: $10,163
*4 Source: The Washington Area Boards of Educations Guide (WABE)

Howard County: $13,823 (HCPS website)
Anne Arundel County: $12,783 (AACPS website)

And these are the more recent numbers (FY2013). I also want to point out that Prince George's County has a significantly greater need than many of these jurisdictions. Our FARM (free and reduced meal) students are at 60%.

Montgomery County 33.2%
Howard County 17.2%
Anne Arundel County 30.15%

So if anything IMO, the per-pupil expenditures for Prince George's should be HIGHER than Montgomery County.

I get the point that the school system could be better funded. Like I said earlier if funding is the main issue then sign me up for the tax increase. I'm of the opinion that schools are the backbone of any community so I have no issue with paying a bit more in taxes if I knew that it would fix the problem with PG schools. Besides, it'll much cheaper than paying private school tuition. I just have my doubts that money is the main reason for the poor performing schools. Although I will concede that more money is needed to pay the over-worked & under-paid teachers in the county.

A point that others have made is that parents need to get more involved with their child's education. I can get on board with this thought to a certain degree. However (and I can only speak for my area), when my daughters were attending public school (they're in private now) I saw plenty of parents involved in the PTA and with their children's activities. The teachers and administration knew most people by name which I liked. This particular school is considered to be one of the better elementary schools in the county, but even with all of the parental involvement it still managed to fall short of performing as well as others in the state.

I'm bringing all of this up to say that there is more than just one reason why the schools in PG are failing. Part of it is money, part of it is parental involvement, but many of the problems are systemic; (i.e. the red tape involved in something like getting a 504 plan put together for your child, not having enough prepared or qualified long-term substitute teachers, a curriculum that seems to be all over the place and doesn't put much value on fundementals, etc). You have to jump through so many hoops just to get your concerns addressed. The length of time it takes the school system to get the ball rolling on certain issues is absurd. All of this has nothing to do with lack of money or parental involvement. It has to do with the lack of efficiency in which the school system operates. To think that it doesn't trickle down to all aspects of the way the schools are run is somewhat naive.

I'm not sure if handing over more power to the County Executive is going to change things but we'll see. At this point I'm not sure what needs to be done to get the schools back into shape. I'm hopeful that Baker can make substantial improvements in the way the school system currently operates. But at the same time I'm not blind either, I've seen some of the things that can happen in this county when one person has too much control. It's definitely a double edged sword in my eyes.

[adelphi_sky]

I was reading an article about daycare and it mentioned statistics about how much more successful kids are when they have some sort of pre-school education.

The Hell of American Day Care | New Republic

... researchers have developed an entirely new understanding of the first few years of life. This period affects the architecture of a child’s brain in ways that indelibly shape intellectual abilities and behavior. Kids who grow up in nurturing, interactive environments tend to develop the skills they need to thrive as adults—like learning how to calm down after a setback or how to focus on a problem long enough to solve it. Kids who grow up without that kind of attention tend to lack impulse control and have more emotional outbursts. Later on, they are more likely to struggle in school or with the law. They also have more physical health problems. Numerous studies show that all children, especially those from low-income homes, benefit greatly from sound child care. The key ingredients are quite simple—starting with plenty of caregivers, who ideally have some expertise in child development.

...

At the same time, day care is a bruising financial burden for many families—more expensive than rent in 22 states. In the priciest, Massachusetts, it costs an average family $15,000 a year to place an infant full-time in a licensed center. In California, the cost is equivalent to 40 percent of the median income for a single mother.
Only minimal assistance is available to offset these expenses. The very poorest families receive a tax credit worth up to $1,050 a year per child. Some low-income families can also get subsidies or vouchers, but in most states the waiting lists for them are long. And so many parents put their kids in whatever they can find and whatever they can afford, hoping it will be good enough.

Could this add to low-performing schools? When middle-income families can't afford "good" day-care, wouldn't there be a lag in development? The parents are not apathetic to education, they just couldn't afford good day-care. There are day-cares that are just baby-sitters and there are day-cares with curriculum that actually teach and prepare children for Kindergarten. Can someone find some stats on how many kids in the county are enrolled in day-care and at what cost?