State Budget- 4 Day School Week?? (Atlanta: best school, living in, cost)

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by ElectroPlumber

The schools will have to cut services and provide a very basic curriculum that will be supplemented by whatever additional schooling that the parents can provide through after-school classes, homeschooling, etc.

If Georgia schools actually went this route, what do you think would happen to the state? Do you think middle-class parents would just cheerfully start teaching high school Chemistry and the like in our living rooms? More likely, we'd be finding jobs in other states as quickly as we could.

[cityrover]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

If Georgia schools actually went this route, what do you think would happen to the state? Do you think middle-class parents would just cheerfully start teaching high school Chemistry and the like in our living rooms? More likely, we'd be finding jobs in other states as quickly as we could.

Good luck with that

[cityrover]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

What does the "same old corrupt system" have to do with the number of kids people should be allowed to put in school? The school systems aren't running out of money because people are having too many kids- they're running out because tax revenues are down.

And who said anything about medical bills, etc? Is it OK for me to have 5 kids and send them all to public schools if I'm not using any other social programs like Medicaid or foodstamps? It sounds like you've got an issue with people scamming other government systems, and you're somehow translating that into an issue with public schooling.

It has everything to do with it. # of kids = how school districts plan budgets and schools, staffing and even curriculum to an extent.

I wont even get into the ladder of extra activities.

I dont care who people scam. But i care when half my tax bill goes towards education, it isn't enough and now people are saying "ye go ahead me matey, raise taxes or levy new ones so that i can have all my kids @ lassiter". That i have a problem with. I realize people have been indoctrined to assume more funding = better schools. If that's what you believe, pity. Because extra pork will be used for everything else but actual education

Because if nothing changes within the school system, you can jack up taxes every year and you will never have enough and teachers will be the first to be cut in some shape or form. And without teachers, you can have the taj mahal with 400 soccer fields and your kids still won't be able to write their names.

[ElectroPlumber]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

If Georgia schools actually went this route, what do you think would happen to the state? Do you think middle-class parents would just cheerfully start teaching high school Chemistry and the like in our living rooms? More likely, we'd be finding jobs in other states as quickly as we could.

No, but I really do feel your frustration. I have relatives in Georgia that say the same thing. There would have to be some kind of private instruction to fill in the gaps.

But what other alternatives are there? Do you really think anyone will agree to raise taxes? I don't happen to agree with the philosophy that is being put forward by conservatives that "No one is guaranteed an education in this country" but this is pretty much sweeping the country and is being used to justify not raising school taxes to fill in the gaps in revenue. Therefore, there will have to be some other solutions to the problem.

[AcidSnake]

Rainy, just be blessed that America is not a pure democracy. The viewpoints that I am seeing on here are absolutely scary!

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

If Georgia schools actually went this route, what do you think would happen to the state? Do you think middle-class parents would just cheerfully start teaching high school Chemistry and the like in our living rooms? More likely, we'd be finding jobs in other states as quickly as we could.

[Mattie]

Although our youngest graduates high school this year, and his education will not suffer because of the cuts, I look at the whole picture. What does every relocating parent ask here on CD? Where are the best schools?! Pretty soon we may have to answer "nowhere".

Drastic cuts would have a ripple affect on not only the students, but also property values, and eventually the ability of companies to hire the best candidates.

Coming from NJ via FL, the taxes here are incredibly low. I think there is room for an increase. Would any of you really feel an extra couple of hundred dollars a year?

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Mattie

Although our youngest graduates high school this year, and his education will not suffer because of the cuts, I look at the whole picture. What does every relocating parent ask here on CD? Where are the best schools?! Pretty soon we may have to answer "nowhere".

Drastic cuts would have a ripple affect on not only the students, but also property values, and eventually the ability of companies to hire the best candidates.

Coming from NJ via FL, the taxes here are incredibly low. I think there is room for an increase. Would any of you really feel an extra couple of hundred dollars a year?

Good post.

[atl23_sa]

One of the very first lessons a real education teaches is that democracy doesn't work. But that is of no matter. This isn't about equality, it's about effectiveness. The logic of place X has higher taxes, so place Y can stand to raise taxes since they aren't at place X's level is unsound.

Looks like I'm going to be a new dad here real soon. I've already prepared myself for the issue that the public schooling will be inadequate and subpar even in the best of standardized and homogeneous metrics. If my kid ends up having substantive intellectual capacity, I'm going to have to end up teaching or pay privately and handsomely for it.

But you know, it wasn't so long ago many people in this state worked a farm rather than attend school. It was never a right to have a degree. Obviously things have changed.

[AcidSnake]

It also wasn't so long ago that people were crippled due to illnesses out of their control, i.e. polio. What is it with people in the south romanticizing the past like everything was all peaches & cream?

It was this K-12 education format that allowed the U.S.A. to become the economic juggernaut that it is today. You & me owe our very economic prosperity to the fact that resources are shared for education in this society. Without it, this country would be no different than Somalia.

Seriously folks, there are better ways to contain cost & still guarantee a decent education for all. Our cousins in Northern Europe seem to be doing an excellant job at this. But then again, they don't have to worry about this nonsensical ideological back & forth like here in the U.S.

Originally Posted by atl23_sa

One of the very first lessons a real education teaches is that democracy doesn't work. But that is of no matter. This isn't about equality, it's about effectiveness. The logic of place X has higher taxes, so place Y can stand to raise taxes since they aren't at place X's level is unsound.

Looks like I'm going to be a new dad here real soon. I've already prepared myself for the issue that the public schooling will be inadequate and subpar even in the best of standardized and homogeneous metrics. If my kid ends up having substantive intellectual capacity, I'm going to have to end up teaching or pay privately and handsomely for it.

But you know, it wasn't so long ago many people in this state worked a farm rather than attend school. It was never a right to have a degree. Obviously things have changed.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

If Georgia schools actually went this route, what do you think would happen to the state? Do you think middle-class parents would just cheerfully start teaching high school Chemistry and the like in our living rooms? More likely, we'd be finding jobs in other states as quickly as we could.

Precisely. I'm very fortunate that I can be a SAHM/WOHM and can supplement my child's education. We've bought curriculums and he was reading before he started kindergarten. I'm looking at the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum now because the boy writes like a doctor. I realize that if I were still working the 60-hour weeks I worked when I was a social worker what I've done thus far would be beyond me. We understood before we had a child that we would have to supplement his education, but the notion of trying to teach him AP courses is high school is absolutely absurd. And keep in mind, I'm well-educated with advanced degrees. What happens to the kids whose parents are not so fortunate?

I suppose it would be easy to say that we should only worry about our own kids. I dunno, but my mama told me something a long time ago that I've never forgotten. She said that when you become a mama, you become the mama to all children. Now I realize that sounds too, I dunno, "Kumbaya" for some folks, but I truly believe it. Just looking out for my own kid simply isn't good enough. Somehow along the way we've lost our trust in our neighbors especially if they happen to look differently from us. It's become too easy to believe that everyone is trying to "beat the system" and get over on us. My mama also said told me something else, no one can take anything from you if it's freely given. If we build the best school systems we can it will benefit all children. If some people take advantage and don't pay their fair share, perhaps our generosity will ensure that at least their children will be better people. After all, isn't that what we're about? Making better people. All of us have a sacred charge, to make a better world by making better people.

Again, call me crazy, but I believe that most of us are basically the same in our goals: We want a decent place to live, good education and opportunities for our children. And we're willing to work hard for it. But this mindset that everyone isn't doing their fair share is undermining and will ultimately destroy our school system. If I'm not mistaken it's been established for quite some time that Americans work darned hard. The Puritan work ethic seems to be fairly evenly distributed across groups regardless of all the various differences amongst us. We're going to have to get past this, or we will wind up with a school system that isn't fit for anybody's children.