This weekend in Billings voters are contemplating passing two education levies. One is for more teachers (to make sure student/teacher ratios are met in elementary schools for accreditation) and the second one is an elementary school technology levy.
Just like any other city or town in the US, many voters get the ballots and/or information in the mail and one of the first things they say is WHY? Why do we need MORE money for schools when just last year or a few months ago, we just had levies for schools? Why do we need more money for schools when our education system is said to be failing? Why?
I could go on and on about the statistics and explain accreditation but this doesn't convince many people. They think that these issues should be solved by the money we have or that the school systems waste so much money already, they shouldn't get anymore.
I have been on both sides of the levy fence. First as a parent on three children in schools and now as someone who works in a high school. The opinions I had formed as a parent have been mostly transformed by being someone who works there and sees what goes on in a high school on a daily basis. Some of my opinions have not changed. But there is one over riding thing I have come to realize and that is that almost ALL people who do not work in the school system have no idea what schools contend with on a daily basis....absolutely none.
Here are just a few things people may not have thought about who do not work for the school system. Starting from the top, administration must deal with not only students but parents, local and state government, school boards, superintendents, police, parole officers, community organizations, businesses and residents who live around the schools on a daily basis. The sheer volume of paperwork that is required by the state and federal government for admin, teachers, everyone and everything has to be documented and reported and justified. Assistant principals are in charge of discipline, attendance issues, management of sections of the staff, school/curriculum projects and on and on. They also must be mediator, counselor, disciplinarian, parent, teacher, manager of both the students and the staff. Teachers have to not only teach but plan lessons months in advance, complete masses of paperwork, attend training and meetings, sponsor clubs and activities, counseling, staff relationships. The interpersonal relationships in a school can be quite complex and reflect all the good and the bad of large groups of diverse people. The drama is not only with the children. These are just the surface things.
The issues with the children range from homelessness, to malnutrition, to abuse, to truancy, to depression, to suicide and all the way to the simplest of things like school supplies. The student population ranges from the stable and well adjusted student to the student at risk from any number of things most people never even consider or know about.
Imagine what it is like to teach, to administer, to learn in all of these environments. It is one of the hardest jobs there is and one where the naysayers outnumber the encouragers by massive numbers.
No, I am not saying the school system in the US is perfect, far from it. But I know first hand that there is so much more involved with the education of children than anyone on the outside knows. That in the end the schools are becoming more disciplinarian, provider of food and clothes, finder of shelter and safety, counselor, psychologist, teacher, and yes parent to many students.
So the next time you are called upon to vote on a school levy consider actually going to visit a school or talking to a teacher or some of the actual students before making your decision. You just might find it is not what you think.
