politics
School District Thoughts
With vice chair- Twinkle Ann Morton
Unfunded Mandates
First of all, let me begin by reminding my readers that this column is my opinion and my opinion only. I am not speaking for the board merely making observations about educational topics and asking for your perspective and input. Today, I want to share some of the state and nationally added expectations for the schools while offering no funds to help accomplish them. The list will likely astound you- it did me- all of these things are a good idea. What makes it difficult is the strain it puts on under paid and under-appreciated staff who work to complete these things and more. After all- we have not even mentioned in this long list preparing students to read, write and do math. Oh yes, that.
In the 21st Century alone, the nation added:
- No Child Left Behind (Republican)
- Bully prevention
- Anti-harassment policies (gender, race, religion, or national origin)
- Expanded early childcare and wrap around programs
- Elevator and escalator safety instruction
- Body Mass Index evaluation (obesity monitoring)
- Organ donor education and awareness programs
- Personal financial literacy
- Entrepreneurial and innovation skills development
- Media literacy development
- Contextual learning skill development
- Health and wellness programs
- Race to the Top (Democratic)
In 1980, the nation added:
- Keyboarding and computer education
- Global education
- Multicultural/Ethnic education
- Nonsexist education
- English-as-a-second-language and bilingual education
- Teen pregnancy awareness
- Hispanic heritage education
- Early childhood education
- Jump Start, Early Start, Even Start, and Prime Start
- Full-day kindergarten
- Preschool programs for children at risk
- After-school programs for children of working parents
- Alternative education in all its forms
- Stranger/danger education
- Antismoking education
- Sexual abuse prevention education
- Expanded health and psychological services
- Child abuse monitoring (a legal requirement for all teachers)
And in 1990, the nation added:
- Conflict resolution and peer mediation
- HIV/AIDS education
- CPR training
- Death education
- America 2000 initiatives (Republican)
- Inclusion
- Expanded computer and internet education
- Distance learning
- Tech Prep and School to Work programs
- Technical Adequacy
- Assessment
- Post-secondary enrollment options
- Concurrent enrollment options
- Goals 2000 initiatives (Democratic)
- Expanded Talented and Gifted opportunities
- At risk and dropout prevention
- Homeless education (including causes and effects on children)
- Gang education (urban centers)
- Service learning
- Bus safety, bicycle safety, gun safety, and water safety education
All this is Nationally – and then at the state level we have many more. According to a leading authority in Education these things were added to the existing school day WITHOUT adding time to the calendar or the day. Pay to do all this has risen but not kept up with the inflation of other essential providers – and tell me what could be more essential than our children? The authority, by the way if you wish to check it out, is an author, educator and motivational speaker. His name is Jamie Vollmer.
Statewide we have an onslaught of unpaid requirements as well. I’ve listed them here with the Bill number behind. Thank you, Sally Storm for supplying a partial list.
- Dyslexia Screening & Support (SB 612)
- Abuse Prevention (SB 856)
- Dental Screening & Sealants (SB 660)
- School Nursing Provisions (SB 698)
- Domestic Violence Awareness (SB 790)
- Public Immunization Reporting (SB 895)
- Improving African-American Outcomes (HB 2016)
- Attendance Verification to ODOT (HB 2545)
- Safety Threat Drill Requirements (HB 2661)
- Oregon Civics Training for Teachers (HB 2955)
- Chronic Absenteeism Prevention Reporting (HB 3319)
- ELL Reporting (HB 3499)
- Instruct All Students in CPR (SB 79)
This article is not intended to negate the importance of any of these- I merely point out how much we expect each and every day from our fine staff. I was going to check with the budget manager to see if she could determine the money we spend on these items. However, I hated to add to her already overloaded schedule to give an estimate. It does not take much of a leap to see, regardless of the dollar amount, it takes teaching and preparation time to deal with all of this. If you’d like me to go into anything specifically, contact me at tmorton@fernridge.k12.or.us. I leave you with this thought from Henry Adams: “A teacher affects eternity; he can never determine where his influence stops.”
I apologize for Mr. Adams sexist choice of pronouns… remember he was born in 1838. The idea is sound- the pronouns not consistent with today’s verbiage. Oh Yes- that is yet another thing we expect our teachers to teach our young people- great thoughts of long ago still apply just without today’s awareness of racial and gender changes. Here is a video from Mr. Vollmer for you if you’d like to see more about these and more added mandates. http://www.jamievollmer.com/video.html