Wesley Null and Diane Ravitch: The Heart of a School is Its Teachers: Treat Them with Love and Respect
Wesley Null, vice provost for undergraduate education at Baylor University, and I wrote this piece for the Dallas Morning News.
Texas legislators are revising the state’s school finance laws. We wanted to put before the public the importance of paying teachers well.
Some legislators are enthusiastic about what they call “outcomes-based funding,” which would send more money to affluent districts and less money to needy districts. This would be a huge mistake for obvious reasons. It’s reverse Robin Hood.
Long ago, Texas had visionaries in the legislature who understood that the future of the state relied on having a strong public education system. Current legislators think they can use charters as a substitute for adequate funding.
In 1948, those visionaries proposed a dramatic increase in state funding and equalization. Gilmer and Aiken persuaded their colleagues to raise the state share of funding to 75-80% of costs. This year, the state share will fall to 39%, shifting the burden of financing schools to localities, which favors the richest districts.
We wrote:
The heart of any school is the teacher. The only way to ensure that every Texas child receives a quality education is to place a well-educated, well-prepared teacher in every classroom. That truth will never change.The attractiveness of teaching, however, continues to decline. The results are tragic. Labor Department statistics reveal that public educators are leaving the profession at the highest rate in 20 years. Low pay and disrespect are key factors in this alarming CONTINUE READING: Wesley Null and Diane Ravitch: The Heart of a School is Its Teachers: Treat Them with Love and Respect | Diane Ravitch's blog