This article was actually posted the same day as the New York Testing Teachers article, but I've failed to post this blog timely. Again, I rely on paper, so I apologize for the lateness.
While everyone, and I mean everyone, can agree on the dismal state of the economy, I find it extremely difficult to swallow that schools are not getting -- and more importantly, won't be getting -- the aid they so desperately need; as highlighted in the proposed plan to test teacher efficiency in order to find the culprit for student failure. New York Governor Eliot Spitzer unveiled a budget that did not reflect expectations. Although the proposed budget "does not give the city's schools less money than before ... it gives them less than the expected $530 million in additional aid for school operations."
Of the lower aid increase, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said: "Clearly it could have been a lot worse."
Right. They could propose a different purpose for the funds, which of course, they did. Paul Francis, director of operations for the governor, said the administration also planned changes in the way aid is disbursed, with less tied to accountability goals like reducing class sizes.
Because overcrowded schools show no disadvantages to students?
Where do the nearly 4,000 students of Richmond Hill High School stack up? In temporary classrooms where the teachers hold umbrellas against leaky roofs, and must endure a daily routine in which the first lunch period starts at 8:59 a.m.? It's incredible how people expect these students to excel and succeed under such conditions.
... then again, I went to school in Brooklyn.
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