http://www.slideshare.net/JackieKlerkWaldie/blog-budget-presentation
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For years the Rapid City Area School District has been managing the public education of children in our community on inadequate funding from State and Local funding formulas. To make up for this deficit they have applied for grants, cut and restructured programs, and accepted donations from area philanthropists. In the past a single classroom teacher could teach 24 students how to read, write and do arithmetic, because he or she could count on at least 20 families working with their children at home each night reading, writing and doing math. Families valued education and worked to make sure their children were learning and making adequate progress each year. They volunteered to come into the classroom to provide extra help. Now, a classroom teacher must do this on his or her own, with much less support from home. Parents are working, children are in activities, and when we come together at home we are tired. TV, video games and mobile devices have replaced time spent working with children on reading, writing and doing math. To help with this lack of home support, grants were applied for to hire extra teachers to assist the one classroom teacher. When these grants expired we still needed those teachers, but because of inadequate funding we can no longer pay for them. This year approximately 70 positions have been cut in the district - 45-50 of them teaching positions mainly in literacy and math support. We will save money, but at what expense to the education of our children. Even as we demand increased capacity from our classroom teachers, we are paying them less. The pay scale many of our teachers contracted to work under has not been honored for 6-10 years. They fret each year over whether or not a one-time salary increase will be given, but cannot plan their future on this uncertainty. Link to article from Rapid City Journal 10/26/15 Rapid City Teachers’ pay doesn’t conform to district’s chart Must teachers choose between a pay increase or additional support in the classroom? Will we as parents step up and offer that support at home and volunteer in the classroom. Will we expect more from our children and teach them to expect more of themselves? Many of us will, but many of us do not have the capacity in our own lives to offer this additional help. So what will happen to our great schools and to the education of our children, and the future of our community? Teachers will continue to teach, doing the best they can. We will continue to send our children to school and demand high quality learning. Eventually, good teachers will retire or join the best and brightest new teachers in communities that value them on a higher level. The base pay we offer new teachers is lower than many of the other districts in the Black Hills let alone the surrounding State. We will get what we can pay for as we replace teachers that leave. Is this what we want? Austerity verses investment is the question. Do we want to cut everything but the basics from our schools or do we want to invest in our children’s future and the future of our community? There really is no choice - we must invest. We must vote yes on the opt-out measure on June 2! Then we must act as a community to shape the future of our Public Schools in Rapid City.
The opt-out has passed with a resounding “Yes” and in the most positive way possible. We are hopeful that passing the opt-out will give this district some much needed momentum. This was a good night for RCAS. Everyone was on the same page, supporting our teachers and schools while taking a major step in the right direction. A vision of collaboration and trust was shared, and as a group, we are going to hold the Superintendent accountable to every word in his impassioned speech. We are going to hold the board in the same manner. We cannot allow anyone to expect any less. All members of the board championed teachers, and spoke of how this is not an easy process but good can come out of it. We heard them validate every single problem on this blog and their commitment to change. However, it is our job to stay diligent, to hold everyone accountable to their words. This evening was inspiring and in order to build the trust with the community we need to see actions that reflect those inspirational words. Remember, trust is something that is earned. We thank them for passing the opt-out, for the commitment to better schools, and we will hold them to it. With that, let’s celebrate this victory, share the positive message, and reinforce how effective coming together is for our district. Tonight we celebrate!
Accountability breeds response-ability. -Stephen Covey We have to get our voices heard with the school board and support the opt-out. The school board has to pass it tomorrow so that we can get it to go to a public vote. Please contact your school board representatives, come to the meeting this Tuesday at 5:30 or sign this petition. They need to know that the vast majority of the community does not like the direction we are headed. https://www.change.org/p/the-rapid-city-board-of-education-vote-yes-on-the-opt-out?recruiter=93551464&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-no_msg&fb_ref=Default With the opt-out looming we need to educate ourselves about teacher pay. It is sad that it has to be such a controversial topic, but it is. As teachers, we have heard the argument about summers off and clocking out by 4 PM. We can tell you very few teachers live life this way. They work from 7 AM to 5 PM, they come in one weekends; and yes, they work over the summer at school and second jobs. The reason why you have heard more talk about the pay issue is how it is structured. RCAS has a pay scale. This includes steps that are supposed to reward a teacher's experience. It also includes an increase in pay as you continue your education. It sounds fair and looks to reward veteran educators who have pursued higher degrees. The problem is the steps have been frozen. Teachers have only gained 2 steps in 10 years. You may have ten years of experience with a Master's Degree and only be on step three. It is not just a raise the teachers need, they deserve to have their steps back. Right now a first year teacher makes about 100-200 dollars less than the same teacher mentioned above. This means the reward for experience, for broadening your horizons and bringing an expertise into this district is a little more than a couple of hundred dollars. What is the incentive then? Why stay? Other school districts within driving distance of RCAS pay 5,000-10,000 dollars more. We are loosing excellent teachers because they are tired of this level of disrespect. If the opt-out does support teacher salaries this may help you see why it is being discussed. The district is looking at raising the starting salary. This, in turn, allows the scale to adjust off that number. This means everyone will get a small raise. It does not address the step issue. If we do not pay well we cannot attract excellence, we cannot provide a reason to further their own education, and we will be seeing those effects in the classroom.
The problems RCAS are facing are mutli-faceted and complicated. There is no easy fix. We will try to break it down so we can start a discussion about all the players and their role in our children's education. We all know the state has drastically cut funding over the years. Their purpose is to put the control back into the hands of the local people. If the state increases the funding, they have more say on how it is used. However, the cuts have been so drastic most districts cannot keep up. For example, the state did decide to give us a 2% increase this year. That is a move in the right direction but it does not even cover the cost of increased expenses. The formula is also flawed. It does not account for inflation or a transient population. The Governor has created a Blue Ribbon Task Force of legislators to look into problems with education. (There are no teachers, administrators, or parents on this task force.) We need to lobby our state to increase funding and change the formula. We are looking to gather all of that contact information to disseminate to the public. Here are some links that might help explain the above post:
http://www.sdbpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SD-Talking-k-12-funding-web-posting-11-6-14.pptx |
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