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.
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
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?
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.