Friday, May 17, 2013

The Union Must Get A Commitment From Their Endorsed Candidate To Eliminate The Fair Student Funding Formula.

In my continuing series on what the union should require for their endorsement it's time to get rid of the "fair student funding formula" that has resulted in senior teachers not even getting interviews because of the budget constraints by this unfair funding method.  Before the "fair student funding formula", teachers were units and the "best teachers" were recruited by the schools who were considered the most desirable.  Included in this calculation for these "best teachers" was the neighborhood the school was located in, parking and transportation  availability, and the school's reputation.  Naturally, the schools who had the most to offer attracted the "best teachers".  Along came Chancellor Joel Klein's "fair student funding formula" that in theory would allocate additional money to schools that have a high percentage of "high needs" students (Special Education, English Language Learners, and poverty).  However, like all the Tweed inspired policies under the Bloomberg Administration, the "fair student funding formula" failed to allocate all the resources promised to these schools with "high needs" students.  Instead the "fair student funding formula" has morphed into a restraint on principals who would want to hire experienced teachers since it would hurt the school's budget while not allocating the additional funds to those schools with "high needs" students.

The question is what happened to the money?  While I do not pretend to know the answer since the DOE is not transparent about its funding and allocation mechanism, I can make an educated guess that a significant amount went to funding high-priced consultants and their suspect educational programs they peddle daily to the non-educators at Tweed.  Furthermore, the near useless "Children First networks" siphon badly needed funds from schools and have numerous high-priced managers and ousted principals that contribute next to nothing to the classroom.  Finally, the DOE is noted for its bloated central bureaucracy and it's no secret that badly needed school resources end up at Tweed to pay for their ever oversized headcount.

Why did our union allow the "fair student funding formula" to be implemented in the first place?  It appears this was yet another miscalculation by Randi Wiengarten that given a "bill of goods" by Joel Klein, she fell for it only to see that it ends up hurting both the teachers and the students.

In conclusion, our union should only endorse a candidate who is committed and supports the elimination of the "fair student funding formula" that not only discriminates against the hiring of senior teachers but forces principals to hire the "cheapest" and not the "best teachers" for their school and that is what I call "students last....always" when schools are hamstrung by the unfair "fair student funding formula"

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another great post. I especially like how you brought out the fact that the union leadership did not object to the change in funding and how it affected teachers.

I noticed that... said...

Randi also endorsed and supports a state bill in Illinois that will hurt retirees and she did not understand the bill nor did she see if the bill would have repercussion.

http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/randi-weingarten-gets-busted-her-people-forced-to-explain-dance-about-her-ignorance-of-the-pension-bill-she-endorsed/

Randi's biggest problem is that she wants people to know her for her collaboration and compromises with administration and policy makers, even when those ideological approaches will hurt the members, but not her image.

It is time for Randi to reflect, like teachers do, on what worked and what OBVIOUSLY did not work and shall not be used ever again.

Anonymous said...

not one statement on what to do about ATR disaster from any candidate

Anonymous said...

Why is it that I've followed all mayoral candidate sessions and correct, not one word or mention of relieving the atr situation. As a matter of fact, ATR teachers should receive back pay for having to endure the ridiculous rigors of having to travel from school to school every week!! Only in Bloombergs world could this possibly happen

Anonymous said...

The ATR typical day:
As an ATR you will meet two different type staff/school each week. If you travel to a small bloomterd half hallway school on the 3rd floor of a former school building you will encompass young, stupid teachers who cannot look you in the eye and walk around like they are still hanging out in their dorm rooms. They know nothing, the kids in the classrooms abuse them and hardly any learning goes on. Believe me, I see it all the time.
Or, you will travel to a large school with original staff who all will embrace you because they know its all about the bloomterd garbage as far as why you are there

Anonymous said...

The problem with Randi (for teachers) is that Randi takes care of Randi first. We are merely a by product of her careerism.

Anonymous said...

Chaz great post, we need to get the word out even more so the candidates get it into their thoughts. LEts make sure each candidate understands the importance of eliminating the fair student funding bull s***