Schools and teachers would be rewarded when students finish school, if a bill now in the State Senate becomes a law. HB 1599 passed the House of Representatives March 1 (54-42). It was referred to the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee on Friday, March 4.
In the meantime, you should check out this blog post from Washington State Wire blog editor Jim Boldt, published in early February (when the bill was introduced):
Who's The Customer? Students Or Administrators? HB 1599 Is A K-12 Payoff
HB 1599, PASS, “Pay For Actual Student Success”?
How About They Graduate Because We Have Already Paid For It?
This bill passed the House. All sorts of news about it. It's the wrong approach for so many reasons. Let's start with the problem it is supposed to solve. This bill attempts to reimburse school districts for getting a higher percentage of students to graduate. Is it just me or is that what we are paying about half the state budget for right now?*
Once again instead of revamping our 19th century command and control K-12 system, this bill takes precious financial resources we don't have (about $5 million a year) and peppers it out to creative districts that finally do what they are supposed to already be doing...graduate students!
I have an idea. Pay the student, not the failing administrators. Offer each student who graduates either a few thousand cash or first year free tuition in a Washington institution of higher education. Signing bonus, kind of? I like it? Heck if we have our goals right and graduation actually means something let's give them an electric car. I would rather incent the person actually responsible for graduation instead someone who really only tries to create an environment for education and graduation.
I have another idea, why don't we work this backwards, let's subtract money from the administrator's salary if the students don't graduate. That my friends, would bring the bloated administrations of the states 295 districts running to the capitol screaming, no, no, no. Maybe they would honestly share what they think is the problem. They do know don't they? Yes, think about it, we have 39 counties but we have 295 school districts.. We have 295 districts, 295 superintendents, 600 assistant superintendents, 295 directors of this and 295 directors of that. We have a school district and all it's administration every few miles. Hello.
Inefficiency is driven by confusion. Make it confusing and complicated and it costs more. K-12 really has only a few components: 1. What is basic education and how does that produce a “product” we want? (sorry, a graduate is a product) 2. What does the raw material look like and should or can we affect it? (I know, raw material? If you want to fix this mess get real.) and finally 3. How do you take number 2 and produce number 1? Yes, what process works in the 21st century? The real 21st century, the virtual century, the global century, the century when America slips to third place and looks like France by 2075 if we don't do something fast. Oh there I go again.
Stab in the dark? No, I am speaking from eleven years as a school board member, five of them on a public school board. Add four years on the House Education Committee, and a few hours in the class room teaching, parenting, and coaching, So I get to whine!
We should not spend tax money to operate an education system, and then when that system fails, turn around and add more money to reward the same sorry education system. The legislature needs to step up and realign K-12.
- The director of the state system should be appointed by the guv so we know who to blame for a sick system.
- The districts should be combined into a lot fewer functioning systems with centralized administration. (If I had my way there would be limit the number of former teachers who could act as administrators.)
- And most delicately we are going to have to look into the raw material end, yes the student, the child, how can we help create a pro-education environment where the student lives? Where there is support and respect for education, we will get students who respect and support education.
- And, we need at least a K-20 if not a K-22 system. And,to get prepared “raw material” we may need to look at K-minus-two, yep, what use to be pre-school might just need to become real school. Come on, with technology and our cultural trends today do you really think the awareness level of three-year-olds is the same as it was two generations ago? Come on.
Or else.
Paying for more kids to graduate is like buying an extended warranty. After what you paid for it shouldn't the lawn mower actually cut the lawn. Consumer Reports suggest we not buy them.
*Senate Democrat Caucus website:
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