Education impacted by cuts

By Phil Brumley, SJFB President

Fall is here, harvest is well underway and the kids are all back in school.  Most kindergarten- through high-school students started a month ago and most colleges have resumed classes over the last two or three weeks. For those of you who have children in school, it is an interesting time. 

Education at all levels is being impacted by the California budget woes. Local school districts have to make hard choices regarding programs, class sizes and extra-curricular activities just to name a few. The community colleges, state universities and the University of California are all having financial difficulties as well. New enrollments are being limited at some campuses and they are also looking for ways to trim costs that in the end will ultimately affect the student population.

The Legislature needs to come up with a plan to equalize the funding to our public education system that eliminates the massive budget cuts that are being made across the state just to keep the doors open. As a member of a local school board, I have seen first hand the havoc that the lack of leadership in Sacramento has created.

These problems are then compounded with both the state and federal education departments regarding curriculum, programs and “No Child Left Behind.” With all of the supposedly well meaning interference, the ability of teachers to do what is best for the student is lost. Every teacher must now teach to a specific set of standards for the child’s grade level. If they are unable to keep up or need additional help it must be done out of class because in order to teach to the standards they must keep moving on and going back to review a prior years curriculum is impossible.

Now you ask, how do they determine if the standards are met? Guess what, it is through standardized tests. We are in effect teaching our children how to take standardized tests, which for the most part are true/false or multiple-choice tests. The ability to effectively communicate either in writing or verbally is a skill that is missing in many of our recent high school graduates. 

In the old days, the 1980s and 1990s high school was a time that many students had the opportunity to take vocational classes. These classes included agriculture, metal shop, wood shop, drafting and auto shop just to name a few. Some schools are still offering a portion of these types of classes but many vocational classes are being eliminated in favor of additional remedial classes for language and algebra so that the students can pass the High School Exit Exam. Remember it is the standards that are dictated by our state and federal bureaucrats that must be taught regardless of the career path a student may want.

In my opinion, the system is broken. The creativity of teachers to influence individual students is stifled, districts are relegated to a one size fits all program so that they meet the test scoring goals set by a group of “Experts” and we have graduates who in many cases can not communicate effectively, read a tape measure or use critical thinking to solve a problem.

What can we do? Well for one we can support candidates who are willing to think outside the box and change the educational system to allow more local control with less reliance on state mandated standards. Another thing we can do is support programs like the one on the governor’s desk, SB 147, Career Technical Education. This bill will allow high school students to take vocational classes that can be used for credit when applying to college.

Like it or not, not every high school graduate is going to attend college. Some will go to a four-year university, some will go to a community college and others will go on to a technical school. It is those students who do not go on who we need to be concerned about. It is some of those students who would benefit most from vocational classes.

Our children are our future. Let’s keep working to make sure they get the education they “need” not the one-size-fits-all approach that is in vogue with the bureaucrats.