Education is near and dear to my heart. I deeply believe we need less federal involvement in education and should allow free-market forces to work in education, just like they do in computer technology. As a former private school teacher, a public school remediator, and a homeschool mom I have seen education from all sides. I know that it doesn’t cost $10,000 per year to education a child. I know it for a fact. I also know that continually feeding the education monopoly more and more of our money won’t bring about any meaningful change for students.
Please rent “Waiting for Superman”. It is available for rent at RedBox locations for $1 per day. Here are several interviews.
Please take a some time to watch these two animated videos and read Michelle Malkin’s article. Pass them along.
Michelle Malkin’s article on education is brilliant and to the point. “…a fat-cat union official who rakes in nearly $300,000 a year (plus a $100,000 pension) while his organization’s net assets are more than $117 million in the red… lecturing anyone else about ‘ideology and greed’?” http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2011/03/02/malkin-teachers-unions-101-a-is-for-agitation/
============================
Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of DC Public Schools, has begun an organization called Student’s First. http://www.studentsfirst.org/#
Here is one suggestion Rhee makes to improve our public education system. http://www.studentsfirst.org/blog/entry/michelle-rhees-latest-wall-street-journal-op-ed/
========================
How hard is it to be a non-union teacher in a union controlled system?
Glenn Beck and American’s for Prosperity explains union numbers and jobs.
Caldwell TEA Party 
It costs over $20,000 a year to provide public education in states like New York, and less than $500 a year to home school. Obviously the problem with our educational system is NOT money.
Vance
Yes, you’re right, Vance! The cost IS that high in other parts of the country and that should be even more infuriating to taxpayers. But here in NC, we “only” pay $10,000 per student – a shame for the educational outcome for many students. Only two-thirds to three-fourths of NC students graduate. So, after $100,000 or more of education, students leave.
There was front page article in our paper yesterday, where the school superintendent was agonizing about where Bev’s possible 13% cuts would come from. He listed for cuts: Education Center staff (great), and all assistant principals and principals in the county, and bus drivers.
My money saving ideas:
1) Stop buy new, expensive Math and English books – those subjects don’t change. Most subjects don’t need a new, expensive textbook each year. Remember when we were in school and there were all those names of our older brothers and sisters in the books because they were used for 10+ years. And think of all the trees we could save!!
2) Don’t buy every single educational fad, teaching gimmick that comes along. Those “good ideas” and “latest in technology” are very, very, very expensive! Most end up unused on a classroom shelf.
3) Professional development days for teachers are costly. Skip all of those. They should already be “professionals” and like I said in #2, we don’t need to learn about every new teaching fad and classroom gimmick. The 3-R’s will do it – Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic.
4) Eliminate cable in the classroom. As far as I have ever seen, it is only used for Channel 1 (Liberal dribble), Obama’s education speech (more Liberal dribble), Nickelodeon and Disney. Usually, the TV comes on with children’s programming to reward them for good behavior. This usually happens for a significant portion of Friday’s school day. I have never seen a classroom TV showing any substantive, educational programming UNLESS IT WAS A VIDEO TAPE. Therefore, we don’t need cable in the classroom. VCR/DVD players will do just fine.
5) In some school, teachers’ copy machine privileges are limited. Which is interesting since they can purchase new textbooks, whether the teacher wants them or not.
That’s my two-cents.