Comments on: Schools scraping by? Give me a break

By: John

John — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:18:46 +0000

Just found this website while doing some research in the mayoral candidates. So far I like what I’ve read.

I have a wife that taught in both Huntsville city and Randolph schools. Both have their ups and downs. Huntsville city is “teaching to the test” meaning they teach students what they need to know in order to score highly on standardized tests. Randolph scores highly on standardized tests, which they don’t have to take but do, and they actually pay their teachers less on average than Huntsville City. There’s probably a lot of reasons for that they do well: higher level students, motivated teaching staff, flexibility in teaching methodology, parents who care about how their students perform.

I’m not advocating a lower wage for our teachers - in fact I think they’re underpaid by a long shot - but I don’t have a problem for one minute thinking that the bureaucracy can waste about $5000 to $6000 per student per year. Also, I think our schools could use a good redesign of their curriculum and teaching approach. Learning to take a test isn’t motivating or fun for students, and teachers need to motivate students to learn.

By: Clio

Clio — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:01:07 +0000

Don’t the numbers for this year’s expenditures include a bankroll from the Tax Increment Financing packages? Since the school district is paying so much to renovate and build right now, those numbers might not reflect a typical year. The private schools figures might seem more typical.
Think of it like a student who just got a big student loan, and the money is sitting in his bank account and going to be spent over the next four years. College is a special time frame like building is a special time frame. After it’s over, he has to pay it back incrementally, making the reality seem more reasonable.

By: Reactionary

Reactionary — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:46:19 +0000

IMO the biggest problem in public schools is lack of discipline. If your kid consistently misbehaves at a private school, he will be kicked out. The difference in discipline leads to a much better learning (and teaching) environment - better for everyone.

I think some form of alternative school for the ill-behaved kids is needed - get them away from the kids who want to learn.

Here’s some bits of irony: kids seem to perform better in overcrowded portables (compare Grissom and Bob Jones to Johnson); kids also seem to perform better with fewer teachers (compare MLK with IIRC 12 to 1 student - teacher ratio to Mountain Gap with 17 to 1 s-t ratio).

More money is not the answer - we need discipline.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:37:18 +0000

Yes, the government schools have to pay for busing, handicapped kids, and other such expenses that the private schools do not. But the per pupil revenue difference between HSV and Madison Academy is $124 million (difference in per pupil revenue times the number of kids in HSV schools). That is a hell of a lot of money to spend on buses, handicap accessible facilities, and specialized instructors.

Jeff’s point about economies of scale only adds fuel to the fire engulfing the “scraping by” hokum.

There is no way to avoid the plain fact that privately owned schools offer a high quality education for half the price of government run schools or can offer a superior education for about the same cost. A shortage of money isn’t the problem with the government’s schools.

By: Jeff Barnett

Jeff Barnett — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:10:18 +0000

“Generally larger institutions are able to build economies of scale and cost reduce operations better than smaller institutions. How is the Huntsville City School System’s budget on par with Randolph when Randolph is such a tiny institution? Even that is surprising; the difference in quality makes it ludicrous.”

By: walt moffett

walt moffett — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:49:53 +0000

You can count on any city school system defending to the last deputy assistant reading readiness supervisor its budget.

A few other notes, the private schools have much lower payrolls, less bureaucracy, a willingness to make do and generally not slaves to the latest in educational trends.

By: Art Kling

Art Kling — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:01:36 +0000

The public schools do have to deal with the handicapped kids and all the other issues which private institutions generally do not have to contend with. But, the enrollment of the Huntsville city schools has been declining for the last 25 years or so, from a peak of about 33,000 in the early 1980s. All the while building more facilities. Maybe the city schools should redirect some of their funds to the county schools.