Shutting Down Schools To Save Them?

We're also facing the reality of declining education enrollments that have been going on for a while and will continue for about another four years or so.

In essence, we are in the demographic trough as the Echo Boom leaves the k-12 population before the Echo Echo Boom comes on line. My family is a case in point. I am 50. My 63 year-old brother's oldest granddaughter is three months older than my youngest daughter. The former is the Echo Echo Boom, and the later the Echo Boom.

So therefore a population decline facilitates cutting cost by closing structures and reducing overhead while still being able to maintain reasonable class size. Aging structures with under performing education can easily be mothballed and/or renovated in the ensuing and expected uptick.

This works only with critical mass. A small school with two classes per grade of, say 28 students, will not see appreciable cost savings. A large city with 100 classes per grade can cut ten, reconfigure, and also pick up overhead savings through reduced infrastructure.

The key will be the forward thinking renovation, redeployment of those structures when needed in 4 or 5 years.

So the tactic is not bad as a first step. The proof will be in the ensuing steps to see whether or not a long term vision is there.

I watched some of Harvard University's online lectures, and saw some of their classes have 2 highly distinguished professors teaching the class together, with an additional 2 or even more highly qualified assistants (not just some lame old students in training, really qualified teachers assistants) and that did not include the technicians who were filming the classes to put on the web. I think public schools should follow that model, I am sure many young people would benefit if there were like 4 teachers in a class (basically what Harvard was doing was awesome). rather than make support more buildings, bring more teachers together as teams and be in classes together teaching the kids. I am also sure a lot of the disruptive behavior would calm down if there were so many adults in the class making sure things were going along right. but most are too cheap to want to invest in the kids, which is a shame and will lead to more packed jails. I think it would be great if teachers got together more to tag team the classrooms.

Geoff Woollacott wrote: "We're also facing the reality of declining education enrollments that have been going on for a while and will continue for about another four years or so."

That's not quite right. Baby boomer public school enrollment peaked in 1971 at 46.1M, but it was 48.6M and rising by 2002. America's suburban public schools have grown by 3.4M in the last decade and a half, mostly Hispanic and Asian immigrants.

Double teacher's pay so that you can actually attract some ambitions intellectual and entrepreneurial talent in the classroom- instead of "C" level college grads- and you might start to see some results. I say this from experience. I'm probably the best teacher at my school but I'm leaving because I know my worth in the market somewhere else is so much more than what I make here. I'm not a social worker. I want the respect I can earn being a professional. Oh and concentrate on some content knowledge in education instead of pedagogy. This hand-holding crap is short-changing our students. AND stop letting parents sue schools for BS- force arbitration as a first step for all educational litigation.

Shut down schools, fire principals and teachers.. where are the parents in this equation?

Anyone stop to figure in the cost of transporting student to different districts? I'm guessing probably not.

The big city schools are already far too big to be manageable. Students who need extra help are considered a liability rather than an responsibility and here we are charging off to make them even bigger. Where's the logic? Where's the common sense?

Poor countries have better education than the ones in the USA. We taxpayers pay for education and we get nothing in return but morons and selfish human beings. Perhaps we should sent our education genuises to those countries and find out why with poor education resources their students score better in math and science that americans. Is is because they don't have cable tv and wii gamers ? Or because parents don't cater to them ? or because the governement don't intrude on parents reponsibility ? or because they don't give trophies to loosers as well as winners ?? hmmm WE should send them out before close the schools...

Does this mean people will be paying double taxes? Taxes to support the public schools in their own neighborhood and then more taxes for schools in other neighborhoods?

Schools are in some pretty sorry shape. I live in a rural area but the schools are so inadequate that not only am I paying school taxes for other kids to attend public school but I am also forking out tuition for a private school that quite frankly is only slightly better...but at least it is better. I am all for school vouchers. And as far as teachers on here complaining about doubling salaries. PLEASE! I am yet to meet a teacher that is worth their current salary and my kid is in 8th grade. Let's see, decent pay...summers off...Christmas break, Easter break (oops!!! I mean WINTER break and Spring break, lets be politcially correct) and a nice fat pension when they retire. Not too many jobs anymore come with a pension and definately not with summers off. Yeah, I sure have a lot of sympathy for those poor overworked teachers

One more things. Schools are as inadequate at GMAC and their unions and fat pensions. I for one am tired of the constant increase in school taxes for your pensions and pay. I hope to see the day the taxes dont come up one year for homeowners and you lose your pensions like the rest of the working force.

They funny thing is, they complain about the pay but they compare their salary to another professional who works 12 months a year and they are only working 9! For a 9 month working year not too bad.

@ The Mick:

I do not disagree with your figures. The stats of which I am aware come from more rural/suburban communities still predominantly white, as in 95%. So, growth in minority populations through immigration do, indeed, impact what is a very real valley, if you will, between the two humps of Echo and Echo Echo Boom generations. In MA this was driven down to communities through essentially flat education spend from FY02 though FY08 that shifted cost more on local communities, forcing cuts and consolidations as enrollments dropped. Easier to do with greater scale.

Those of you complaining about how teachers only work 9 months yet compare their salaries to a 12 month job have very little understanding of what teachers do. Yes there are plenty that slack off and do as little as possible enjoying long vacations (and in my opinion those teachers should be replaced) but there are many more who spend their summers and breaks attending class, writing curriculum and preparing for the school year. Not to mention the overtime during the school year. A good teacher averages about 60 hours a week and sometimes more. When my class sizes were over 40 and I had close to 200 students, I averaged 70+ hours a week the entire school year. So please don't be so quick to judge the time teachers put in.

As far as closing schools, this will do very little to solve the problem because it doesn't address the real problem: Our society doesn't value education. And this starts with the parents who make unreasonable demands on teachers that have little to do with student learning. At both districts I taught in, I regularly had parents demanding that I raise their kids grade with no effort on the kid's part. And administrators feel they have no choice but to support the parents. On the flip side, the other type of parent is the one who is not involved at all and lets their kid do as they please. Very few parents fall in the middle with a desire for their kids to actually learn.

And lastly, we need to stop comparing our test scores to other countries because we really are not comparing apples to apples. Most other countries do not test all students. The poorer nations usually do not make education mandatory and thus it is only the students from parents who value education there and taking the standardized tests. Most developed nations track students and it is only the college bound track that takes the standardized tests we compare our students to. How can we compare the very brightest students in other countries to EVERY SINGLE student in our country?

You get what you pay for. Schools have always been underfunded in this country and kids did well in spite of it. Those who push school vouchers are tax evaders looking for a freebie.

Schools are still quite adequate for those parents who care enough about their kids' education to go to school and meet the teacher, follow up on their homework every night, and if needed arrange for extra help after school.

I watched my children in school systems in California and Northern Virginia. One thing happened - increased illegal aliens and spending to provide for them. This included new buildings, teachers, admin, and second language teaching. Affects on the school population was increased busing as they moved due to over crowding of schools, staff upheaval, dumbing down of class teaching, and overall lack of consistentcy. The best thing we can do is eliminate illegals and this will give additional funds for real Americans.

The federal law is not new. Public schools are a great success story since the U.S. was the first to go to them in the 1800's. Accountability is the key -- found a cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth

I used to believe the line ... the only reason that kids are failing in the public schools is because their parents aren't doing xyz...

The Algebra I curriculum for all students in the entire State of Maryland has been politicized ... 6 weeks of Algebra I curriculum has been replaced with an easier "Data Analysis" piece. 30 days out of a 180 day school year or 1/6 is not Algebra I.

In order to get a high school diploma, starting in June 2009 all students had to pass the Algebra I, Biology, Government and English 10th grade tests.
As of last year, only 66% I believe of the seniors in Baltimore City Schools had been able to pass these 9th and 10th grade level tests. Kids who go through all 12 plus kindergarten years of school, do not have even a 9th or 10th grade education.

Teachers who try to teach the entire Algebra I curriculum are pressured to teach the politicized Algebra I curriculum. Many Honors and GT kids begin to fail in Algebra II and Pre-Calculus due to these serious holes in the Algebra I curriculum in Maryland. Up to 60percent of parents of GT students hire tutors.

Parents are told their children are not "GT" material. They must research and fight for over 2 years now, trying to get this changed at the State level. The State education people do not seem to be for it ... but the State political people who control the State money going to all 24 counties/city insist?

Add to this 4 "horrible" math teachers in the local high school ... with stories going back over 20 years on one of them. Stories of grade fraud and totally not teaching the material. Principals who publically talk about wishing they could fire a completely incompetant teacher but are not allowed.

The Democratic Party is so beholdened to the leadership of the teachers' unions at the national and state level, that they can no longer be for public education, nor for students, nor for teachers, nor for principals, nor for local control of education.

I love public education and I hate what the Democratic Party has done to it.