Question about Times-News article on school funding and consolidation

[sup-rbeast]

The other day I was reading an article in the Times-News about school funding...and it doesn't match the rhetoric we get from the school division concerning consolidation. According to Terry Kilgore, funding for the school divisions in Virginia has gone up 59% in the past 10 years. That means if a school division was getting 15 million in 2000, they now get 23.8 million....if they got 20 million in 2000, they get 31.8 million now. In the same time frame, teacher salaries have gone up roughly 10% state wide. Diesel has gone up roughly 75 cents per gallon and energy cost has risen roughly 30%. At the same time, the student population in Wise County has declined, and SOLs were already implemented before 2000, so the cost there should be the same...cuz with a declining student population, you need less teachers, so that would take up much of the salary increase. Given that information, school divisions should be funded at least as well (if not better) than they were 10 years ago...actually they should be in the black. So, my question is this: Where did all the doom and gloom cited when consolidation is discussed come from? Really it makes no sense. Every school division is funded at roughly 160% of what it was 10 years ago...so, what that tells me is either the school division is blowing smoke, or the Wise County school system has been poorly managed over the past 10 years. Consolidation backers also are dead set against refurbishing school with air, electrical, etc. saying it would be useless or impossible to do. But, Scott County has 3 high schools built roughly the same time as the Wise County schools and all of them have good computer labs and A/C. Kinda strange if ya ask me. I know some of y'all will freak out and act as if this post in some way slights school kids and denies them a "good quality education"..but really, think about it. Folks that graduated a decade ago didn't have to panic if they were working in a store and the cash register stopped working...cuz they could figure tax and change themselves. The same can't be said for most graduates now days...cuz without a calculator their math skills are useless. So really, IMO that argument is out. But, all in all, the numbers and the arguments don't add up. IMO, they should put the issue to a vote county wide and just see what the majority of the citizens actually think...and include the true price tag for each option.

[Gotch]

I don't know much about the subject? I do know that Kilgore also said that the recent electric rate law applied to ODP and ODP's lawyers say he is full of cow waste and that they are free ands clear to maintain their 31% rate hike.

[sup-rbeast]

I'd say ODP will get smacked down like a little girl....IMO, that is EXACTLY why the government should regulate any large business dealing in energy and regulate all banks as well. There are some things I'd rather take my chances with the government on than take my chances with corporate greed on.

[Biggin]

see, you just took a shot at the younger generation, and its flat out false.

i would almost guarantee as a whole, kids now are SMARTER than they were 30 years ago, on the average.

and i know plenty of kids who can do almost all math in their head, sure there may be some kids who struggle, but you make it seem like all young poeple are stupid and have to have a calculator to figure it out.

[centennialdawg]

Well, when I was 18 and working at the Pay Less in Appy on the street corner, we had two registers. They were the old push button type that made the "chi-ching" sound and when it "sub-totaled" your order, the cashiers had to add the tax in on their own and not by computer/calculator. and they were pretty **** fast at it too.

But now days, with the difference in the tax for food, and toiletries and no tax on medicine, it makes it quite a bit more difficult. All in all, they are still on the same level as we were back then.

I do wonder though, how many of them could use a slide rule for calculations, or even a protractor and compass to do graphs and geometry and algebra.

[retiredteach]

You brought up some good points there suprbeast. Can't really explain them all. Guess part of the increased funding is that it just takes more to do everything than it did 10 years ago. Do know that if I were still teaching and with bus driving pay, my salary would be about 72,000. Not bad. You might want to approach a Board Member to get some of these questions answered.

[sup-rbeast]

see, you just took a shot at the younger generation, and its flat out false.

i would almost guarantee as a whole, kids now are SMARTER than they were 30 years ago, on the average.

and i know plenty of kids who can do almost all math in their head, sure there may be some kids who struggle, but you make it seem like all young poeple are stupid and have to have a calculator to figure it out.

I see it everyday and have for close to a decade now. At least 50% of today's grads can't do anything beyond simple addition, subtraction, multiplying, or dividing without a calculator. Today's kids get more facts to memorize, but the total education is sorely lacking.

[R13]

I see it everyday and have for close to a decade now. At least 50% of today's grads can't do anything beyond simple addition, subtraction, multiplying, or dividing without a calculator. Today's kids get more facts to memorize, but the total education is sorely lacking.

What else is there really to do in the average day using math? If I have a calculator, I'll use it every time. Education is clearly at a higher level than decades ago, more kids going to college etc.

I do wonder though, how many of them could use a slide rule for calculations, or even a protractor and compass to do graphs and geometry and algebra.

Slide ruler just isn't used anymore all that much, so it wouldn't be that we're incapable, just that it's never been taught. A protractor and compass are still used in HS, easy to use, but no real use for them in college.

Trying using a TI-84 calculator, they're not all that easy to use for a first timer.