President Obama has proposed quite a change to the 2011 budget for schools.
Of worthy note:
- An increase of 4.5 billion dollars of discretionary funds.
- An increase of 1.35 billion dollars towards Race to the Top incentives
- 500 million for the investing in innovation program, a competitive awards program.
- 900 million for the school turnaround grants designed to help administrators turn around the 5,000 lowest preforming schools over 5 years
- 950 million for teacher and leader innovation program, creating incentives for effective teachers
- 405 million for teacher and leader pathways, promoting alternate certification routes
- 1 billion for effective teaching and learning for a complete education, a new program to support college and career readiness.
- 490 million for expanding educational options, which consolidates 5 programs into one, focused on charter schools and public school choice.
- 450 million for Assessing Achievement authority, which will help improve assessments for ESL students and students with disabilities, among other assessment developments.
- 210 million for the Promise Neighborhoods initiative, a competitive award for neighborhood programs working against poverty.
- 410 million to consolidate 6 authorities into one Successful, Safe, and Healthy Student authority. This program will provide communities the ability to focus on improving school climate and safety for students.
- 7.5 billion over 10 year to expand the income-based repayment options in post-secondary student loan programs.
Note among the proposals the amount of funds that are provided as rewards, awards and grants. This is a huge shift towards incentive based pay, a concept that many in administrative positions think is the solution for raising student test scores.
The fact, though, is that restructuring the way teachers are paid will not have a significant impact on the student test scores. Changes need to be made in the resources available to teachers as well – curriculum options, how time is spent during the school day, and similar changes.
What do you think will make a difference? Will these proposed budget changes bring about the needed turn-about in public education?
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It is very disappointing to see this shift to incentive based pay. The issue for me with this and with No Child Left Behind as a whole is that it expects ALL children to be proficient. Well unfortunately realty will not allow that to happen. There are students with special needs who will never be able to reach the capacity of other students no matter what AYP dictates. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give them our best and ensure that they receive the best education possible, but it does mean that schools and teachers should not be punished because their level of proficiency does not meet an arbitrary level set by politicians who haven’t been in the classroom setting for a very long time.