Public education during a pandemic
 |
| View of a classroom during school hours in two months. // photo by Pixabay |
Quite frankly, I don't know if it's safe to go. That's not my field of expertise, and neither is it of Newsom, Cuomo, Whitmer, or pretty much any other politician. Even if a politician is also an epidemiologist, they can't possibly know whether one family has a higher risk tolerance than another with respect to schools. Maybe one family is located in a lower infection rate. Maybe one family has no contact with any high-risk people. Maybe one family has kids that suffer from depression that peer interaction would help alleviate. Maybe one family has an autistic child that requires consistent instruction, who would otherwise quickly regress. These are all variables that no politician can possibly know of every person, even in a small local district.
But politicians control the public schools and are even exerting influence over private schools, so here we are. In California, Newsom directed schools in certain counties to not reopen their doors when the school year starts. Many will likely continue with Zoom classes like they have been toward the end of the previous academic year. So this makes me wonder like I did with National Parks, when do we get a tax break for the lack of schools?
Public schools receive the majority of funding from state taxes, a large portion from property taxes and other local taxes, a minority from federal taxes, and a minuscule amount from the state lottery. Of course, teachers still need to be paid for online instruction and the facilities maintained, but the drastic reduction of wear and tear on the facilities and supplies, reduction in energy bills, reduction in school programs, should mean that expenses have decreased, right? Some private schools have offered discounts on their tuition from 10 to 30% to help families transition to online education.
Surely state-run schools would be more compassionate than these capitalist pigs making people pay for their service, right? I'm sure I will receive a letter any day now from the State of California, County of Alameda, and the IRS that my tax burden will be reduced a commensurate amount for the lack of services rendered.
Let me check my mailbox...nope not today. Tomorrow, probably.
Meanwhile, surveys show that the transition to remote schooling has been mastered by private and charter schools more than public schools. In an Education Next survey of parents, private and charter schools introduced more new content to pupils, had more one on one interaction with students, saw their students do more schoolwork, reported less lost learning, and had drastically higher satisfaction rates, than public schools. The study concludes that although the disruptions had been similar among all three school types surveyed, private and charter schools were far better able to adapt to the new conditions.
To make things worse, the Center on Reinventing Public Education found this past spring that only 1 in 3 districts of public schools required teachers to continue providing instruction to students after schools had closed.
It isn't surprising, then, that parents are expressing high interest in private schools, homeschooling, and learning pods.
It also isn't surprising that public schools are struggling to adapt, compared to private and charter schools. Public schools are founded upon bureaucracy, which pretty much by definition, are slow, plodding, and nimble as a glacier. They don't have to be able to quickly adapt because their existence is not predicated upon being able to survive in a marketplace. Their funding source is taken by force, not by voluntary action. Private and charter schools, on the other hand, must be able to adapt quickly to situations or be left behind and forced to shutter due to the lack of customers.
So public schools have been slow to adapt, have had a poorer record, and at the same time, will not be refunding any money for services not rendered like their counterparts have.
Instead, public sector teacher unions have released a list of demands, including an additional $116 billion nationwide to reopen public schools, or $1.2 million per school. Following a Google search, I couldn't find anything about private schools increasing tuition as a condition to reopen.
Another demand by the unions is to force public schools to remain closed. It's understandable that unions would be concerned for their constituents' well-being. Less understandable is their demand to limit the number of virtual sessions they would have to do, especially considering they're already doing less on average than their private school counterparts.
Incomprehensible are their demands for Medicare for All, wealth taxes, and a moratorium on evictions. What any of these have to do with the safety of reopening of schools, especially when considering public-sector teachers have a 99% health insurance coverage rate, is anybody's guess.
Downright nefarious are their demands, partnering with the Democratic Socialists of America, for a moratorium on charter schools, and an abolition of voucher programs. This is an obvious attempt at trying to maintain their monopoly cartel status, eliminating competition with the strong and armed hand of the government while exploiting people's fears of the Coronavirus by holding hostage children's education.
To rub salt in the gaping wound of parents, some school officials have called social workers and even the police on the parents whose children have missed Zoom sessions. The parents dare complain about scheduling difficulties and that the schools' instructions are confusing and refuse to offer help? We'll take your children away and throw you into a cage, for that!
And where the hell is my refund on public schools? The post office had better not have lost it.
