Bureaucracy has too much power in public education, draining resources from students
Editor:
Although schools need supervision and management, the tiers of administration over the years have become bloated entities. The consequence: resources to the classroom have been affected greatly and bureaucracy has taken hold of American education.
How did this happen? Following a pretty common protocol of gradual integration, under the guise of bettering the educational performance, new departments, committees and policies were added, and ultimately more time and money were plowed into administration instead of teaching.
As this spiraled, a non-stop cycle of compliance and reporting took hold. Many school budgets reduced their financial obligations to their teachers and students. Instead an almost faddish mindset monopolized better judgment and school budgets began prioritizing the latest pedagogical trends at a significant cost.
Many school districts were spending thousands on bringing external consultants in who were supposedly the experts and could tell everyone who was already doing what should be done to now do it differently. I remember one such man who entered my classroom with his hands folded behind his back. I was teaching a lesson on expository writing at the time. He never greeted the children or me, walked around for a couple of minutes and then exited finally. Yep, the guru – the guru who obviously needed a lesson in people skills.
Even selecting a new superintendent can become an expensive venture when school districts opt to pay external companies big bucks to handle the process, instead of relying on their own internal resources. Just one more drain on the finances.
It seemed every year, some administrator found another new inclination to pursue, uprooting all the proven methodology of the hard working teachers and causing further chaos by implementing a new idea. Instead of piloting the concept with one classroom, everyone was obligated to jump on board and be part of the program.
I taught 40 years and over the last 10 years of my career, there were well over 10 such policies that entered the arena and each time the paper work, time and cost affected efficiently in the classroom. Among them were: Common Core, No Child Left Behind, Learning Styles, Whole Child Focus-just to name a few.
And to add to that bundle, in the last 5 years, schools have indoctrinated extreme controversial ideologies (such as Critical Race Theory) into the classroom, ignoring parental rights completely. In fact some schools have plunged forward and exposed primary aged children to gender diversity without prior notification to the home front. What does this say about parent school communication? Parents have every right to educate their children with social issues when they think they can comprehend these topics. Not the school! It’s not surprising that home-schooling is on the rise.
“Statewide, 54% of students tested proficient in math last year, up 2 percentage points from the previous year. A total of 46% were proficient in ELA, down 2 percentage points.” Pitiful results.
Over the years an unfair imbalance has occurred because the budget has been directed toward allegiance to regulations. This means fewer teachers and aides in the classroom. When I first started my teaching career, there were many teacher aides available to come in throughout the day to give the little bit of extra attention to someone in need. Then it dwindled down to maybe 3 times a week and then finally once a week.
When the money is usurped for administrative tasks, who suffers? The kids! Up to date textbooks, technology and enrichment programs are greatly compromised.
How do we clean up this mess? We need to concentrate on where the money will have the greatest impact – students and teachers.
Mary Mager
Fairport, formerly of Albion
