Education needs more funding, not less
Education needs more funding, not less
I was thoroughly disgusted to read of Governor Ige’s intention to veto several bills meant to improve educational services and the lives of teachers and students in Hawai‘i.
Teachers comprise one of the most-underpaid professions in this country. They frequently use their own funds to provide supplies for their classrooms.
Contrary to the notion that they only work for a few hours a day, they constantly spend time at home grading, making lesson plans and contacting parents. They are also required to be aware of and report possible abuse. In these days of potential firearm attacks, they must also figure out how to protect their students should an attack occur.
How do I know all this? My son, his girlfriend and my stepdaughter are all proud teachers.
HB613, which includes teacher bonuses, must pass.
The rest of the education bills (HB811, HB515, HB546 and HB807) are also very important. Of particular interest to me is HB515, requiring the state auditor to conduct a survey of the school food-services branch to identify the amount of local produce being purchased and served in school cafeterias. This impacts not only the quality of the food being served to students but also the livelihood of local farmers.
Despite being a Democrat, the governor appears to have a Republican view of education.
Donna Gould Carsten, Kapa‘a
Very nice Donna. Governor David Ige has a huge task to carry out. He has to be able to judge what is important, and what is not. From the standpoint of health, he must judge what the community knows about health. Then address the issue on their terms and let them decide if they want a vaccine or not. From the standpoint of education, he must decide what level ground he’s on. Uneducated or the educated. Then decide from there which is best for everyone. Including himself. I think David Ige is doing a good job publicly, and being able to keep this coronavirus in perspective and allow the community to decide, the best action is to take action and be mindful of what is at stake. Concerning the coronavirus. I think he is doing a good job and is getting paid too.
Oh Donna, your last comment speaks volumes about your foolish perspective and intent. First of all, you’re correct that our good teachers are underpaid and should be paid much more! However, as in any “business”, our below average and poor teachers are overpaid. As you have clearly demonstrated “politics” has infected our school systems. The racist Democrat Party, 100% of which tried to keep slaves, slaves forever over decades, is now accusing all of our children of being “racists”, teaching them to hate their Country, and usurping their parents role with regards to sex education etc. Democrats, just like you, have taken control of our education systems nationwide and are infecting our children with your Socialism, guilt trips, and History altering politics of convenience. When these naïve, full of themselves, infected teachers start teaching instead of indoctrinating our children to be good little Socialists, the taxpayers of our Nation will be only so happy to pay them more!
“How do I know all this? My son, his girlfriend and my stepdaughter are all proud teachers.”
So unbiased..amazing!
Hey Donna.. next time you write a letter simply leave out the Democrat and republican crap. We have plenty of division in this country already
Generally speaking, public schools no longer teach. They indoctrinate students with liberal thinking which leads to long term problems for them and society. Look at things today with the cancel culture, defund the police, more than two genders, violent crime on the rise, and more. Parents in some places are fighting back against this. If teachers can show a “positive” return on investment for what they are paid, increase their pay. Until then, the choice of a private school, charter school, or home schooling is more attractive. It’s sad to know that the teachers of today were indoctrinated as well many years ago. This needs to be fixed. Again, not all teachers are this way.
You make a point that teaching is a noble profession and Hawaii teachers may be underpaid but that does not mean they should be handed the keys to the state treasury. Gov. Ige must balance the needs of all Hawaiians during this critical time in dividing up the state budget. He should be commended for resisting this overreach by the teachers and their union.
Everything last year was done for teachers, especially at the middle/high school level — closing down school, not once cutting teacher pay while they cut the student-instruction week from five days to four, shortened instructional hours from 8-2 p.m. to 8-noon, maintained the same vacation schedule, cut their in-person rosters by 100%, then 75%, and 50% by end of year, resulting in less lessons/prep/instructional time by 50% or more for the whole year; “teaching to the screen” instead of the small clusters of students (who were graced with the opportunity to return to campus only if they were failing). A potential firearms attack presumes folks are actually on campus to protect, so the author clearly has no idea what all has transpired last year, or that there is STILL no talk of returning to in-person full time education at the middle/high school level! Some schools had a brief moment of clarity at the end of last year and actually taught teachers about “suicide prevention” among students — as far as I can tell, that was the first and ONLY time anyone at DOE has thought about anything other than protecting themselves during COVID. The myth, the legend, of teachers being a class of selfless heroes who give all so kindly, generously, above-and-beyond, and with full dedication to their students, is gone — thanks to the decisions and concerted efforts of HSTA, BOE, Zina et al. in SY 20-21. There are good eggs in every profession; that said, public ed has done some severe damage to its reputation and that of teachers over this past year, from which it may take decades to recover. One can be disgusted with Ige, but the disgust with public ed is palpable, nationwide, and only growing.