Schools Have Become Out Of Control

Schools have become out of control on two levels. One concerns the learning environment. The other concerns how we pay for education.

'Lehigh Valley Live reports, "At least two students are under police investigation after recording and posting onto Facebook a video of themselves hitting, taunting and cursing at other kids on school grounds."

COMMENTARYBullies Have The Advantage
There are a few things that make it hard for schools to weed out these troublemakers. Troublemakers are less likely to suffer then those who they bully. Here's why. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), "Gives disabled students a legal right to a free, appropriate public education, and procedural protections against school discipline. IDEA also requires schools to provide services that address behavior issues of disabled students... There are strict procedures that must be followed before a school district can remove a special education student from school. If the misconduct that led to the disciplinary action was a "manifestation" of the child's disability, the school district may not be able to suspend or expel the child at all."In fact the Pennsylvania chapter of the ACLU put out this handy booklet for students entitled "Know Your Rights" It explains in greater detail more about the laws under the heading "Discipline of Students with Disabilities".

Did you know the school can't suspend a "disabled" student more then 15 days over a school year?

Did you know, according to the Pa. Dept. of Labor students are allowed to work on the days they are suspended or expelled?

So all these bad actors need do is qualify for a Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and they are then considered disabled. Which puts the ball back in their court over that of what the schools can or cannot do to them

Compounding the problem for schools is their dependency on state and federal funding for around 2/3rds of their budget. These monies are handed out based on their schools' performance scores which are directly impacted by the percentage of students in attendance.

As you can see the problem goes far beyond the local school districts. Legislators in Harrisburg and Washington have gummed up the works. Parents & taxpayer complaints shouldn't fall squarely on the laps of local administrators and it's unpaid elected board members. Not when their hands have been tied by politicos. Most who have neither the background, the education nor the experience of ever having worked in a school.

Face it bullies get more protections under law then the adults who are suppose to be in charge. One screw up and it can cost a teacher not only their job, but their pension as well. Why should any of them want to risk their future earnings, pensions and risk lawsuits from parents by confronting student bullies? Would you? ~ ~ ~


WITF-PBSTV (Harrisburg)
"Senate panel hears from backers of plan to kill property taxes""State Senate supporters of a plan to replace school property taxes with higher personal income and sales levies are shopping their proposal around to colleagues."

COMMENTARYWhen it comes to funding education property taxes are the least fair taxes of them all. It matters not whether one single person (who never had kids) owns the same house or whether a dozen kids live in that home, the tax would be the same. Owning real estate no more equates then someone owning a vehicle or a boat having to pay towards education. One has nothing to do with the other.

In fact the more kids someone has, the less they pay in taxes. That was all fine and dandy when we wanted to encourage population growth in the early days of this country. These days in many cities we are already overpopulated and now have the direct opposite problem.

In some homes there may be several wage earners whereas in another there may be only one. It makes absolutely no sense to tax both homeowners the same.

When someone buys something, they paid a once and done sales tax on that item. Real estate holders on the other hand pay taxes year after year over a lifetime for their purchase of a home.

Most cities have row homes that look like rat holes. We should be encouraging nice looking homes. Rather then rewarding those who made improvements we punish them by increasing their assessments. Bass ackwards if you ask me!

If we're going to stand by the age old argument that we all benefit from education let's carry through on that thought. Houses don't benefit, people do. They benefit with higher earnings and being able to buy things. Why then not derive taxes from those?

Those who argue against this proposal cite there can be too many fluctuations from year to year. Damn straight there is. Where is it written that homeowners receive the same guarantee theirs won't either? Why should schools be prioritized (to it's own detriment) if too many homeowners should then lose their homes resulting in them coming off the tax rolls?

The bottom line is this
We can either tax people causing many to lose their homes in which they and their families need to live or find another way to pay for education. While education is important, having a roof over one's head is far more important to my way of thinking. Especially for those who are retired on fixed incomes and already paid their debt to society many times over for decades.

In short, both education and funding for it in the U.S. are a total mess. The whole point of education is to make society a better place in which to live. Students who are bullied and taxpayers both are receiving the short end of the stick. America has failed in both areas. Those who disagree are deluding themselves. It's time to change both the laws for the funding of it and educational responsibilities for districts regarding students behaving like assholes. To do otherwise puts our future in grave jeopardy.