VygotskyCultist t1_j7q4vfc wrote on February 8, 2023 at 4:53 PM

Reply to comment by DecayableBrick in 23 Baltimore schools have zero students proficient in math, per state test results by bobbyw24

Here's the current city schools budget. How would you reallocate the money if you're so smart?

Weak_Management_8329 t1_j7qkkqc wrote on February 8, 2023 at 6:34 PM

I made an account just for this comment. At a quick glance, the budget is 73% salaries. It's pretty easy to pinpoint where you need to reallocate.

I would start with luxury programs such as the Equity Unit and College Readiness. Equity unit, not sure what that's doing in a school system that is primarily comprised of minority students.

I would then move on to the College Readiness initiatives because BCPS students attend college at abysmally low rates and graduate college at even lower rates. It's better to give students a good high school education and no college than a shitty high school education followed by, again, no college. College is for when your students can pass basic proficiency tests, until then it's money down the drain.

I would then start an internal RoI review of highly paid personnel, starting with administrators first and leaving academics for last. Does your work product justify your salary? If not, there is someone out there who will do it for cheaper.

This is one of the highest funded education systems in the country per student. The issue is clearly not a lack of money, it's in how the money is spent.

VygotskyCultist t1_j7rf87a wrote on February 8, 2023 at 9:44 PM

College Readiness is NOT a luxury. Just because you're seeing the schools with the worst scores doesn't mean there aren't students in the city doing amazingly well. I commend you for actually looking at the budget, but I'm not convinced your approach would fix much.

Also, as a side note, the reason why Baltimore spends so much per pupil is because poor kids are more expensive to teach. Their immediate physical needs (food, clothes, before- and after-care) that can't be provided at home are often provided by the schools. Poor students often need counselors, school nurses, and psychologists at much higher rates than rich kids, also paid for by the school. Do you have any idea how many of my students rely on the school nurse as their source of primary care? Not to mention the fact that many of Baltimore's schools are falling apart and need constant fixes just to be habitable. It's the Sam Vines Boots-Theory at the systemic scale.

Are we paying too much on personnel? Maybe! But there aren't exactly qualified teachers lining up to work in a school system whose main source of media representation is Fox45's smear campaign. Even at the rates we pay now, we can't fill all of our vacancies.