Civic Issues Blog Posts: Secondary Education Reform
For these blog posts we were told to choose a civic issue that was important to us, and every couple of weeks we would write a post about any news or interesting information relating to it. I chose my posts to be about secondary education reform, becuase I truly think it's unfair how some schools have so much while others cannot even afford basic textbooks.
School Reform in Vermont
There has been a lot of attention given to school issues in Vermont lately. The most common topic that is talked about has to do with the belief that providing the same education to all is fair, middle and high schools must be similar to the elementary schools, and that high school education is defined exclusively by classes offered. These wide held beliefs make it so officials make an effort to cut costs while also offering at most an adequate public school education.
While placing every child in the geographical area into one school might make sense for elementary school children, but it may not be as efficient for middle and high schoolers. This is because there is such a high cost of trying to appeal to widely diverse student needs. This is why productivities in organizations should come from allocating resources around a shared and clear purpose. Instead of trying to make every single school meet a minimal standard for all of its offerings, Vermont should instead adopt a system of choices where each school specializes in different aspects. Already, there are many technical centers, public schools, and independent schools that provide this. However, there is still much more work to be done as all of the schools should take this strategy. By offering more options, then it would be easier to cater to each individual students’ needs.
Overall, the idea of high school reform is a very important one. The children of today are tomorrow’s leaders, and the schools are what begins to train them for this. This is why we must experiment to see which type of schooling system is the best and leads to the most success. Then, this system should be implemented all around the country in order to strengthen the children’s education as much as possible.
The South Carolina Vote
Last Tuesday, South Carolina House Speaker Jay Lucas announced that a task force would be formed in order to directly study education reform. Since the Supreme Court has directed the Legislature to come up with ideas for ways to improve poor rural schools, there will be a lot that needs to be discussed.
One of the most important decisions that have to be made is if the state superintendent of education should be appointed by the governor or not. If the outcome of this vote is that the governor should, then this recognizes that education is a strictly state responsibility and that the governor has executive authority over matters concerning it. If the superintendent were part of the governor’s Cabinet, this would establish education as a higher priority than it had been before. Public schools would then be put higher on any governor’s agenda.
In South Carolina specifically, education is an issue in desperate need for reform. There is a lot of evidence showing that the schooling system is struggling significantly. So far, citizens of South Carolina have acknowledged this problem and have shown that they do endorse rational proposals for government restructuring. For example they endorse having the party candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on a ticket, and even more recently, making the state’s popularly elected adjutant general a gubernatorial appointee in 2019.
It seems as though the next step for the Legislature to restructure, should be putting up a referendum on the 2016 general election. The choice would be to make the superintendent of education appointive effective in 2019 or not. At the moment, about half of the entire state’s budget is used for education. However, the governor has no direct budgetary responsibility over how the money is going to be spent or whether there is enough. If the agency was under the power of the governor, then this would make policy making and the allocation of resources a more effective and efficient process. This is because the governor would have the authority and the responsibility of bettering the public education in South Carolina, and it would not just get pushed further down the agenda.
A question that arises however, is if the governor would have too much power. Perhaps, but the citizens of South Carolina do need change. In my opinion, it would be better to take a risk and give a trusted official a lot of power, rather than watch as the public education system further deteriorates.
Either way, putting public education under the governor’s authority would be a huge step. It would allow the voters to decide if education really is a main concern of theirs, and if they want someone who is truly committed to address this ongoing issue. It would also establish a precedent for future governors, in that they would need to continue making sure that the public education system is functioning at its best. Although one vote, it could really change how public education reform is treated for years to come.
For more information pertaining to this topic, read this article:
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150121/PC1002/150129920