Sparky (not her real name) is a longtime BlatherWatch commenter. In real life she's a an educator somewhere in the South Sound area. She and her fellow teacher/administrators took a hit this week from legislators because, as she writes, "we are being asked to sacrifice because wealthier people in our state will not..."
We began week 4 of testing this week. In the beginning, it was the Measurement of Student Progress, which is the new name for the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). That covered grades 3-6, with some of the older students taking portions of the test online.
Then we moved into MAPS test, a generic test of Reading, Language usage and Math, and is a district sponsored test. The kids are catatonic, we are all trying very hard to do our best...and today, the Legislature cut my pay.
I almost had to laugh. Every year there seems to be another test..WASL, MSP, MAPS, DIBELS, reading assessments that go with the basal reader, math assessments that go with the math series. Some of these tests reach down into Kindergarten because you are never too young to waste instruction time on testing!
Our district has not been quite as hard hit as others around us--about 17 teachers have lost their positions due to cuts in funding. Larger districts are looking at losing between 100 and 200 teachers each. This means the classes will be even more crowded, kids will get less individualized attention...but hey----we still have to run the gamut of testing. Next year, the MAPS test will be given 3 times a year, and will eventually encompass grades 1-5.
Our school is small, and my library is the largest space we have that is suitable for testing. I have a small 16 station computer lab, and two carts of 15 laptops each. These are set up all around the library and classes come and go to test each student for most of each day.
This means I have had to close the library for student use, and my support services in math and reading -- I teach several small groups a day so we can get those groups smaller -- have been cancelled. As I said above, next year we will be doing this 3 times. That means for 9-12 weeks my teaching space will be closed. I am one of the proctors for the test because of my expertise on computers, so going out to the classrooms to teach is not an option. It means that instead of teaching Reading and Math, the teachers are standing in my library supervising and proctoring the tests right along with me.
Then, tonight, I got this email from our WEA president:
The bad news:
- $2.5 billion total CUT in K-12 and higher education funding over the next two years
- 1.9 percent pay cut for education support professionals and certificated staff, totaling $179 million (Previous budgets proposed a 3 percent pay cut.)
- Voter-approved I-728 funding for smaller class sizes suspended
- Voter-approved I-732 funding for educator COLAs suspended
- More students next fall, and fewer education support professionals and teachers
- Repeal of the age 66 COLA for Plan 1 retirees
- Skyrocketing college tuition
Washington has the third-most-crowded class sizes in the country, and this budget will cram even more kids into overcrowded classrooms. This budget cuts funding for more than 1,300 teaching and support staff jobs. There will be more kids and fewer staff in our schools this fall.
But, WEA members helped influence the final budget, helping prevent permanent damage:
- No salary step freeze
- K-3 class sizes partially protected
- NBCT incentive pay largely protected
- No reduction in health care funding
- No state takeover of K-12 health benefit plans, but it studies a potential state takeover for 2013-14
We are also taking an additional pay cut in my district because they have eliminated the 3 Learning Improvement Days. Those LID days were paid days when kids did not have school, and we used them to analyze data (from all those TESTS) and work to strengthen and improve our instruction. Because of that, my total pay cut is closer to 4%.
It also cuts pay for all K-12 and higher education employees -- and once again suspends our voter-approved cost-of-living adjustments.
Once the budget passes, these cuts become a local issue for education associations and school boards. Voters, legislators, parents and the media need to know how these cuts hurt students and families in their communities. Bargainers across the state will have to negotiate the specific impact of these cuts on WEA members and students. It's not going to be easy or pleasant.
This comes about because of a man named Tim Eyman, the perennial anti-tax initiative petitioner who was successful in getting his latest tax issue on the ballot, and the citizens of Washington State approved it. Because of Eyman's most recent initiative, legislators were unable to raise the revenue needed to fully fund public education. They needed a two-thirds vote to raise revenue, which was impossible with the current Legislature.
Those of us who teach do not do this job to become rich. But it is the height of something that we are being asked to sacrifice because wealthier people in our state will not. Meanwhile, more kids are stuffed into classes and the idea is being floated that our evaluations should be tied to those never ending TESTS.
I, for one, am ready for Summer.
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