Has the state legislature put aside people's concerns for the economy and jobs to focus on education reform?
That depends on who you ask.
When you think about it, Warsaw Community Education Association President Terry Sims said, the economy is horrid and the school reform efforts are detracting the legislature from doing anything about it. He said you haven't heard legislators talk about jobs. No matter what kind of education a person gets, if there's no jobs it will all be for nothing.
State Rep. Dave Wolkins, Winona Lake, said the state legislatures is having lots of discussion on jobs, and there will be plenty of discussion. Jobs are not on the back burner, but right now, education is getting a lot of play in the news.
"Jobs are very, very important," Wolkins said.
"In Warsaw, we don't support bad teachers," Sims said of the education reforms. If corrective action needs to be taken, it should be taken. However, many good teachers have left their jobs because the pressure has been building and they see no hope, he said.
Schools don't deal with a product, Sims said, they are dealing with human beings. Not everything will turn out as one hopes, but humans aren't finished products. People keep growing and learning.
Asked if he saw anything good about the reforms, Sims said, "I can't think of anything off hand that's really benefitting me in the classroom."
He also said, "I just think it's too political. There's too much politics in education. I don't see the changes being beneficial, and changes come up daily. I would like to see more moderation. There is such a hurry in doing this."
Wolkins addressed some news reports saying charter schools account for 17 of the bottom 20 schools in the state.
"That's absolutely false," Wolkins said. He said they are taking individual charter schools and comparing them to whole school district averages. It's not apples and apples. If you're going to compare charter schools to public schools, you need to make a comparison like a fourth-grade charter school to a fourth-grade public school and so on, not a charter school to a whole school district.
Out of the 50 bottom schools in the state, four are charter schools, Wolkins said, but they are less than three years old and are trying to get it together. Charter schools are held to a higher accountability than public schools, Wolkins said, and can get their charter pulled if they don't show improvement within three years.
Wolkins said charter schools are very effective in inner schools.
