Haslam’s bad idea: larger class sizes

GUEST COLUMN

The governor’s plan could result in thousands of teacher layoffs, huge financial burdens on local governments and a reversal of our progress in public education.

IT’S YOUR DAUGHTER’S first day of kindergarten. She’s excited, but also scared to be leaving Mom and Dad. You tell her it will be all right , that her teacher will take care of her and that she’ll make lots of new friends.

But as you open that classroom door, you’re shocked to see dozens of other children, all going through the same emotions as your daughter. Some are crying, some are yelling and several are trying to run out of the room. You wonder how your daughter will get the attention she needs from her teacher, who will struggle simply to find space for everyone. Suddenly, you’re feeling the same nerves as your daughter — but for an entirely different reason.

A proposal from Gov. Bill Haslam would permit public school districts in Tennessee to create classes with larger numbers of children and, as a result, would decrease the individual attention our children receive from their teachers. The plan could also

Another sad tale of corruption

Crime does pay and pay well. Brandon Gunn was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling over $1 million from court funds held in trust, which netted him over $250,000 a year, with no taxes withheld (Feb. 4 article, “Chancery embezzler gets 4 years / Ordered to repay more than $1 million purloined”). What kind of message does this send to the millions of people who would be willing to spend time in a plush federal prison (that we pay for) with free food, clothes, medicine, laundry service, housekeeping, etc., not to mention the firstrun movies, exercise room and law library where they can study how to reverse their sentence or get out early? Just take $100,000, and you will probably get off with “time served” prior to trial! It is so prevalent now, there is very little stigma to being a convicted felon. So, why not go for it?

It’s sad when all hearts bleed for the criminal and none for the victims whose lives have been destroyed. I practiced law in Shelby County for over 30 years and handled many cases in the Chancery Court, which I always considered incorruptible and above reproach. Chancery holds millions of dollars in trust for all sorts of people under court orders. When your court system becomes corrupt, this is the final stage of a crumbling society. This is indeed a sad day and I fear for our future.

Stolen funds are gone for good

A Chancery Court embezzler gets four years, and is ordered to repay more than $1 million purloined?

For three years Brandon Gunn was stealing the Chancery Court blind, and no one saw him? Four years is a slap in the face for stealing over $1 million. Where is that money now? It will never be paid back.

Apparently crime does pay.

School problems rooted in culture

I enjoyed the Feb. 3 Viewpoint guest column by Mimi Hall Uhlmann (“A fix for Memphis using the teenage mind”). It appears as though the plan being used is a valuable one, and is paying great dividends for the students attending. However, we need to bring a big hammer to a big project, and the former Memphis City Schools needs a lot of hammering. Everyone seems to want all things to be racially motivated, but the Memphis school problems are cultural, not racial.

It does not matter what ethnicity is involved, a good education absolutely must start with a parental mindset that is dedicated to obtaining a good education. Black, white or brown is irrelevant to raising a child.

Without the basic family structure and an educational culture, the child will not thrive. Memphis has multiple generations wherein education and responsibilities are not priorities. If the parents do not comprehend, the child has no chance. When the culture abhors early pregnancy, truancy, improper dress, inadequate English and missing fathers, then the child has a basis from which to prosper. Memphis has adequate facilities, teachers, administration and money to accomplish the goal. Given a cultural revolution, the city can rise like a phoenix.

The business community, city government, school administration and churches must come together and find common ground on fixing the problem, not the symptom. result in thousands of teacher layoffs, unbearable financial burdens on local governments and a reversal of the progress we have made in our schools.

We support the governor’s efforts to enact meaningful reform and provide the education our children deserve. That’s why we passed Tennessee’s Race to the Top legislation two years ago, enabling our public schools to measure performance, better train teachers and support innovative ideas.

But the governor has made a mistake by pushing this year to allow larger class sizes in elementary and middle schools, a move that members of his own party have opposed. Removing the state’s average classsize requirement means schools would put more students in every classroom, while laying off thousands of teachers at a time when we need them the most.

Currently, the state -mandated average class size for grades K-3 and grades 7-8 is 20 students, with the maximum number of students allowed in any class set at 25. Some classrooms may have the maximum

A bill filed recently in the Tennessee General Assembly would allow residents of any area proposed for annexation by a city in Shelby County to decide in a referendum whether or not they want to be annexed. A proposed annexation could not be finalized unless a majority of the residents who voted in the referendum approved the proposal.

We’d like to know:

Should the residents of an area proposed for annexation by a city government have the authority to approve or reject the annexation? Why or why not?

E-mail your response to hotbutton@commercialappeal.com today. Keep it short and include your name, home address and daytime/evening telephone numbers.

Rebuilding trust is Job 1

I have a suggestion for the mayor and aldermen of the city of Southaven. You will need to quickly regain the trust of the citizens.

First, be honest and reveal the total amount of money misused and wasted by the current administration. Second, reduce property taxes by the same amount. This should not be a problem because the bills were paid and the aldermen didn’t even know it was gone. So it wasn’t needed.

If any one member of this administration is re - elected, Southaven deserves and will get the same city as our neighbors to the north enjoy.

Repair is just a phone call away

To the writer of the Feb. 7 letter about the Perkins pothole: There is a Memphis pothole hotline you can call at (901) 528-2911. I called this number last month and the pothole I reported was filled within two days. number of students, but any school’s average class size must be at or below 20 students. (In grades 4-6, the average class size is set at 25 students and the maximum number of students allowed in any class is 30.)

Right now, the state bases its teacher funding on the average class size, funding one teacher’s position for every 20 students in grades K-3 and 7-8. Under the administration’s proposal, however, funding would be based on the maximum class size, meaning one teaching position would be funded for every 25 students in those grades.

In Memphis City Schools, the state currently pays for 3,221 teachers. Under the new proposal, only 2,641 teachers would be funded, leaving 580 jobs to be funded completely by the local school district. Those positions would be in addition to 505 teachers whose salaries are already paid solely with Memphis tax dollars.

Memphis City Schools officials would have to do one of two things to meet their budget: seek an increase in taxes or lay off teachers. The same is true for other school systems across Tennessee, as nearly 5,300 teaching jobs would be cut from state education dollars. Our local governments should not be put in the position of having to choose between taking money from our families or teachers from our children.

Nearly three decades ago, a study funded by the legislature found that smaller class sizes make a significant difference in a child’s education, especially in early grades and among students from low-income households. The study prompted at least 24 states to put into place class-size restrictions or incentives.

Now, several of those states are raising class sizes to balance their budgets, and the administration wants to follow the same path. In Tennessee, however, we have a balanced budget, and we have lived within our means. Raising class sizes is not only a bad idea, it’s unnecessary. We didn’t win the Race to the Top by doing what everyone else was doing. We won because we promised to do what no one else would — and we promised to do it together. Putting more children into already overcrowded classrooms would break that promise. At a time when we need the best ideas in education, this isn’t one of them.

Rep. Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley is Democratic Leader of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Sen. Reginald Tate of Memphis is vice chairman of the state Senate Education Committee.