follow the money

The Seattle P-I summarizes the competing budgets on one easily-digested page. Their biggest winner: education. No biggest loser, though. Budgets are due April 22.

Also, Ryan takes on a proposal to gut educational funding. A sample:

Marguerite, ma’am, when the hell am I supposed to have my lunch if we don’t have playground aides to cover? Is it really the best use of my time to be on potty duty or monitoring the lunchroom, or would you rather I be analyzing data and planning specific interventions for my kids? You know, the stuff that actually makes a difference towards student achievement?

For God’s sake, talk about squeezing a nickel until the buffalo poops. This can get ridiculous in a hurry: is there evidence that having school secretaries increases student learning? Is there evidence that having a principal increases student learning? Do they really need desks to learn, or can I sell those on Ebay? This is when it’s entirely obvious that someone from academia is talking, someone who doesn’t really understand what it’s like to teach.

Ah, but Ryan, they're objective observers. As in, they have an objective.