Why Our Children Fail

Low Teacher Salaries, Kids Not Ready to Learn . . . 
by Judy Schaubach

Judy Schaubach is a Red Wing teacher on leave who serves as president of Education Minnesota, the state’s major teachers’ union, with more than 70,000 members.

1. Low educator salaries.
Despite its national leadership in student outcomes, Minnesota ranks sixteenth nationally in average teacher salary ($46,906, which is $902 below the average) and twenty-first in average starting salary ($30,772—or $900 below the average). Recruiting and retaining good teachers is an ongoing concern.

2. Inadequate school funding.
Minnesota’s widely touted increases in state education funding are misleading. Adjusted for inflation, state aid per pupil has actually been declining in recent years, leading to chronic budget cutting at the local level. The legislature cut funding for at-risk students two years ago. This year’s increase will not make up for years of underfunding.

3. Uncertain school funding.
Schools never know what their funding will be from one biennium to the next. Minnesota has yet to precisely determine what it costs to educate a student—and then fund that amount—so each funding session turns out to be a number-crunching exercise. What’s missing is sustainable, equitable, and predictable funding.

4. Kids who aren’t ready to learn.
Much of the so-called achievement gap could be solved with a greater investment in early childhood education and school-readiness programs.

5. Lack of parental involvement.
Educators need parents to be partners in educating their students. Too often, educators feel as though they are on their own.

6. A perceived lack of public support and respect.
Public survey data consistently show that Minnesotans support their schools and educators. But educators say they don’t feel that support or hear it often enough in their communities.

7. Large classes.
Class size is increasing across the state, forcing educators to become people managers rather than teachers.

8. Teachers Don’t Have enough time to do the job right.
Increased demands, testing, and paperwork keep educators from doing what they do best—teaching students.

9. An overemphasis on testing.
Tests should be used to gauge and to help improve student learning. But to many educators, the current excessive emphasis on testing seems like a sledgehammer to punish kids and schools.

10. Lack of legislative accountability.
Schools are penalized under federal law when student test scores don’t improve fast enough. But what happens to lawmakers who cut funding needed to educate those students?