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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2007 > September > 12 > Entry
Nobody has any money
I have a story in Wednesday’s paper about a big idea that Dayton Superintendent Percy Mack pitched to city commissioners in a joint meeting Tuesday — that Montgomery County should spend $5 million a year to improve pre-school.
Mack said a recent study showed 80 percent of school district incoming kindergarteners are not school ready. In other words, they cannot tell you any letters of the alphabet, don’t know the colors, etc. The county is eligible for $2.8 million annually for pre-school programs if it would just put together an infrastructure to run programs, which he estimated would cost about $400,000.
The question is — where will the money come from? City commissioners in attendance were supportive of the idea, but when I spoke with Mayor Rhine McLin and Commissioner Nan Whaley after the meeting, both emphasized that the city just doesn’t have money to contribute. In fact, they went out of their way to emphasize that the $250,000 they contributed to the effort to restore high school busing this year was a one-time deal and that there wouldn’t be money to offer next year if circumstances don’t change.
Neither the city nor the school district have money. The county is a little better off, but getting buy-in from the suburbs to spend money on the city is a challenge.
Which leaves us with the question — where does the money come from?
(Image credit: www.geekwhat.com)
Permalink | Comments (12) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools, Young Children
Comments
By DPS teacher
September 16, 2007 7:45 AM | Link to this
Sunnymom, If I told you, you wouldn’t believe it. How about a child who doesn’t know their name? One who can’t follow a simple instruction like “give me the piece of paper.” We get kindergarten students who can’t string together a three word phrase. Not recognize colors or letters? I can deal with that. I just like them to be able to sit still and listen for longer than 15 seconds at a time!By DPS teacher
September 16, 2007 7:41 AM | Link to this
Laura, Please don’t send me forced volunteers! Those who are inefffective at parenting their children at home will not be helpful in my classroom. They will be a major distraction that I do not need!By Sunnymom
September 15, 2007 8:13 AM | Link to this
Not ready for kindergarten? What are they doing in kindergarten these days- designing airplanes? Researching cures for cancer? How can a child not be ready for kindergarten? And if kids aren’t ready for kindergarten, what in the world are parents doing, or rather NOT doing, that children don’t know enough to be ready for kindergarten? I agree with Laura- and the gov’t should stop taking my family’s hard earned money at the point of a gun and giving it to people who can’t get a kid off to school on time with at least a Poptart in their stomach. GRRRRRR!By fe3male
September 13, 2007 11:29 AM | Link to this
How many years has the city schools had a head start program and where did the funds for this program come from? Does head start still exist?By Laura
September 12, 2007 8:24 PM | Link to this
Peter J, it doesn’t matter how much more is spent on preschool children because too many parents today already expect society to raise their children. At this point, we might as well- at least we’d get big pay-offs with children coming to school ready to learn. Somehow we need to demand that parents do more than just create and deliver them. For those who are sitting at home waiting for someone else to do the parenting, maybe we need to start requiring parents to participate unless they are employed. There is something really wrong when a society allows people to repeatedly reproduce offspring that they cannot support financially and will not support emotionally and educationally. If we began demanding that they contribute to society in a positive manner; such as employment or required “voluntary” work in their child’s head start or other early childhood program we would see a dramatic change in the lives of children.By urban_girl75
September 12, 2007 6:16 PM | Link to this
This situation needs to be addressed, NOW! We have children in DPS who are coming to school without any prior knowledge. If they are behind in kindergarten and are sent on to 1st grade, they will forever be playing catch up. Children are constantly passed on from one grade to another, even if they are not academically ready. It is nearly impossible for our students to receive any special education services anymore. Everything is being placed on the teachers. Yes, teachers have a job to do, but when children are already 2-3 years behind and there are 30 students in a classroom, where is the help we need to properly educate these children? It might be beneficial to group the students by ability level instead of grade level. All children learn at different rates, but very few people are offering to help. I send home a newsletter every week asking parents or friends to come in and volunteer in my room. No one has responded. The suburbs do so well, not just because there is money, but mostly because the families want their children in school to learn and the teachers are not expected to start from square one in kindergarten. If you are willing to help tutor a child, please call any DPS school to volunteer your time. It would be greatly appreciated.By Peter J
September 12, 2007 12:03 PM | Link to this
You are right Scott, it is CLEARLY a ‘pre-school’ issue, as in before-school begins. The more money you try to throw at it, the more parents will pull back until kids are raised exclusively by the state. I am sure that folks will say that it is not their intention, but unitended consequences got Dayton Schools where they are today.By Scott Elliott
September 12, 2007 8:54 AM | Link to this
As the story states, 67 percent of kindergartners countywide were not ready for kindergarten. A chunk of that is fueled by Dayton. But with two-thirds of all kids coming to school not ready, it’s clear pre-school quality is an issue in many Montgomery County communities. Mack’s presentation closely matched what was reported and recommended by the county’s Family and Children First Council. While the city would benefit greatly from the sort of pre-school efforts he laid out, he was not proposing the county alone pay for this. He was arguing for a joint effort including several funders. The problem is some of those funders just don’t have money to commit.By Oldprof
September 12, 2007 8:40 AM | Link to this
Seems to me that the job of elected officials is to raise revenue for essential public services through a fair system of taxation, and then to distribute that money wisely and equitably. Yeah, call me old-fashioned.By Mary
September 12, 2007 8:18 AM | Link to this
Well, hallelujah, duh, and all those other rare light bulb moments when we step back into reality and see the need to set priorities and eventually reach limits on use of public funds. The book written by a local Beavercreek author “All politics is loco” uses that as his recurring theme. I think Lee Iaccoca’s book(former chairman of Chrysler? and Ford Mustang fame) “Where have all the leaders gone” talks about this as well when he refers to the “gimmes”. Maybe if city funds had not been poured into the Schuster and 53rd Field to mainly entertain rich folks, the city could afford preschool support. What could the $1 million or more used to upgrade and maintain Welcome Stadium do for a pre school program? Or we could just lower everyone’s taxes and some could afford to stay home and read and talk to their children. Today’s USA Today has a cover story about how everyone is stretched thin on time and money. Some are spending 50% of their income on housing. Also in the same paper, relevant to some of our recent discussions on this blog,is another article on a survey that shows how little we Americans understand our secular form of government and first amendment rights, particularly in regard to Christianity and schools.By Jim
September 12, 2007 8:17 AM | Link to this
DPS and Mack have found the rainbow with the pot of gold at the end: the county politicians guarding the pot are freely willing to hand it over to the City Wasters. The county folk are falling all over themselves to spend money on Dayton only projects rather than the county. Maybe the county voters will wake up in the county at the next election. I saw the TV spot this morning about spending $21 a week for food and the commission and his wife showing how hard it would be. I guess that’s more promo for the 50% increase in Human Services levy coming up? Just think how hard it’s going to be for those of us working for our money after all these increased taxes on the County Folk to subsidize the City ofDayton Schools. Time to start home shopping in Miami County. Any more articles about regionalism coming from Cummings et al at the DDN? Somehow the region missed all that sharing during the last two decades—all that property tax on buildings downtown and income from workers at GM/Delco/Harrison plants. But now it’s time to share since the city folk hae wasted away their pot??? I don’t think so. Learn to live in your means and improve your population’s bad habits. Make it safe to drive into the city even during the daytime.By Concerned Mom of 3
September 12, 2007 7:20 AM | Link to this
This problem is two fold as I see it. First, it is a parenting prolem. 80% of the parents in Dayton are either too busy working to make ends meet, are uneducated themselves, or they just don’t give a d__n. Second, it is a school funding problem. I read an article this week that reported that the school funding issue will still not be on the ballot when it comes time to vote…