Most parents raise, spend money for schools

[Tony]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/02/25/parents.school.supplies.ap/index.html ...full article


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The three-campus Capitol Hill Cluster School needed it all: paper, paint, ink cartridges, locker parts and those little metal glides to fix wobbly chairs.

Who raised the money? Parents, mainly.

Most of the $105,000 raised by the school's PTA this school year is going for classroom basics, a trend playing out nationwide, according to a poll of public school parents commissioned by the 6.2-million member National PTA.

Beyond fund-raising, the poll found, many parents are spending their money for teacher salaries, sports equipment, art supplies and other items schools used to cover.




More money is spent on "education" than ever before, but schools seem to be getting sh**tier and sh**tier. What's the problem? (and no, I don't buy the contention that schools are suffering because enough money isn't being spent on education)

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[Tmy]

Your assuming schools are getting sh***yer. Schools are just fine. Kids are being educated. What proof is there that they are not. Its just the never ending preception that the current schools are failing.


Plus if these parents didnt ge such huge tax breaks there'd be plenty of money for schools.

[shanek]

Originally posted by Tmy
Your assuming schools are getting sh***yer. Schools are just fine. Kids are being educated. What proof is there that they are not. Its just the never ending preception that the current schools are failing.

Plus if these parents didnt ge such huge tax breaks there'd be plenty of money for schools.
This HAS to be sarcasm. There just isn't any other way it makes any sense...

[Tmy]

Sometimes my fingers type faster than my brain.

[Crossbow]

Originally posted by Tony
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/02/25/parents.school.supplies.ap/index.html ...full article





More money is spent on "education" than ever before, but schools seem to be getting sh**tier and sh**tier. What's the problem? (and no, I don't buy the contention that schools are suffering because enough money isn't being spent on education)

<table cellspacing=1 cellpadding=6 bgcolor=#666699 border=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color=#666699 size=2>Edited by Luke T.: language</font></td></tr></table>

Tony has a bad habit of seriously overstating his arguments and this just another example of the process.

True, the three schools in question did need supplies.

However, the $150,00 figure quoted refers to the amount of money that was raised nationally by the PTA; for some reason the article does not mention how much money was raised for the three schools that were discussed.

By definition, the PTA would be raising money (just to cover there operating costs if nothing else) from there members regardless of how much funding public schools were getting, or not getting as the case may be.

[ca3799]

I'm not sure what your point is exactly.

I have two elementary school aged children. We raise alot of money through the PTA and buy things like playground equipment ($24,000 last year), new tables for the cafeteria ($18,000 this year) and day planners for all kids between third and fifth grade (around$9,000 every year). I don't mind at all fundraising for the school as long as the school, in exchange, provides my children with an excellent education, and I would prefer to buy the extra items if it means having above average teachers and high quality extracurrricular activities.

Of my two kids, one is in the gifted and talented program and the other is in special ed (different ends of the same department). I have been very impressed with how both children have been evaluated and their individual and opposing special needs have been addressed. The cost of testing and treatment for just my special ed child would certainly have exceeded the cost of the playground equipment listed above had I paid for it myself.

I feel like I'm getting a good value. Am I the only one?

[DavidJames]

I feel like I'm getting a good value. Am I the only one?
I don't think you are the only one. I think I am as well. My kids are in 10th and 12th grade, have attended in schools in three different states the past 12 years and I'm generally very satisfied with all of the school districts I've lived in.

Of course there are bad schools, just like there are bad businesses. But the biggest bashers of public schools, teachers, and the NEA have a political agenda (anti govt, anti NEA, pro-religious, etc).

It looks like you are involved with your schools, good for you and good for the schools :)

[fishbob]

I have two elementary school aged children. We raise alot of money through the PTA and buy things like playground equipment ($24,000 last year), new tables for the cafeteria ($18,000 this year) and day planners for all kids between third and fifth grade (around$9,000 every year). I don't mind at all fundraising for the school as long as the school, in exchange, provides my children with an excellent education, and I would prefer to buy the extra items if it means having above average teachers and high quality extracurrricular activities. I dislike the PTA, maybe unjustly.

When my kids were in elementary school, my wife and I joined the PTA. In the first meeting, hours were spent laying out a schedule for a series of fund raising events to raise money to send a select group of PTA officers to a PTA convention in Las Vegas to sit in on seminars on how to raise funds.

I had to quit.