The idiocy remains and EPISD will never get better

Now that the Texas legislature is in session, the "more money for education" folks are very busy bothering everybody about their issue.  I'm getting a few emails a day urging me to come out in support of more money for schools as if anybody gives a flying shit about what I say on the matter.  No matter how many times I tell them "no" - they keep emailing me.  So here's a public "no" that might get the point across to them.

First of all, if teachers want to make more money - they should find a different job.  Nobody goes into teaching having no idea what it pays.  When you are kid in school teachers will tell you that the pay isn't great.  We are literally taught in school that being a teacher is not a wise choice for those who wish to have lots of money.  It cannot be made more clear than it has already been made.

Getting paid more as a teacher means going and begging the government for more money.  Depending on where you live and how they construct budgets for education spending, you could be screwed on the whole raise thing for a very long time.  If you don't like the fact that you can't get paid based on your performance - find another job in different industry.  The system is never going to change because the teachers union protects the shittiest 15 percent of teachers and that means screwing the other 85 percent that are good.  It's a fact of public teaching life. 

Second, more money is the problem in schools - especially in El Paso.  The legislature gave schools more money and guess what EPISD did with it?  Gave it to people to provide "services" they never actually provided.    The law of OPM (Other People's Money) is a law of nature - OPM will always be abused because there is no steward of the funds who has actual ownership of it.  If the legislature needed only one reason not to send more money to schools - the EPISD saga would do the trick.   The money is always wasted - many times illegally wasted. 

I wish the "more money for schools" people would look at how the world works around them and go from there.  Good money chases good performance.  Nowhere in the world outside of teaching does the idea of paying people more for bad work = better work.   It just doesn't work that way.  The Dallas Cowboys don't pay a slumping running back more money hoping that it makes him run better.  The cut him.  They find a new guy and if he performs well, he gets more money.  That's how the real world works. 

My suggestion for the "more money for schools" crowd is to come up with a solid idea that increases test scores and then ask for money to implement the program further.  Good money follows good performance.  Perform better and get your money.  They can't say "no" to ideas that work.

Commence losing your mind bleow in the comments section. 

Comments

[Patricia Martinez]

I would be willing to pay teachers twice their yearly salary tomorrow if it would make any difference. The plain fact of the matter is, TAKS, or whatever the heck they're calling 'The Test' these days, isn't the problem. The problem is making every kid follow the same educational path. The key to change is to tailor education to the individual student.

Aptitude tests should be administered at the 3rd, 8th, and 11th grade levels. If a child shows a talent for arts, steer them that way. Got a burgeoning Einstein on your hands? Give the the tools and the classes that will nurture that ability. Instead of making round pegs fit into square holes, fit kids where they need to be and watch them flourish.

Unfortunately, to do that, you would have to have an education system that doesn't reward mediocre teachers, and no, I don't hate teachers. I hate mediocrity, in any field of endeavor. Forcing everyone to do the same thing is a sure way to make sure no one accomplishes anything. You only have to look at our current educational system to prove that theory.

Talk to teachers in Journalism classes, or coaches - their students are interested in what they are doing, and they work hard to excel. Now go talk to an Algebra teacher. They have to push and pull a lot of students through their classes because there is no interest there - nor will there be any real life application for 99% of their students of 6+(A-10)-ablindmonkeykickingtheseedsoutofahundredpumpkins = X.

We have to give kids the ability to make a living and live a life. Show them how to balance a checkbook, whom to call to get the utilities turned on in their homes, how to navigate the freeway without killing themselves and the rest of us! And while we're giving them the tools to move about in society as adults, figure out what they can do for a living, be it nuclear physicist, mechanic, or hair dresser.

I'm tired of paying taxes on top of taxes for institutionalized mediocrity. It hasn't worked for decades. We need to stop slapping another coat of paint on things and hoping the black mold of failure doesn't creep through, and try something else.

[Lslsls]

Well said Patricia! Could not have said it any better. 20 years ago college president's - including Natalicio - decided everyone MUST have a college degree or you were some kind of outcast in society. So the curriculum was changed to make it college level and no technical path choices. When I was in high school some 40 years ago - you could pick a path and El Paso Technical HS was there to help those who wanted a skill and didn't want to go to college. As has been said - do you care if your mechanic, plumber, carpenter, HVAC tech has a college degree? No - you care about them being well trained in their field.

[Rotten Peppers]

I totally agree. There are too many people in college who should not be there and the same goes for the EPISD board, a bunch of incompetent jerks. Educating for a test is not education, it is training, and does not teach students to think, read, comprehend, form concepts, be human. If I were still a parent today, I would run from the public schools with my children.

[dot]

Lorenzo Garcia wasn't an oddity, he is the norm - he just wasn't good at it and had a pissed off ex-wife willing to talk. Hopefully someday we'll find out exactly what he did to cause Shapley to rat him out. If anyone were to ever conduct a serious audit at ANY school district, that thoroughly traces materials and services you would easily find another 500 thefts equal to or greater than Garcia's. Most of them aren't even well disguised as legitimate expenses. Even better, go through the employee rosters and discover how many people's job are just "make work". I know one high school that was audited a couple of years ago and it was discovered that 14 teachers were teaching 2 or fewer classes with no other duties assigned - that was nearly a million dollars in salary and benefits a year.

This is the consequences of giving a few people the power to spend a great deal of money with no oversight or accountability.

Texas got lucky in the last 2 years. First, we cut spending - not nearly enough - and the world didn't come crashing down. Second, our economy didn't suck as bad as the rest of the country and we had some gains. So, was anyone shocked when despite having a huge amount of additional money available for the next budget the first headline you saw from the schools and public services was that "It's not enough money". God forbid, that Texas be in the position to look at lowering taxes and further enhancing our business environment.

[been in the CV for 15 years]

You're right about the "make work" jobs, dot. My sister is a teacher in the central part of town and is always getting told to spend her budget because "there will be consequences" if she is the reason why the school's overall budget is cut because of her. Her principal has told other teachers that their jobs would be in jeopardy if they caused problems with the budget.

[Josie]

Dot, do you know Garcia's ex-wife? Obviously not as you make her sound like a revengeful shrew. I KNOW this wonderful woman and the only reason she spilled the beans on him was because she cared so much for the students. Unfortunately, no one would listen to her because he convinced them that she was just a woman scorned. You seem to fall into that trap, Dot, and it is not nice.

[dot]

Josie -
I'll take the criticism there - I wasn't intending to knock the ex-wife for speaking out. I was trying to point out that she did speak out. Being pissed off is good, because that keeps you going when the PR machine is trying to back you down and marginalize you.

But you make an excellent point of what happens when someone does speak out (in any government entity) about financial or other misconduct. I've got more than a couple of my own tapes from "back in the day" when I tried to speak out on misconduct in our school district. I think "delusional" was the nicest thing I was called - years later, the Feds finally prove me right. And they haven't even remotely looked into the big stuff that was going on in broad daylight. The problem is that the system is corrupt at it's core. School districts do not exist to serve students, but rather the adults who profit from them. Sorry if that's harsh, but it's heart of the truth.

Now to comment on Ms. Garcia's specific situation. She did the right thing and spoke up. She was an easy mark for the District's PR machine because she was in the middle of divorcing the person she was accusing and the situation involved her husband's mistress. So, she had to know that her motives would be questioned even by those who believed her. So, if Ms Garcia hadn't been angry with her husband, she would likely not have come forward or backed down quickly.

The primary question that will come to mind, is why she did not come forward about Garcia's actions earlier? I won't pretend to know Ms. Garcia's answer to that question. I can tell you from my own experience in dealing with the spouses of corrupt individuals in other school districts it is usually one of two answers. 1. They are willfully blind to their spouses actions and excuse/justify them in a variety of ways, 2. They are equally involved in the fraud and openly benefit from it in terms of career advancement and lifestyle. I never met one who was unaware of the corruption.

Is my point of view jaded? Yes, it is. It comes from too many years of having been a classroom teacher and witnessing the corruption and theft first hand. Looking back, I can identify activities that I "politely ignored" because the person involved was someone I thought well of. I have "spent money" wastefully because if it wasn't spent, it wouldn't be budgeted next year. I've been assigned "make work" summer jobs that were used to spend down funds at the end of the year. I've spent even more years as a parent, observing the waste and fraud from the outside. For a while, I thought I could change that culture and helped investigate fraud in my kids district and busted several people for theft. A few quietly resigned, most were reassigned, none were ever required to make restitution to the district. One day, I realized that I was merely Don Quiote to a system that doesn't want to change.

[Lslsls]

Dot - 100% right.

Dr. Garcia's wife gave info directly to a school board member regarding his affairs and told them they should fire him under his "moral turpitude" clause. The board member ignored her and never informed the rest of the board.

An elected official has a responsibility to ask a question or do their own research whenever a spouse of the superintendent complains or a teacher, or an administrator. Yes - some people complain all the time and have no back up to their accusations - but elected officials should ask the question in public to the school district and ask for a response in public. But as this board has demonstrated - being a trustee looks great on their resume and their name is posted on the schools marquee to "thank" them for their service and they feel oh so special. Bulls**t. They failed in their responsibility.

[Josie]

Garcia's wife came forward as soon as she knew. She was ignored.

Dot, I do agree with what you say, "School districts do not exist to serve students, but rather the adults who profit from them." I have known this for years. Why can a private school educate a student for a lot less money?