Community Education

440.622.2708

goto-geauga@goto-team.website

What do you see in education today that needs help/intervention...involvement of the community?

 

Help is what WE need...

Help is what WE can offer...

TOGETHER AS A TEAM!! 

 

Areas of Concern:

Tax-based funding for public school curricula is often insufficient to support Art, Music and Physical Education curricula. 
Research supports the positive impact of art, music and physical education on academic performance, yet those curricula are consistently on the chopping block due to funding issues.
Education debt: 
Federal student loan debt is estimated at $1.2T.  Forty million students/graduates have an average of $33,000 in loans and $85B in arrears. 
Personal testaments reveal graduates with an excess of $100k in loans. 
Pay-to-play: 
Public schools across the country are shifting costs to students and their parents by imposing or boosting fees for everything from enrolling in honors English to riding the bus. 
Charges for one family of 4 students included $75 in generic school fees, $118.50 for materials used in biology, physics and other academic courses, $263 for Advanced Placement exams and $3,990 to participate in cross-country, track and band.
Has an adverse impact on social integration of students due to the expanding separation of "have's" from "have not's"
Then there's shortened school days continuing to increase the number of unsupervised youth not on school grounds and not at home.

Discussion:

Impact of Art, Music, and Physical Education on academics:

Research shows a correlation between physical education/activity and motor development on academic achievement.

Music, parental involvement, sports-all of these have an influence on how children perform academically.

Students who participate in co-curricular activities are three times more likely to have a grade point average of 3.0 or better than students who do not.

Total extracurricular activity participation (TEAP), or participation in extracurricular activities in general, is associated with an improved grade point average, higher educational aspirations, increased college attendance, and reduced absenteeism even if the activities are not obviously related to academic subjects. 

Economic competition for the 3 concerns:

After adjusting for inflation, average spending per pupil has increased 44% over the past two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Education (WSJ).

The average salary for a public-school teacher nationally has increased 26% since 2001, though that growth didn't quite keep pace with inflation (WSJ).

At the same time, school revenue has plunged, mostly due to cutbacks in state funding.  Locally obtained state funds received from the more affluent communities are being diverted to poorer school districts.

Squeezed by lower tax revenue and higher expenses for programs such as Medicaid, states have cut education funding by a collective $17B in the past two fiscal years, though some of that was backfilled by the federal stimulus (WSJ).