delbows, I'm so glad you mentioned this:
In our area, it has more to do with attitude than money. Our two districts each have multi-millions in money market accounts (which they don�t touch) and raise our property taxes each year to support the latest project. The high school has been pretty consistent in spending a large portion of their income on multi-million dollar sports complexes and domes.
I remembered last night after I posted that our local high school just received a million dollar gift of a turf field from parent boosters. That's how parents chose to make donations. So that brings me back to the pr angle again - why aren't parents with money making similar donations on a large scale to support the academic programs? Maybe b/c it's perceived as that's what the school is supposed to be doing? Maybe the large group of parents don't realize there is something that they could do? I guess the turf fields are perceived as extras, so there's no argument that that's what my tax dollars are supposed to do - there was no million dollar turf field in the school budget; it would never have passed.
I know on the local level many parents (and many here) are active doing just that in terms of (relatively) small purchases (e.g., software like Aleks for the classroom) and lots of volunteer time. But all those individuals would have to come together to change district practices.
Anyone old enough here to remember SRA reading? Our 4th or 5th grade class would have reading and each child would go up to the front of the room and grab their color-coded reading pamphlet, answer the comprehension questions and move on the next one and to the next level. Different levels in one room with one teacher. Hmmmm, maybe the answer is in the curriculum thing? Like the Aleks approach to math?
