Money and Class Sizes

I was finally called two days prior to Halloween to substitute for the first time this school year. I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with my phone. So into one of the newer schools I walked, and into a Kindergarten classroom of 30 kids. No, that is not a typo. 30. 3-0. THIRTY. Now, I did have an aide who worked in the classroom... she had other duties until 9:30, so I had the kids to myself for an hour and a half. Try taking attendance and getting an accurate lunch count with a bunch of kindergartners who don't know you and who are scheduled to have "choice time" right off the bat. Oh, and also try to figure out who the problem kids are since the teacher didn't leave that kind of info. Oh, and she also forgot to let me know how she calls attention in the classroom, how she disciplines, etc, etc. But I digress.
What I am hearing from others is that this is a typical number. 30 kids per classroom. From this experience, I can tell you that no teaching ever happened. I was playing a steroid hyped game of whack a mole all day long. Aside from the parade of parents who came in to help (and I had been given nothing to give them to do) and the administrators who came in to talk to the constant pencil stabbing kid, I was in a state of chaos. I'm not sure I can even say controlled chaos. I have taught a class of 28 before, although they were 4/5 graders, not age 4/5. I could handle the 28, because they knew how to behave, what was expected, and so forth. Kindergartners are a whole different story.
So now that the election is over, I am starting to see reports of how much money was spent on the election - you know, those really annoying ads vilifying the "other guy" that we are all thankful we no longer have to be subjected to, and should include travel, hotel, and gas expenses...

Here are some links to some interesting monetary expenditures:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance
Obama and Romney raised close to 15 million ($15,000,000). If one was to divide that equally into each of our 50 states, that would be $300,000. How many teachers could work then? And how would that affect class sizes?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/nov/5/virginia-senate-race-tops-52m-outside-spending/
This article by the Washington Times speaks to several Senate races in states like Virginia, Wisconsin, and Ohio. 52 million dollars in just Virginia. How far could that money have gone to lower class sizes and employ teachers? 52 million divided into 50 states gives over a million dollars to each state. $1,040,000 to be exact.

So when we are told that we don't have money, I find it a bit hard to choke down. The money is there. It's just being held by people who don't care about education, evidently.

What is worse, on a side note, is that several states had issues allowing people to vote...  Florida had long lines, Hawaii ran out of ballots... so places hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy were able to get folks in to vote, but Hawaii... RAN OUT OF BALLOTS? Yet another issue...

I realize I am a little rambly here. The point, my point, is that all of that money that everyone complains is not available, is really available, just not accessible for education. To promote self serving politicians, yes, but not to educate our youngest citizens.

Which returns me to class sizes. The more teachers we employ, the smaller the class size, which means the more attention each student is likely to receive from the teacher. The better the teacher can assess student performance, assess his/her own teaching performance, and get down to the essentials of teaching students to think. The more teachers we employ, the more taxpayers we have. The more teachers we have, the more other businesses, local ones in particular, are helped by teachers shopping for their classrooms. The more teachers we have, the more educated our young have the opportunity to become. The more teachers we have, the differentiated we make our classrooms, and thus, the more inclusive.

Maybe instead of spending all those millions on one job, we could spend those millions on thousands of jobs, and affect millions in the future generation.