Education

First, I would like to see drop-out rates reported according to House of Representatives voting districts.

It seems that education largely belongs to the left. Yet there are several contradictions in this leftist arm of the government. 

For example, many teachers push socialism, yet public school superintendents are some of the highest-paid public administrators in the US. The Vice POTUS has an annual base salary of $230K. At least 31 states and the Federal City of Washington DC, have at least one local school superintendent with a base salary equal to, or higher than VPOTUS. Wow. 
No local school superintendent of any district should ever make a higher salary than VPOTUS. No person in any level of government should make more than VPOTUS, except POTUS. AND… every state has a local school superintendent that makes more than that state’s Governor. 
Hmmm. See the attached worksheet

Professional jealousy over wages is one thing that might prompt socialist teaching in college. 
The average Division 1 College, head football coach makes $1.6 million per year. 
Math professors at University of Nebraska at Lincoln make in the $100K range. That difference is bound to create envy, and envy is the tap root of socialism. This is intensified by the fact that math can exist without sports, but sports can’t exist without math. (I use math teachers as an example because math is the most secure form of education that exists. Either the math works or it doesn’t. I admire mathematicians.) 

Teachers and staff that are jealous about Athletic Department salaries might think socialism is a fairer way to live, and then teach socialism. Students most likely to agree are those who have no scholarships to support them while in college. These are mostly ordinary students who see students with athletic scholarships, yet they have to bust their academic backs to make grades and have to work to graduate, and then with debt. 
Many are not used to carrying the load for their own success. 
Most are not geniuses or athletes. 
They are ordinary people, which means they have to pay tuition, and they resent it. (I wrote this piece months before the Collegewood Scandal broke.) 

Another reason that educators tend toward socialism; they live and operate in a semi-socialistic environment. They must have degrees, yet they are not a full-part of capitalism. But this is true of many government workers, so their natural tendency is to drift toward socialism, which is the elimination of capitalism, partly out of jealousy. 

About local public schools, 

I’m concerned about the current structure of electing board members who then hire superintendents who run everything else. I served on a board for a local retirement community for 10 years. While we structured policy, we were forbidden to get involved in the day-to-day operations of the organization. 

If this is how schools boards operate, there needs to be changes made. School board members should be able to go to any school meeting, at any level, held for any reason (except perhaps student disciplinary counseling sessions), and should get a copy of every piece of paper that flows from administration to teachers. 
School board members should know what advice school nurses are dispensing, and a list of the contacts she shares with students for any reason. 

I recently read that our local school sent a booklet to teachers, which among other things, told teachers how to hide the children of illegal immigrants from ICE. 
Each school should have a public reading room that contains every announcement, instruction and policy point the administration gives its teachers. 
Complete transparency. 

I read this about the Covington issue: In Colorado, Douglas County School District, a middle school teacher, doxxed a Covington student, labeling him a “Hitler Youth”. The boy wasn’t even at the event. His parents complained, and finally the teacher was placed on leave, yet the school did not personally contact the parents of the doxed student. The school district clammed up. “So far, DCSD has been evasive. On Thursday night, when a concerned parent attempted to ask about the incident at the Douglas County School Board meeting, he was escorted out by security.” 

A parent can be escorted out of a school board meeting for wanting info? 
Gestapo, much?  
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/briannaheldt/2019/01/28/middle-school-teacher-put-on-leave-after-misidentifying-and-doxxing-covington-catholic-student-calling-him-hitler-youth-n2540371 

School boards members, when elected, sometimes become part of a club, where their acceptance requires them to follow the mindset of the education elite. 
Board members want to be a part of a congenial organization that gets along. 
But school boards are political organizations and peace may require compromise that creates hazards for our students. 

Finally, would we have more control over education if school superintendents, college and university presidents were elected to 4-year terms on Presidential years? 
I believe so,

Eric J. Rose