We The People Say "Enough Is Enough"!

ENOUGH ALREADY! Our education system has let us down, both those of us who pay the bills and the kids the government is supposed to educate. We've CLEARLY lavished support on teachers and the education system in general in a hope, now proven false, that the investment would be worth it. Government leadership, especially liberal ones, keep calling for yet another(!) 'investment' in education. What do they THINK we've been doing all these years? At what point should one say, THIS APPROACH ISN'T WORKING? Isn't 30 years of trying it this way enough to convince our government that this approach does not work? This is insane isn't it? GADS!

Now we're hearing that Wisconsin teachers make more in salary and benefits than their counterparts in the private sector and they can retire on $40,000/year and many of them can retire at age 50! Good grief! They contributed a total of only about $80,000 to their retirement fund which is two-years worth of retirement pay. After two years the still-working citizens of Wisconsin will have to pay their retirement for however long these retired teachers live after those first two years. They'll get back way, WAY more in retirement pay and benefits than they contributed. (And people are all upset over Social Security retirees who, on average, put into that trust fund approximately what they're getting out of it! WE haven't expected a free ride from ANYONE!) The Wisconsin teachers' retirement benefits package is among the most lucrative in the country. VERY GENEROUS BY ANY STANDARD! What have the citizens of Wisconsin gotten for all this generosity? Stagnant test scores by high school students for nearly 30 years.

Some facts to illustrate the complete lack of results from a mind-boggling 'investment':

1. Federal, state and local spending on education in the USA has more than doubled since 1996 from $400 Billion to near $900 Billion. The education budget is the biggest item in state budgets and the pension plans are about to bankrupt nearly every state in the country!
2. Student test scores: stagnant now for approximately 30 years, ever since the Federal Dept of Education was created whose charter was to keep our kids' education near the top among all nations.
3. Question: What has the creation of huge new government bureaucracies and DOUBLING(!) the money spent in 14 years delivered in the way of results? Ans: NO CHANGE IN TEST SCORES AND THE SCORES ARE NOW NEAR THE BOTTOM OF ALL 'DEVELOPED NATIONS'!

Generous pay. Outright lavish retirement pay/benefits. Students' test scores continuously declining from among the best to its current level near the bottom of all developed nations. Has the 'education system' earned its pay? By ANY MEASURE, has the education system, including the teachers, EARNED what we've lavished on it at the cost of nearly bankrupting every state in the country? NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!! A THOUSAND TIMES, NO!

Don't these teachers who are revolting at various states' attempt to avoid bankruptcy have a conscience? Why don't THEY understand that THEY have failed to perform? Failed the very kids they 'hide behind' when claiming unfairness? Failed the people who pay them? By ANY RATIONAL MEASURE they've failed, utterly and completely failed to deliver what ALL other developed countries have done with far less support. Anyone performing this poorly in the private sector would have been fired long, LONG ago, even where there are unions.

If the teachers are so concerned about the kids as they keep telling us before every vote regarding their pay or benefits, why haven't THEY been at the forefront of recognizing their failure and, ON THEIR OWN(!), taken aggressive action to fix it? Clearly, the argument that it'll take money to make our kids smart enough is a complete lie by virtue of pay/benefit increases compared with sorry results. They've PROVEN(!) that money isn't the problem!

Let me repeat that. THEY (teachers, unions and the education system in general) PROVED (vis a vis the failure to keep our schools among the best in the world) that money is NOT what's needed. If it were, we wouldn't have the most poorly educated kids! So why aren't THEY focused on IDENTIFYING THE REAL PROBLEM AND PROACTIVELY FIXING THAT ON THEIR OWN? ISN'T THAT THEIR JOB? AREN'T THEY THE PROFESSIONALS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO DO THIS?

Gads, fellow citizens! At what point do we wake up and acknowledge the reality(!) that our education system has failed and continues to fail their employers (us), our country and especially our kids? HELLO!?!?

Isn't it time we started INSISTING this gets fixed? Isn't it time we eliminated the Federal Dept of Education that has UTTERLY failed in its primary mission of educating our kids? When an organization totally fails to do what you hire it to do, you clean house and start over.

It's time for the board of directors (America's citizens) to take BACK control and get this problem fixed using people who are more committed and able to do that. No more nonsense from self-serving politicians, unions and selfish employees. We've given these people AMPLE support and opportunity to do their job and they didn't. The kids and their education MUST come first from now on. Sorry, unions and 'education professionals' if you don't like that. You get an "F" and it's time for you to go stand in the corner or, perhaps, be expelled while we fix your mess.