It's that time of the year again and I'm registering my kid for the 4th grade. I've come to the donation section where they're asking for a recommended amount. My question is, does the teacher know who's parents donated and who's didn't? I'm wondering if there's a bias against kids who's folks didn't contribute.
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1. why are you asking this here on TMC?
2. donations? for what?
3. is this a public/government school?
4. not knowing the school hierarchy how could anyone offer a valid opinion?
1. Am I posting in the wrong section? WTF is off-topic for then?
2. For the school (supplies, computer stuff, heck IDK where that money goes)
3. It's in title - take a sec to read!
4. This is your only valid question. But you got me in that I don't even know how to answer it. It's just a basic public elementary school
2. For the school (supplies, computer stuff, heck IDK where that money goes)
3. It's in title - take a sec to read!
4. This is your only valid question. But you got me in that I don't even know how to answer it. It's just a basic public elementary school
I have never seen of a section on a form where it says donation amount for my kids school.
We do however contribute supplies from a list of items for the class that the teacher requests. Oddly our school returns the crayons, colored pencils etc... at end of year when use is over.
Bias against kids whose parents don't. Well I don't worry about that. Some folks can some can't. I would never donate to an institution such as a public school in a monetary form. Tangible items yes.
Yes some people love this place (forum) because they find many like minded individuals that they like to share things with. Some folks like to go on forums to just complain about others sharing. I failed at sharing as a child, but am making up for it now.
We do however contribute supplies from a list of items for the class that the teacher requests. Oddly our school returns the crayons, colored pencils etc... at end of year when use is over.
Bias against kids whose parents don't. Well I don't worry about that. Some folks can some can't. I would never donate to an institution such as a public school in a monetary form. Tangible items yes.
Yes some people love this place (forum) because they find many like minded individuals that they like to share things with. Some folks like to go on forums to just complain about others sharing. I failed at sharing as a child, but am making up for it now.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
No. Teachers would never do such a thing. At worst, it may play a part (only a part because, by itself, I don't see this impacting their opinion) in the forming of a negative opinion of the parents, but they would never hold this against the student.
I'm not a teacher or an expert, but I do have teachers in the family, and I use my knowledge of their experiences in saying this, for whatever that is worth.
It actually works the opposite. Families least able to contribute to school funding are allocated more $ per student, such as low-income, or foreign nationals here without papers. OK, illegals, I said it. The higher the % of illegal and low income students in a school district, the more funding they are allocated. This might explain the public employee's position on illegal immigration and social programs.
It's actually cheaper to put a K-12 child through a for-profit private school such as a Montessori School, than it costs to put your child through a public school which are at an operation loss. It's the nature of government bureaucracies run by unions. When you don't need to run operations efficiently, you simply don't. It's not greed, it's sloth. No requirement for exceptional job performance? You get below average job performance if it all pays the same.
Sadly for our state, the education your child gets at a Montessori (or similar), is so much better that you may have a hard time locating a nearby public HS to continue their education, if you need to use a public HS. We had to drive our kids into another city to get a public teaching program that was at a high enough level to avoid them repeating classes. We sent an average kid from Montessori > public high school. 4 year IB grad, AP credits, 4.3x GPA, very high SAT. She shows up at a UC system college, and she is too highly educated. Straight A's as a freshman as she goes into her sophomore year with 21 units of load. <=3 years instead of 4. Her brother is on the same path with high SAT and lots of AP credits.
It's actually cheaper to put a K-12 child through a for-profit private school such as a Montessori School, than it costs to put your child through a public school which are at an operation loss. It's the nature of government bureaucracies run by unions. When you don't need to run operations efficiently, you simply don't. It's not greed, it's sloth. No requirement for exceptional job performance? You get below average job performance if it all pays the same.
Sadly for our state, the education your child gets at a Montessori (or similar), is so much better that you may have a hard time locating a nearby public HS to continue their education, if you need to use a public HS. We had to drive our kids into another city to get a public teaching program that was at a high enough level to avoid them repeating classes. We sent an average kid from Montessori > public high school. 4 year IB grad, AP credits, 4.3x GPA, very high SAT. She shows up at a UC system college, and she is too highly educated. Straight A's as a freshman as she goes into her sophomore year with 21 units of load. <=3 years instead of 4. Her brother is on the same path with high SAT and lots of AP credits.
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you missed my point which to clarify is that this is a site related to EV autos and related topics, I would think seeking out an education type forum would yield better answers from people well versed in that vocation.
bingo, IDK where the money goes to me is a red flag
valid point
I've seen this becoming the norm in public schooling and IMHO the fact that schools need to solicit additional funding funding from parents isn't right but this isn't a forum to get into the dysfunction of the government run schools.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
Why would you worry about if the teacher knows who contributed & if there is a bias against those who didn't. You're going to contribute, right?
Most teachers likely don't have access to donor information, and it seems cynical to assume that if they did have it, they would use it in forming a low opinion about a student or parent. In Colorado, such funds are highly regulated and transparent. Many ( most? ) districts are ( severely ?) underfunded as compared to expectations of the benefits of education provided. Donations can go toward specific classroom improvements such as a document camera, field trip funding, or simply supplies like markers, toner or paper. Donations are not going into your child's teacher's "Hawaii Fund". The vast majority of public school teachers view their profession as a calling and a public service. They are inclusive, nurturing, kind and likely over worked and underpaid. There aren't many of them that can afford a Tesla, and even a Model 3 is likely a stretch. I would invite you to spend a full day in your child's classroom, and see if maybe you have a misconception of teacher's values and motives.
Kind Regards - MitchMitch
Kind Regards - MitchMitch
Different school, different district so this may or may not be helpful. Where my kids go, the PTA is the backbone of the school. If donation is requested by the PTA, then probably the school proper (including the teachers) won't know whether you paid or not. If the donation is requested by the school itself, that would be odd. Whether the teacher would be informed and whether it would make any difference is a different matter, but my guess is no.
Regardless, if you're rolling up in a Tesla at dropoff and pickup everyday, everyone and their mother will know that and you'd better be donating.
Regardless, if you're rolling up in a Tesla at dropoff and pickup everyday, everyone and their mother will know that and you'd better be donating.
At least at our CA public HS, you're going to be requested to donate several times during the year, and certain classes require supply fees. Expect about $2k avg per year of mandatory or requested fees per student excluding field trips.
But what is perhaps just as important is time. Chaperoning, driving, working crowd control at events, tech support, muscle, etc, normally need parent manhours to operate correctly. These costs can be higher than actual monetary contributions, you will be requested to supply both.
Private schools have that same component though.
But home schooling supplemental education is critical to both today. Do not expect the school to do the complete curriculum. Things like the arts, trades, IT skills, driver's ed, home ec, are no longer covered like they were in the 60's and 70's. Heck, school buses are very limited or missing for many schools.
Signs are this is going to continue to decay over time as funding becomes more and more focused towards political needs and away from actual required skills.
that might be the case wherever you might be living, however that $2k could be a real burden to many others who are less affluent, then you have many places where the majority of students can't even afford the school lunch.
aren't government schools supposed to be equal in the education that they provide?
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
Give what you can afford. It's not only your kid, but other kids - and a good education for each of them benefits all of us.
I was making it paycheck to paycheck (and that was a stretch) when my son was in gradeschool. But I volunteered, I came in and taught appropriate-level STEM classes (talk to me about secret messages using 1's and 0's!) and gave everything I could
Schools are underfunded and it's not gong to get better in the near term. So I hope everyone does what they can. If you want a place to start, check out DonorsChoose.org: Support a classroom. Build a future.. Find a local teacher/classroom that you can help out. Or call your local school and pay something towards the growing lunch bills from kids who couldn't pay. Growling stomachs aren't conducive to learning.
By the way, with the website I posted, the kids send thank you notes later. And those are some of the best notes I've ever gotten.
I was making it paycheck to paycheck (and that was a stretch) when my son was in gradeschool. But I volunteered, I came in and taught appropriate-level STEM classes (talk to me about secret messages using 1's and 0's!) and gave everything I could
Schools are underfunded and it's not gong to get better in the near term. So I hope everyone does what they can. If you want a place to start, check out DonorsChoose.org: Support a classroom. Build a future.. Find a local teacher/classroom that you can help out. Or call your local school and pay something towards the growing lunch bills from kids who couldn't pay. Growling stomachs aren't conducive to learning.
By the way, with the website I posted, the kids send thank you notes later. And those are some of the best notes I've ever gotten.
Schools with high % of low-income or undocumented students get more funding based on the %. But it is doing little to actually resolve anything. Lunches are free for students in this group, and bus fees are waived if applicable.
About the 'equal public schools', nothing has really changed there. More affluent areas continue to have more varied curriculum and higher test scores and college acceptance levels.
At one point our local elementary when I was living in a rural/poor area we had a full 50% of the classrooms with Spanish books, supplies, and bilingual teachers. The quality of education for English speaking students was not good. English textbooks were up to 20 years old and stayed in service well after they were heavily damaged. Some of the information in them was actually wrong due to age.
This was my oldest child's school, so we worked very hard to insure we would not be stuck in that situation again. The other kids went to Montessori up to HS. A lot of Top Ramen, and our family car was a Chevy Sprint for a few years.
But a lot has to do with the child. Our oldest is now successful with a business degree, it just took her longer.
Graffi
Member
Any request from "PUBLIC SCHOOLS" for a donation would get my standard answer, "I already donated at the home (property taxes). The fact that school administration is unable to manage those funds is a clear sign that they should be fired and competent management be hired.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
So they shouldn't need any help because you already gave them some money at tax time. Cool argument, Bro. I'll be sure to remember that next time there's a fundraiser or volunteer service program for military officers or war vets.
Point being, too simplistic an argument. Are they already receiving too much money? Maybe they are not getting enough. Hard to say. The military currently gets well over 500 billion a year. Yet apparently they need more? How much is education getting? I bet it's not 500 billion a year.
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I'm a huge Montessori fan, and agree with the educational benefits, but I think it's unfair to compare it on an economic basis to traditional schooling. The Montessori curriculum thrives on mixed age classrooms with the minimum amount of teachers. The style of education requires less top-down resources, so it's fundamentally (and purposefully) cheaper to run.
Now, if you're pushing for a Montessori style education in public schools to lower costs and raise the quality of education, I'm all in. I just don't think you can blame undocumented workers and unions for the additional expense in traditional schooling compared to Montessori. There's a lot more to it.
ibdb
Any excuse for a road trip
Teachers are unlikely to know whether you donate or not, and even less likely to worry about it.
I don't know what your particular school uses those funds for. Usually there is some sort of explanation that gives you at least some broad categories. If you want to know, ask. I've never dealt with an administrator or teacher who wasn't be happy to share that information with me.
At my kids' schools, donations to the schools ASB funds (which are completely separate from PTA funds) have helped provide backpacks and school supplies for students whose families could not afford them. They've helped to fill an emergency food pantry so students don't go hungry over the weekend. They've helped homeless kids do their laundry so they could have clean clothes. They've helped cover the extra expenses of trying to provide as normal a school experience as possible for students facing life threatening illnesses.
PTA funds have helped pay for more than half the books in the elementary school library. They've paid for computers and carts so that kids could have access to learning resources that aren't available in our community. They've paid for playground equipment, classroom supplies, field trips, and much, much more.
Many of the things the PTA funds are things that should be funded by the state, but haven't been. Parents have stepped up to bear the extra costs. Some schools in my area even have teachers who are paid out of PTA money. This creates significant issues on equity -- all kids should have access to an amply funded basic education -- but few are willing to punish the kids while the debate to fix funding goes on.
Donations of this kind don't go to the normal costs of staffing and running a school. Donations of this kind are used to help kids who are at serious risk of falling through the cracks. I know from my years of experience as a school volunteer that some of the emergency funds can have an impact on kids that can still be seen years later, and have given kids a boost that they desperately needed at the time they needed it most.
I don't know what your particular school uses those funds for. Usually there is some sort of explanation that gives you at least some broad categories. If you want to know, ask. I've never dealt with an administrator or teacher who wasn't be happy to share that information with me.
At my kids' schools, donations to the schools ASB funds (which are completely separate from PTA funds) have helped provide backpacks and school supplies for students whose families could not afford them. They've helped to fill an emergency food pantry so students don't go hungry over the weekend. They've helped homeless kids do their laundry so they could have clean clothes. They've helped cover the extra expenses of trying to provide as normal a school experience as possible for students facing life threatening illnesses.
PTA funds have helped pay for more than half the books in the elementary school library. They've paid for computers and carts so that kids could have access to learning resources that aren't available in our community. They've paid for playground equipment, classroom supplies, field trips, and much, much more.
Many of the things the PTA funds are things that should be funded by the state, but haven't been. Parents have stepped up to bear the extra costs. Some schools in my area even have teachers who are paid out of PTA money. This creates significant issues on equity -- all kids should have access to an amply funded basic education -- but few are willing to punish the kids while the debate to fix funding goes on.
Donations of this kind don't go to the normal costs of staffing and running a school. Donations of this kind are used to help kids who are at serious risk of falling through the cracks. I know from my years of experience as a school volunteer that some of the emergency funds can have an impact on kids that can still be seen years later, and have given kids a boost that they desperately needed at the time they needed it most.
I can't speak about American schools, but what I can say about primary schools in Australia is the diversity of competence of students in the class room is profound. I've experienced 5th graders with a reading level similar to advanced preppies (year before year 1). How teachers handle this is beyond me.
I will note that primary school teachers from China have said our class sizes are too small, and the class contains too many distracting visual cues. I can't see any other alternative to STEM becoming an Asian endeavor, our school systems almost makes that inevitable.
