Choice Media’s videocast tackles host of education issues
By Mary C. Tillotson | Watchdog.org
In California, it can cost a school district half a million dollars to dismiss a teacher
“They’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove just one ineffective teacher, and the cost, though, isn’t the only problem. It’s also the time involved,” Lance Izumi, senior director of education studies for the Pacific Research Institute, said Friday in a Choice Media videocast. “It can take years and years, even with spending in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is why many districts end up deciding against (dismissing a teacher) … and simply leave those teachers in the classroom,” Izumi said.
Izumi said it’s not always about teachers who are committing sexual assault or other “very high-profile crimes” – some teachers are just ineffective. It’s unfair to students who deserve a real education and it’s unfair to better teachers who “have to make up for what kids should have learned in the previous grade.”
Izumi, Bob Bowden executive director, and Choice Media TV staff also discussed a recent Fordham study on the effectiveness of school board members, a Watchdog.org investigation of overspending in a Philadelphia school district, school choice bills proposed in Florida, and a deal reached in New York City that would protect charter schools.
Contact Mary C. Tillotson at mtillotson@watchdog.org.
