Chatham County School Grades

Our local newspaper recently released the 2016 grades for each of the Chatham County schools. Despite an upbeat approach, detailed reading of the article (a copy is at http://bit.ly/Chatham_Grades) gave me the impression that we could find improvements in education for our next generation. The grades were:

Margaret Pollard (6-8): B 
Pittsboro Elementary (K-5): B 
Silk Hope (K-8): B 
Chatham Central (9-12): B 
Northwood (9-12): B 
Perry Harrison (K-5): B 

Moncure (K-8): C 
North Chatham (K-5): C 
Siler City Elementary (K-5): C 
Bennett (K-8): C 
Bonlee (K-8): C 
Jordan Matthews (9-12): C 
Horton (6-8): C 
J.S. Waters (K-8): C 

Virginia Cross Elementary (K-5): D 
Chatham Middle (6-8): D 

SAGE Academy (Alternative 9-12): Not Listed 
Science and Technology: Not Listed

That got me to wondering about how much we spend on education. From the School Board website, I found that there are about 8,700 students in Chatham schools, supported by an education establishment of 1,190 employees. So, there is one staff member for every 7.3 students. It would be nice to know how many are support staff versus teaching staff, but I did not see that breakout on the school board website.

Total non-capital budget for the school system is over $93 million dollars this year (see http://bit.ly/ChathamSchools17-18). Put another way, each student receives on average $10,670 per year in tax dollar support.

This year's school calendar shows 170 school days, with an additional two early release days. Guessing an average of 7 hours per day in class, that means each student should learn something for about 1,190 hours. Again, looking at that another way, each learning hour averages almost $9 per hour per student.

Median salary for teachers is roughly $45,000 per year. Teachers spend about 8 more days per year than do the students. Allowing for a 9-hour day on average to allow for prep time and grading, that suggests each teacher works a bit over 1,600 hours in the school year. A standard business work year with holidays and including 2 weeks vacation is 1,920 hours. Using the standard work year, each teacher works for about 83% of a standard work year. IF that 83% were a full work year, the equivalent salary would be $54,200. Not bad.

So what? We spend A LOT of money on educating students. I suspect most of our teachers are dedicated and hard-working professionals doing their best. But, something is not working right, or our Chatham County scores would be higher, and as a nation we would be out-scoring more of our world competitors in math and the sciences. I don't think more money is the answer to our education problems.

My suspicion is that we are asking our education system to do in excess of what it can deliver. I am  guessing that a lot of our education issues are based more on parental lack of oversight and encouragement, students spending too much in and out of class time flipping through websites and messaging friends, courses that are more politically correct than rigorous, and a society that glorifies sports and entertainment over mathematics, science, farming, or trades.

One of my least-favorite public figures once wrote a book that claimed it takes a village to raise a child. Maybe so; maybe it takes public figures, entertainers, sports figures, journalists, clergy, peer groups and others along with parents to encourage students to study, work hard, respect their teachers, and understand the value of their elementary and secondary educations.

And maybe it takes all of us in Chatham County to understand where our tax dollars go, and then to help determine if funds are being spent wisely. Chatham County - get involved! Research school board candidates, go to school board meetings, understand the budgets, root out the facts versus hype and hysteria, and make solid and well-reasoned selections when voting for school board candidates.