Cabell County schools are on spring break this week. Soon it will be graduation season as seniors wear their caps and gowns, march in to ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œPomp and CircumstanceÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ and sit by as speakers encourage them to use their education to change the world and all that stuff.
By now itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a bit late to offer advice to graduating seniors, but itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a good time to impart a few words to eighth graders who will soon make the jump to high school.
At this moment the structure of public education is in turmoil. With things going on in Washington, D.C., much of the funding structure for schools is uncertain. President Trump wants to dissolve the federal Department of Education.
Instead of Congress allocating money for specific programs, the president could ask that states be given lump sums of money to use as they see fit. Given West VirginiaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s track record of the state Board of Education having to take over some county systems because of mismanagement ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” some repeatedly ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” that doesnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t necessarily inspire confidence in public schoolsÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ future.
Education has always been a self-driven process. A child must want to learn. A child should have the opportunity to learn. Students advancing to ninth grade will have more choices than they had in elementary or middle school. ItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s up to those children and their parents or caretakers to make wise choices. Some kids will pursue a 4.0 average or better. Some will take difficult courses or courses that are outside their comfort zones because they want to learn new things, even at the cost of their grade point averages.
An old saying ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” origin unknown ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” says education is what you have left after youÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ve forgotten everything you learned in school. Adults like to say they never use algebra in their daily lives, but some blue-collar jobs require a fundamental understanding of math and geometry. If you ever wonder why West Virginia, with fewer than 2 million people, has as many U.S. senators as California, population 39.4 million, an understanding of history helps, even if you canÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t recall the details of the Constitutional Convention.
As state and county officials follow the dismantling of the Department of Education, they will need to remember the kids in the classroom. Given the stateÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s history, itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s easy to see how some officials will look on block grants as an opportunity to enrich themselves, their families and their friends.
The person sitting in an office at the Capitol Complex, a person on a county school board and an eighth grader deciding what classes to take in high school are all connected.
Who would win in this new paradigm of school funding?
