I am a professional educator, and I am proud of that role. Over the past 50 years, I have worked in many educational settings and gained a perspective I believe is both informed and practical. In the next few paragraphs, I will outline what I believe is wrong, what needs to change, and several solutions that could make a real difference. A podcast being released today offers more detail and context than I can include here.
Dr. Brenda Longshore, our Superintendent of Schools, has proposed eliminating 20 district-level positions. While that may help address the reserve shortfall in the budget, it is not a long-term solution. Those positions likely will not return, and the underlying problem will remain. Another proposal is to offer district curriculum courses to students who are not fully enrolled, on an a la carte, course-by-course basis. Although that approach is innovative and has been used elsewhere, it is unlikely to make a meaningful dent in the budget shortfall, even if it encourages some students to enroll full time.
The budget crisis has been linked to declining enrollment as students move to alternatives such as homeschooling, private schools, and charter schools. New legislation now gives parents access to state funds for those options. I support giving parents choices in how their children are educated. For many years, most families had no real option beyond public schools. That is no longer the case.
Public school systems can rightly object to the impact of school choice on their enrollment and finances. The effect is real and significant. But school choice itself is not the problem; the real issue is how public schools are educating our children.
Public schools are now competing with alternative education options. To remain viable, they must offer something as good as—or better than—those alternatives. That will require a major shift in thinking and a substantial overhaul of the public school system. Continuing to do the same things and expecting different results will only prolong a crisis that fails to meet the needs of our children.
I have worked with two programs in our school district that deeply engaged students, produced strong learning gains, and often gave students a reason to come to school. The first was the Green Dragon Chair Company, which I created while teaching woodshop at Lake Placid High School. The second is the Aviation and Aerospace Program, which has become so successful that it now has a significant waiting list.
What made these programs successful? They used a hands-on, project-based approach to learning. Students understood the value of what they were learning. As a teacher, it was a pleasure to be in the classroom each day because everyone wanted to be there. Instead of facing rows of indifferent students waiting for class to end, I taught students who were engaged and invested.
Years ago, when I was head of the teachers’ union, I joined other district administrators on a visit to an East Coast school with an integrated high school curriculum. Both elective and core subjects were taught through projects, and teachers collaborated across disciplines to create a cross-curricular learning experience. The model worked extremely well, but it required innovation, planning time, and resources for teachers to prepare together.
Recently, I toured a school in Pinellas County with other administrators to observe an integrated curriculum developed in partnership with local businesses. Computer technology, health care, diesel mechanics, and other vocational fields were connected to required core subjects. Students were excited to be there, understood the relevance of what they were learning, and valued the opportunities available to them.
The traditional approach to public education no longer meets the needs of many students or teachers. Teachers deserve what I was fortunate to experience for many years: classrooms filled with students who genuinely want to be there. That is possible.
School choice has created more options and opportunities for families. The Florida Department of Education should move away from high-stakes testing as the primary measure of success and instead identify the measurable skills students need to thrive in the 21st century. To support that shift, the state must also provide public schools with the resources needed to adapt and innovate.
Successful public-school programs already exist, and they can be replicated. We can change by crisis, or we can change by choice, but change is coming either way. I have said this before, and the time to act is now. Public schools must offer educational programs that are as good as ,or better than, the alternatives.
For more detail on practical solutions and a path forward for public education, visit my website, “Flightlinestories.com,” and listen to the podcast “Flightlines – The Stories Behind the Stories.”
John Rousch is a columnist, podcaster, and a 58-year veteran educator. He can be reached at 863-273-0522 or johnrousch73@gmail.com.
