Someone in my neighborhood has a kitchen timer that sounds just like mine. It's very confusing.

the idea that everyone is entitled to enough of an income to subsist, just for being a live person, is very attractive to me

Me too.

Hm. Looking at this [link] and at tivo and I'm wondering if I shouldn't just continue to watch tv on the computer (even though I sometimes miss the window for free streaming of an episode or two) and get a Wii.

The band director can't buy new music for the band, all of the kids have to either rent or buy their own instruments from an outside source because the school can't afford to buy instruments for the kids to borrow (which was the norm when I was in band)

When I was in band (in a rather wealthy district public school) everyone had to buy or rent their own instruments except for percussion and a few of the huge brass instruments. I started band in 1991, and I think my sister started in 1987, and she also had to buy her own clarinet. (I started off on glockenspiel, then switched to drums, then back to tuned percussion, so the only things I had to buy were drumsticks and a practice pad.)

But I also suspect that if you took any underperforming school and spent a big chunk of money on it so it had good facilities and equipment and well-supported well-trained teachers teaching small classes it would improve VASTLY and just about immediately.

I don't necessarily agree with it. Lots of underperforming schools get money thrown at them. Money isn't the answer, and I'm coming from a relatively underfunded district, with some pretty decent schools (according to Academic Decathalon and college admits).

I think the onion analogy is way more apt.

As a teacher in a single-subject classroom (meaning I teach 150 kids over 5 or so periods), I see my students for approximately 2% of their life that year. If I taught in a K-6 room it would be 12% of their life. I cannot make up for what is missing in the REST of their life, basic things, like conversation. Or even having had someone read them a bed time story for the first 4 years of their life or someone who sang nursery songs to them.

There is way more to the problem that money CAN'T fix and it's not always the school that needs to work on the fixing.

I'm coming from a relatively underfunded district, with some pretty decent schools (according to Academic Decathalon and college admits).

Academic Decathlon can get really expensive really quickly. When I was in it in high school, we always had to make decisions about which study materials to get, because with our budget, we just couldn't afford to get everything we needed. (And that was with each of us finding our own copies of the books for the English section bringing in a blank tape to copy the CD of the music we had to know. We usually ended up skipping the art booklets, because those were full-color and more expensive than the other booklets.)

I should mention that lots of schools in my district get a lot of Title I funds along with encumbered school improvement funds. And in fact the lower performing schools within my district often have MORE money than the higher performing schools that are in neighborhoods with more educated parents. But that could be a fluke of school funding in California.

I'm still boggling at the difference between CA and CO public schools. K-Bug had fantastic teachers in CA and received a good education. But the resources were very limited.

The schools here in CO are crowded, but well stocked in texts and technology. Back to School night was packed, indicating large parent involvement. Plus the G&T program here is well funded. I hope that translates to a good education for CJ.

I went from a MI school that had, by and large, middle class and blue collar families (with a few upper middle) as its base to an NC school that had, by and large, middle class and blue collar families (with a few upper middle) as its base. They each had pretty strong family support and engagement.

The MI school had undergone massive budget cuts the last few years I spent there, and it was in pretty appalling shape when I left. By appalling shape I mean it shut down for a few weeks in the middle of my 10th grade fall semester because it ran out of money. My last year there I had a "c" average.

The NC school had a fairly steady budget and was in good shape. There were a ton of electives and extra curricular activities. I was in the drama club 11th grade, the science club 12th grade, and graduated with a 4.0 my senior year (and with 9 college credit hours in the bank, thanks to their AP track).

Money won't solve all education problems, but all other things being equal it makes a tremendous difference in educational possibilities.

It varies so much, state to state, hell, even district to district. Folks in Texas near the NM border would lie, cheat and steal to get kids into LC's schools. And NM is a poor state, but at least in southern NM, schools are remarkably uniform and fairly good, all things considered. Looking at the NC and Baltimore school systems, I'm just sort of aghast. They've got magnet programs we never dreamed of, but the bottom of the barrel is truly appalling. It takes a really motivated parent to get their child a good education here, none of this neighborhood schools being good enough to get your kid through and into college.