Last week, New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg made some controversial statements concerning school improvement. According to Mayor Bloomberg:
“If I had the ability to design the system and say this is
what we’re going to do, you would cut the number of
teachers in half and weed out all of the bad ones[i].”
Mayor Bloomberg further stated that doubling the class size with a better teacher is a good deal for the students. Claiming that in districts across the country, teachers are no longer hired from the top of their classes, but are instead culled from the bottom 20 percent and not from the best schools[ii]. Mayor Bloomberg later claimed his statements were taken out of context.
While Mayor Bloomberg’s statements may or may not have been taken out of context, in this current economic environment where there has been unprecedented cuts and layoffs to school districts across the county, Mayor Bloomberg’s statements may provide some insight on a future educational strategy that is being considered if a worst case scenario were to occur.
For several months there has been speculation of additional cuts and layoffs to public school districts as states continue to manage their deficits. As the economy continues to sputter, states will once again have to make tough decisions on how to fund their public school districts. Mayor Bloomberg’s statements should be considered as a potential strategy for mayors across the country.
This school year, public school districts across the country petition their states to allow for increases in classroom size and teacher unions agreed to some teacher layoffs in order to offset lost allocations. Combine these concessions with new teacher accountability measures via the teacher evaluation process; and a strong case can be made for Mayor Bloomberg’s plan.
By increasing class size and cutting teaching staff by “weeding out” the bad teachers, districts could increase class size to 25 to 30 students, add an additional teacher and one (possibly two) classroom assistants. The money saved by weeding out bad teachers (who mostly likely receive a higher salary), hiring first year teachers and more classroom assistants could actually save money that could be utilized for additional support for students.
With the current economic turmoil projected not to end for another couple of years, Mayor Bloomberg’s plan may not be the ideal plan for advocates of small class size and staffing, but in these economic times, unpopular measures may have to be taken in the short term to ensure our public education system doesn’t fully implode due to budgetary problems.
I am unsure how a teacher can adequately assess and teach 30 students even with an assistant. I worry that the strategy of larger classrooms will not prevent the demise of our stressed public education system. Furthermore, I am sure that
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