School AYP testing is setting districts up for failure

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the nation’s attempt at boosting the test scores of students is nothing more than a veiled attempt to get rid of union teachers.

Recent results of the Adequate Yearly Progress scores have resulted in only 60- percent of the state’s high schools being able to pass. That’s a decrease from 80 percent of the schools passing last year.

Critics say schools are failing because the criteria for AYP status keeps getting tougher and tougher. And when we say tougher, that’s not to make excuses for kids underachieving.

The problem is that the country’s “No Child Left Behind Act” has set the standards so sky-high, it’s setting districts up for failure. And when schools fail, the state has the right to come in and take over the schools and boot out union teachers.

Some of the AYP criteria is outright laughable. For example, Kosciusko Middle School didn’t reach AYP because – get this – a group of African-American students failed to meet the attendance requirement.

So, schools are now supposed to call the cops and have the cops drag the kids out of their homes or off the streets and haul them into school?

Is it fair the entire school had to suffer just because some kids didn’t show up for class?

That’s pure nonsense.

And besides being faced with absurd standards, Gov. Rick (“I’m a nerd”) Snyder is forcing districts to fire their non-teaching union workers, such as the custodians and bus drivers.

The state is demanding the district not only get custodians to pay 10 percent of their health insurance, it’s also demanding the district bid out the work.

Yes, the union custodians can submit a bid, but you can bet they will have to work for far less than what they get now.

Sure, that saves the district money, but at what cost?

Look, we’re all for saving the public’s money, but forcing everyone to work basically for $8 an hour is going to undermine the great middleclass of this country. This, folks, is at the heart of the conservative Republican agenda.

It’s happening right now in front of our eyes. That’s why there is so much backlash happening now. People are lining up in this state and elsewhere to repeal these union-busting measures and to recall legislators who do not have our best interests at heart.

If you care, it’s time to take action.