Schools are drowning under a tsunami of paperwork

by Mike O’Connor, superintendent of Glenn Public School

Has anyone dared to count all of the new mandated reports, documentation, data collection programs, assessments and applications that the public school systems have had to submit to the state and federal governments in the past several years? Does anyone even know the number, which is still growing?

One of our local legislators recently proposed that schools should now be required to conduct 10 count days on which state aid would be based. That is one every 17 days! His vague reasoning is that schools would then keep kids in school and not be so apt to suspend them — as though it is done so casually. In all of their wisdom, the Legislature has yet to develop an equitable, stable funding mechanism for the school aid budget, something he and others should be concerned about rather than inventing more ridiculous ways to create more paperwork for school employees who, instead, could be spending more time in classrooms.

It is time that we, as educators, stand up and scream, “No more!” to additional mandates by refusing to comply with them on a statewide basis. Shut your computers down and spend time in the classrooms instead of filling out countless reports and implementing ridiculous, ineffective mandates.

Rather than wasting vast human resources filling out ridiculous reports that no one reads and implementing foolish, ineffective mandates, the focus needs to be on building relationships with students and engaging families in the educational process while abolishing this foolish reporting frenzy masking under the noble title of “accountability.” However, we need a stable funding mechanism to sustain this as a priority.

Who is racing to do what? Based on the performance of legislators to propose effective reporting mandates and successfully address and stabilize school funding issues, it is a “race to the bottom.”

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Source: The Holland Sentinel, 2.17.10