Adequately fund public education, but also provide help for struggling families
Among the many tasks before us as we work feverishly to open the doors of the Gainesville Empowerment Zone Family Learning Center in the next few months are making sure we have strong family engagement initiatives and the right people leading them.
I was reminded of that recently when I ran across a quote online from Walter Williams, a straight-talking economist/columnist whose columns I’d occasionally run on the editorial page I once managed to provide a wider spectrum of opinions to readers.
The Williams quote: “For somebody to do well in school, somebody needs to make him go to bed on time and get a good 10 hours sleep. Someone must make him do his homework. Somebody must feed him breakfast in the morning and somebody must make him mind the teacher. If those things are not done, I don’t care how much money you put in the school system, education will not occur.”
Williams’ words so resonated with me that I reposted them on the Gainesville for All Facebook page with the comment: “Walter’s right.” I know because the prerequisites he outlined were part of my upbringing and that of virtually everyone I knew growing up in racially segregated Orlando. Such sage advice served many in my generation well.
I must admit, however, that I might not have been quick to embrace Williams’ admonishment during the 1990s and early 2000s when I ran his columns, truth be told, to appease conservative readers. Too often during that era there were still hard-fought legislative battles at state capitols nationwide over adequate funding for urban schools, in particular. Righting an inequitable school funding system, in my mind, superseded laying blame for poor classroom performance almost solely at the feet of largely low-income parents of color.
Having lived nearly 25 years in New York state, which spends the most on K-12 education per pupil than any state — $22,832 — I saw little evidence that increased school spending alone produced significantly improved classroom performance. Nor is their empirical data showing disciplined, well-rested and respectful students are certain to succeed as Williams contended for many years before his death two years ago at age 84.
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But now that more funding is being poured into low-performing schools, I’m willing to concede it’s time to get back to the basics. It’s just too bad that lawmakers as well as people like myself couldn’t have seen decades ago the virtue of making adequate funding available for public education and focusing on helping struggling families at the same time.
At the Family Learning Center, in addition to providing children with a high-quality curriculum, we’ll do our best to make up for lost time by working closely with families to identify their challenges and help them meet them. A big part of the success we hope to have will depend on employing skilled staff who not only understand the importance of family engagement but know how to execute it.
In preparation for upcoming interviews for teachers and our family engagement directorship, we’ve started meeting with retired and active classroom teachers who have experience working with children from struggling families. They shared best practices as well as parents-from-hell stories. Our staff — led by Sheri Anastasio, who managed a Head Start program for migrant workers in Jennings, and early learning consultant Rebekah Reneke — will be well prepared in both head and heart.
If you think you’re up to the challenge or have suggestions for helping strengthen families, contact us at gnv4all@gmail.com. Help the Family Learning Center drive change in public education.
James F. Lawrence is executive director of GNV4ALL.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: James F. Lawrence: Help for struggling families benefits students
